KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 24): Glomac Bhd said it would like to see revival of the Home Ownership Campaign in order to help clear unsold properties. 

The campaign was carried out in 1998 and 1999 to clear unsold properties, when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was also prime minister then. 

The Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association Malaysia (Rehda) had in its Budget 2019 wishlist proposed reviving such a campaign for properties priced below RM500,000 that are sold from a developer to a purchaser, with incentives such as waiving stamp duty for housing units, free or reduced legal fees and loan processing fees, higher financing margin, and discounted insurance premiums. 

Glomac group managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Seri Fateh Iskandar Mohamed Mansor, who is also immediate past president of Rehda, said the government should consider launching the campaign again, given the risen number of overhang units. 

“Hopefully, no more taxes too (in Budget 2019). We also really need to address important questions such as how to bring down the cost of doing business and provide better financing facilities for potential home buyers,” he told reporters after the group’s annual general meeting. 

Meanwhile, Fateh Iskandar said Glomac is planning to launch RM780 million worth of new projects for the financial year ended April 30, 2019 (FY19), which is significantly higher than the RM248 million launched last year. 

The projects which include its Saujana KLIA, Saujana Perdana, Lakeside Residences, and Plaza @ Kelana Jaya, comprise 39% of high rise residential, 44% of landed residential and 17% of commercial developments around Klang Valley and Johor. 

Fateh Iskandar said the planned projects will remain in the mid-market and affordable segments, which are expected to appeal to millennials or first time homebuyers. 

About 65% of these projects fall within the category of RM500,000 and below, Fateh added. 

Moving forward, he said while the property sector is expected to remain challenging, the group expects to achieve 80% of its RM780 million planned projects, which is the same maintained target from the previous year. 

For the first quarter of FY19, Glomac’s net profit dropped 31.6% to RM1.01 million from RM1.47 million a year ago, on completion of certain project phases in previous year and lower construction activities. 

Quarterly revenue also fell 40.1% to RM57.61 million, from RM96.22 million a year ago. 

Earlier at the AGM, Glomac obtained its shareholders approval to pay a final single tier dividend of 1.5 sen per share for FY18. 

On Bursa Malaysia, shares of Glomac were trading down one sen or 2.50% at 39 sen in early afternoon trade, for a market capitalisation of RM307.41 million. The stock has decline some 34% over the past one year.