This article first appeared in City & Country, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on January 13, 2020 - January 19, 2020
Sunway Property, the property arm of Sunway Bhd, has increased its sales target to RM2 billion this year, Sunway Bhd property division managing director Sarena Cheah said at a media briefing on Jan 7.
Last year, the developer achieved RM1.55 billion in sales, surpassing its target of RM1.3 billion. To date, its unbilled sales stand at RM2.8 billion.
In conjunction with the media briefing, the developer unveiled its campaign for this year — Yours, 2020. As part of the campaign, purchasers can look forward to fully customised home packages that focus on well-being and come with personalised financing options.
Cheah said Sunway Property would be launching properties with close to RM3.5 billion in gross development value (GDV), of which RM2.4 billion (70%) will be in Singapore and the rest in Malaysia.
“We are a bit conservative on the Malaysian side. But this year, we intend to do RM2 billion or more [in sales], depending on how the market is doing,” she said.
Sales contribution is expected to be 50:50 from local and international projects respectively. Cheah said, however, that there is a likelihood international properties will contribute more because of the stronger Singapore dollar.
Sunway Property has a 3,362-acre land bank in Malaysia and overseas, with a GDV of RM59 billion and a total development period of up to 15 years. Of the total, 2,962 acres are in the Klang Valley, Johor and Penang.
Last year, the developer acquired 33 acres of land with a GDV of just over RM4 billion in Malaysia and overseas. Cheah said that it would continue to be aggressive in its land acquisition this year.
Malaysia projects
Cheah said most of the launches for this year will be priced between RM600,000 and RM800,000. “We feel this is a sweet spot for the majority of the population, seeing that these sorts of products showed very encouraging take-ups at our recent launches.”
In the Klang Valley, RM691 million worth of properties will be launched. These include Sunway Avila Retail (retail shops, GDV: RM31 million), Sunway Velocity TWO Tower C (serviced apartments, GDV: RM300 million) and Sunway Belfield Tower A (serviced apartments, GDV RM360 million).
Sunway Avila is a mixed-use development in Wangsa Maju. The two towers of serviced apartments have sold very well, said Cheah, and the upcoming launch of the retail shops at podium will be the final phase. The development is located 3km from the city centre and will be within walking distance of Sri Rampai LRT station.
Sunway Velocity TWO, a mixed-use development in Cheras, is linked to the Sunway Velocity integrated development and connected to two MRT stations. The launch last year achieved a 100% take-up rate, which is encouraging, Cheah added. Sunway Belfield is located in Kampung Attap, within walking distance of Maharajalela monorail station and SJK (C) Kuen Cheng 1.
On the property investment side, Cheah said RM573 million of investment properties in gross development cost (GDC) are being built. These include an office tower (GDC: RM350,000 million) and the expansion of student accommodation (GDC: RM223 million) in Sunway City Kuala Lumpur.
In Penang, Sunway Property will be introducing its first commercial offerings worth RM250 million in Sunway Valley City.
Located on a 25-acre parcel in Paya Terubong, Ayer Itam, the integrated development has a GDV of RM2.4 billion. The first launch will be of shops and linear offices. At the same time, construction of the mall will begin, said Cheah. “We are hoping to see this as a replica of Sunway Velocity.”
Sunway Medical Centre in Seberang Jaya (GDC: RM301 million) is being constructed. The 300-bed hospital is targeted to be opened by end-2021.
In Johor, the developer will be launching a townhouse development, Sunway Maple (GDV: RM100 million), in Sunway Iskandar.
Last December saw the soft opening of Sunway Big Box Retail Park, which is the developer’s first hybrid retail park that features big warehouse concept stores in an open-air strip mall environment, said Cheah.
The 280-room Sunway Big Box Hotel (GDC: RM167 million) will be completed this year together with SJK (C) Cheah Fah Chinese school (GDC: RM15 million).
“We will be very much focused on ensuring Big Box will continue to bring in the traffic and, over time, we may even bring our education [arm] there to start its first branch within our GRID offices in Sunway Iskandar,” said Cheah.
International projects
Sunway Property’s upcoming Singapore launches worth RM2.4 billion in GDV will be the main contributors to its total launches this year.
The upcoming developments include Parc Canberra, Canberra Link (executive condominiums, GDV: RM560 million), Ki Residences, Clementi (private condominiums, GDV: RM1 billion) and Park Avenue Residences, Tampines (executive condominiums, GDV: RM880 million).
In China, Cheah said the company acquired a seven-acre plot in Tianjin Eco-City last year and is planning to launch it next year.
“Our core presence is in Singapore and China. Now, we are focusing aggressively on two new markets, which are the UK and Australia,” she added.
Last year, Sunway Property established a private trust in Singapore with an initial £38 million, or about RM200 million, of assets under management to acquire three completed student accommodation blocks in Bristol and Sheffield in the UK.
Similarly in Australia, the developer is pursuing opportunities in student accommodation.
“We are quite excited about the education sector in the UK and Australia after studying the markets for various opportunities as these two countries remain the top education destinations for a lot of people, which gives us a big market segment to play in. We feel this could be a good entry point for us and we will continue to look for opportunities,” said Cheah.
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