Its time again for the annual Star Property and Home Fair. This year’s fair is held at the Penang International Sports Arena (PISA) from Sept 21 to the 23rd and boasts of over 100 exhibitors comprising of both Property developers and banks. An impressive number of exhibitors considering that this fair is held in the Northern Region Of Malaysia.

Ivory Properties Group

Upon entering the exhibition Hall, visitors will be greeted by the sight of the “Penang Times Square”. Developed by Ivory Properties Group in two phases, Penang Times Square is made up  of “Birch the Plaza” (Phase A) and “Birch Regency” (Phase B).

Penang Times Square is a mixed development project comprising of both commercial and residential units. Currently, Phase A is under development and targeted for completion in 2008.

Penang Times Square

Moonlight Bay

Also on display in the Ivory Properties Group booth is the mock up of the Moonlight Bay development. Moonlight Bay is a luxurious low density gated community made up of about 70 Villas and 2 condominium blocks.

Moonlight Bay

Hunza Properties

Next up is the Hunza Properties booth. Prominently on display is the upcoming “Gurney Paragon” development.

Gurney Paragon is a mixed developement project which comprises of both residential and commercial units. The development is located at Penang’s famous promenade namely Gurney Drive.

Gurney Paragon

Also on display at Hunza Properties is their high-end residential development project named “Infiniti“.

Infiniti, once completed will comprise of 119 condominums, penthouse and cabanas. The project is located along the famous Tanjung Bungah beachfront and each unit comes with a view of the sea.

Infiniti

That’s it for Part 1. Stay tune for part 2 where I’ll be writing on the Projects by IJM, Sunshine as well as Botanica CT.

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Some sneak peek into the the biggest exhibition on property, home and lifestyle in the northern region of Malaysia. Read more »

The Malaysian 2008 budget was tabled in Parliament two weeks back with numerous goodies for those shopping for a new home. The government hopes that these new measures would help stimulate the property sector in Malaysia.

For starters, the Stamp Duty for the Land Title Transfer for properties costing less than RM250,000 has been halved. This benefit is applicable for the purchase of one house for the whole of financial year of 2008.

Property           Price Stamp      Stamp Duty in 2007      Stamp Duty in 2008
House A            RM250,000              RM4,500                      RM2,250 (-50%)
House B            RM150,000              RM2,000                      RM1,000 (-50%)
House C            RM350,000              RM6,000                      RM6,000 (unchanged)

(Based on the current rate of 1% for first RM100,000 and 2% for RM100,001 to RM1,000,000)

With this new measure, I can foresee new home buyers benefiting in 2 ways:

• Significant Stamp Duty Savings
• Encouragement to property developers to provide more properties at sub RM250,000 price tag to entice home buyers to invest.

However new home buyers please note that in the home buying process, you will incur two major Stamp Duties namely the Stamp Duty for Title Transfer and the Stamp Duty for the Bank Loan Facility Agreement.

(Refer to Key Learnings – Lawyers Lessons 2 and Lawyers Lessons 3)

The Stamp Duty for the Bank Loan Facility agreement remains unaffected by the above changes. The current prevailing rates of 0.5% of Loan amount still prevails.

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