Properties22

STATE-OWNED Amanah Raya Bhd (ARB), unfazed by the current financial turmoil, aims to double the size of its property trust to RM1.3 billion next year. Chairman Datuk Dusuki Ahmad said ARB will buy properties that offer more than eight per cent yields for its AmanahRaya Real Estate Investment Trust (AR-REIT). GROWTH PLANS: (From left) Ahmad Rodzi, Dusuki and Mustapha Kamal at the press conference. AR-REIT, listed in February last year and worth RM645.52 million, is the first state-owned property trust and Malaysia’s second largest REIT. It is managed by ARB’s asset management arm, AmanahRaya-JMF Asset Management Sdn Bhd, one of the leading fund management firms in the country with more than RM6 billion of assets under…. Click here to Read More

CYBERJAYA: The Emkay Group plans to construct eight office buildings in Cyberjaya with a total gross development value (GDV) of over RM800mil, as it sees great prospects for such properties in the area. Chairman Tan Sri Mustapha Kamal Abu Bakar said the buildings would be built on a 8ha-site and construction would probably start by end-2009. “The projects would take about six years to complete,” he said after a press briefing yesterday on the disposal of its three office buildings to Amanah Raya Bhd for RM266mil. The three buildings are Bangunan Mustapha Kamal and block A and B of MKN Embassy Techzone. Mustapha Kamal said the rental rates for office buildings in Cyberjaya were expected to grow further due to the aggressive…. Click here to Read More

Developer Mah Sing Group Bhd is taking a bold step in launching new medium to high-end houses and a commercial development worth over RM1.3 billion by 2010. It currently has 10 ongoing projects in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor on its plate, which will keep it busy for the next five years. Mah Sing Properties Sdn Bhd chief operating officer Ng Heng Phai believes the market will improve as oil and steel prices appear to be falling. NG: The market will improve as oil and steel prices appear to be failing. The global oil price has fallen to about US (RM320) per barrel from US0 (RM418) more than a month ago while steel is doing RM3,600 per tonne from RM4,100 per tonne some four months earlier. From now till the end of 2010,…. Click here to Read More

A Russian oligarch is the brand new owner of Villa Léopolda on the coast of France’s Côte d’Azur. The monumental sale of the Villa Léopolda has made headline news when the estate was sold last week for a total of $750 million after being on the market for some time. Deemed the most expensive house on the planet now, Villa Léopolda is one of the most sumptuous estates on the Côte d’Azur, the French Riviera. Playground of the rich and famous, the villa has attracted plenty of eyeballs with its grandeur. But this isn’t all. Back in 1999, then owner Edmond Safra, the Lebanese-Jewish banking billionaire was murdered by his male nurse. Since then his widowed wife Lily Safra has been gauging the market for some time,…. Click here to Read More

American house prices fell at their fastest rate on record in May, declining 15.8 per cent compared with the same month the year before. According to the S&P/ Case-Shiller index of residential property values – widely seen as the most authoritative measure of US house prices – there has not been an overall home price increase in any month since August 2006. The main index, which measures house prices in 20 cities across the US, recorded a 15.8 per cent drop, while the other, narrower Case-Shiller index which monitors 10 cities, showed a 16.9 per cent decline in property prices. That fall is the sharpest since the 10-city index was first calculated 21 years ago. US home values have fallen 18.4 per cent since the 20-city index’s…. Click here to Read More