S P Setia Bhd’s three-month “Jet Set with Setia” campaign, held in conjunction with its 40th anniversary, found a grand prize winner in Lee Sheng Jie at the concluding lucky draw on Dec 12 last year.

The highest absolute price growth can be found at SkyVilla Condominium, where the average price rose 18.6% y-o-y to RM333 psf. 

A recent meeting with the management revealed that the group’s de-gearing exercise is underway with the proposed listing of its investment assets and construction arm, with a target set by end-2016.

Mah Sing indicated that it had repurchased the balance RM315 million nominal value of its redeemable CBs for RM337 million. The CBs had an original nominal value of RM325 million when they were issued in June 2011.

 TheEdgeProperty.com’s analysis of transactions shows the average price of condominiums in the area was RM193 psf in 1Q2015, up 10.8% y-o-y.

While the newer developments are becoming increasingly more upmarket, the secondary market in Kuching is still concentrated in the mass-market segment.

Those working on its rehabilitation know it has still some way to go before it can move past the blots in its recent history left by the deaths of two children.

Despite the slowdown in the overall market, the high-rise segment has performed relatively well. Strata units are becoming increasingly viable due to the scarcity of land and the high prices of landed properties.

Companies such as IOI Properties Bhd and Mah Sing Group Bhd are getting more innovative and holding out big carrots to prospective buyers.

The southern state’s industrial developments drew RM27 billion in the first half of 2015 (1H2015) -- the biggest portion of investments into the manufacturing sector -- compared with RM21 billion for the whole of 2014