This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on December 14, 2017

KUALA LUMPUR: Property developer MK Land Holdings Bhd will focus on selling off unsold units from its completed projects worth up to RM362.9 million within the next two years.

Group chief executive officer K Mohanachandran said the bulk of the units are from the semi-detached Rafflesia development and Armanee Terrace condominium in Damansara Perdana, Petaling Jaya, as well as some units at Residensi Suasana in Damansara Damai and Meru Perdana in Ipoh. Some of the units were noted to have been unsold for over a year.

“Pricing does play a major factor, but I think it is more of an issue of awareness. So that is why we have embarked on a more aggressive approach to our marketing efforts right now,” he told reporters after the group’s annual general meeting (AGM) yesterday.

“We will definitely look at rebates [to help boost sales]. If we were to carry these stocks, we will be incurring costs along the way. If we can cut our price down a little bit, we can save on these costs in the future,” Mohanachandran added.

MK Land is also in the planning phase to develop affordable housing, namely the Rumah Selangorku in Taman Bunga Raya, Bukit Beruntung and in Bandar Baru Gunung Semanggol in Bukit Merah, Perak, for which Mohanachandran expects construction works to start in early 2019, pending respective approvals.

“The key thing as far as affordable housing is concerned is that margins are low; you cannot run away from that. So, it’s basically just engaging with our contractors upfront and saying to them let’s get through this tough period together,” he said.

Mohanachandran said that notwithstanding the tough property market outlook for 2018, MK Land hopes to achieve better sales compared with 2017.

“We are looking at sales numbers that are higher than what we have achieved in 2017. It is tough, but we have the feel that we are getting there,” he said.

The group has about 4,908 acres (1,986ha) of undeveloped land bank in the Klang Valley, Perak and Kedah.

Separately, MK Land said it had removed the group’s co-founder Datuk Kasi K L Palaniappan from his director’s position, after he failed to obtain a sufficient number of votes to be re-elected at the AGM.

Kasi, who owns a 16% stake in MK Land, was due for retirement by rotation, but had offered himself for re-election.

Kasi was a business partner of the other co-founder, Tan Sri Mustapha Kamal Abu Bakar, but the two have since split. Mustapha remains the group’s major shareholder with a 47% stake.