KUALA LUMPUR: Quill Capita Management Sdn Bhd (QCM), the manager of Quill Capita Trust (QCT), a commercial real estate investment trust listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd announced on Oct 26 in a press statement, a profit after tax of RM8.09 million for the 3Q ended Sept 30, 2009.

SHAH ALAM:  S P Setia Bhd Group through its subsidiary, Setia Lai Thieu Ltd, signed an agreement on Oct 26 with Investment and Industrial Development Corp (Becamex IDC Corp) for the assignment of 27 acres of land to develop a mixed-use project located in Lai Thieu Town, Tuan An District, Binh Doung Province, Vietnam.

KUALA LUMPUR: Real estate agents have greeted the government’s move of reinstating a fixed 5% real property gains tax (RPGT) effective Jan 1, 2010, with scepticism, saying the local property market was still on uneven footing.

KUALA LUMPUR: IJM Land Bhd led real estate stocks lower and builders fell after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak imposed a capital gains tax on property and the government cut development spending.

IJM Land, Malaysia’s fifth-biggest developer, slid 2% to RM2.44 at 10.28am on Oct 26, outpacing the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index’s 0.4% decline. IGB Corp lost 3.3% to RM2.07.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Abu Dhabi property market is expected to maintain a relatively strong position, fuelled by the existing meagre supply across all assets classes, compared with the other Emirates, according to CB Richard Ellis Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The government’s introduction of a fixed 5% real property gains tax (RPGT) effective Jan 1 next year is perplexing, to say the least.

If the surprise announcement by the prime minister when unveiling Budget 2010 last Friday was intended as a lenient and hence palatable variant of the RPGT before its waiver in April 2007, it could not be further from the truth.

LONDON: A prominent hotel and residential development project at 336 – 337 Strand, London, is up for sale. The partially-constructed project when completed will comprise a 173-key hotel finished to a five-star standard with 79 residential apartments with 92 underground car parking spaces, as envisioned by Forster + Partners.

Amanah Harta Tanah PNB 2 is disposing of three commercial buildings in the vicinity of Jalan Masjid India and Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman. For those eyeing this popular trading and shopping spot, the sale is an opportunity that does not come along often.

It is undeniable that many in the local property market felt the impact of the global financial tsunami. From 4Q2008, the outlook was dim as interest in properties waned. However, some properties have proven to be more resilient despite a drop in prices and transactions during the worst of the recession, such as bungalows in prime locations.

Developers in Johor Baru have reported improving sales since 2Q2009 in tandem with the overall economic outlook. “Low borrowing cost and payment schemes, such as zero- cost packages rolled out by developers, are helping to encourage more transactions,” says KGV-Lambert Smith Hampton Johor director Samuel Tan.There have not been many new launches as most developers are clearing unsold stock.