IJM Land targets higher property sales in FY13

SUBANG JAYA: IJM Land Bhd looks forward to another year of growth due to the strong demand for properties in the country.

Group chief executive officer and managing director Datuk Soam Heng Choon said that for the current financial year ending March 31, 2013 (FY13), the group aimed to “do better than FY12 sales performance of RM1.35bil.”

The group is aiming to launch about RM2bil worth of properties in FY13. “We have unbilled sales of RM1.2bil. Based on this, we should churn out quite a strong performance this year,” Soam said after the group's AGM.

He said IJM Land had seen strong sales in its projects in the last few months.

“For example, our Seri Riana Residences condominium in Wangsa Maju we have launched two blocks. For Block A, we have close to 90% take-up rate and for Block B, we have 65%. Two weeks ago, we launched more than 190 units of shop offices in Seremban 2. All the non-bumiputra units were taken up on the same day.”

Soam said the group remained optimistic about the Malaysian property market “given the right product and location”.

“In Wangsa Maju, we are selling at RM500 to RM550 per sq ft with absolute values of RM600,000 to RM700,000. There is still very strong demand.”

The group has an undeveloped land bank of 4,800 acres with a gross development value of RM23bil.

Soam said the group's major upcoming property launches included Bandar Rimbayu in Selangor and new phases of The Light waterfront project in Penang.

“We are planning for RM350mil of launches in Bandar Rimbayu, where we have 6,000 registrants for phase one consisting of more than 500 houses.”

He said in Penang, the group planned to launch two residential parcels The Light Collection Three and Four.

“There will also be RM120mil of launches in the Southern Region and RM200mil in Sarawak and Sabah.”

By The Star