A close colleague is a strong supporter of Eco World. Probably because she has recently bought a Eco World development but may also be due to the fact that she joins every single event organised by them. Haha. First of all, there’s nothing wrong with supporting a developer who has enabled you to earn good returns. I personally love IOI Properties because it was a condo built by them in Penang which sparked my interest in property investment and this very condo I bought was sold for a return that I could only dream about previously. Okay, back to Eco World. It has hit its target of RM3 billion for 2015.
For 2016, it is now aiming for RM4 billion. Somehow, slowdown in transactions does not really show up in Eco World’s books? Okay, perhaps they could have sold more without the current negative sentiment. It will be launching eight new commercial development projects under its Business Masterplan series. It’s president and chief executive officer Datuk Chang Khim Wah said in an interview by Starbizweek, “People are definitely still buying – they may be more selective about what they buy but we see that the demand is still there. It is just a matter of how you present your product and convince people to come in.”
He said that they will help the buyers of their eight new commercial projects with grants, subjected to terms and conditions. He said that business grants of between 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent would be given to buyers who is also the end-user if they set up business within six months of taking over the keys of a new development. This grant will be paid over a period of 12 months from when they start their business. These eight projects include The Stride Strata Offices & Serviced Apartments 1 &2 @ Bukit Bintang City Centre, Eco Somerset @ Eco Sanctuary, Retail/Office and Sky Pod @ Eco Sky in the Klang Valley; Eco Bloom @ Eco Meadows in Penang; and Eco Business Park III, Eco Vantage @ Eco Tropics, Eco Palladium @ Eco Spring and Eco Galleria @ Eco Botanic in Iskandar Malaysia.
I always favour property developers who are pro-active and think ahead. The current situation may happen because the market is slowing but truth is, when the market slows, the developers who think and act fast tend to do better. 3 years ago, in the beginning of 2013, one developer laughed at my sales people and said that they can easily sell all their units without much advertisement. I was still in my previous job with a leading property portal in Malaysia then. He said, “If we could not sell these units within 6 months, people would laugh at us.” Actually they really did not manage to sell because they were pushing it at the higher end of the price per sq ft and the market went down after that. Let’s hope more developers are creative and not rely only on arrogant sales people who knows very little when the market slows. Happy buying.
written on 11 Apr 2016
Next suggested article: Bukit Bintang City Centre, launching second quarter 2016
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