CONDOMINIUM LIVING NEW TO KL, SEES STRONG SALES PERFORMANCE

KUALA LUMPUR, May 14 (Bernama) -- Condominium living is relatively new to Kuala Lumpur and well-designed projects are seeing strong sales performance, said Christopher Boyd, Executive Chairman of CB Richard Ellis Malaysia.

He said the take up rate of condominiums in the first quarter was between 65 per cent and 88 per cent in prime areas such as Mont Kiara, Ampang Hilir, the Kuala Lumpur central business district, KLCC, Bukit Tunku, U-thant and Bangsar.

"Interest has picked up strongly because people love to buy properties as investment and they can get good quality properties here for low prices," said Boyd when presenting a paper on the property market in Kuala Lumpur at the "Invest in Malaysia, Invest in Kuala Lumpur" forum held here Saturday.

The half-day forum, organised by Eastern & Oriental Bhd, was attended by about 30 prospective up-market buyers.

Boyd said demand for such high-end condominiums was increasing and prime projects in Kuala Lumpur have seen exceptional returns with an average gross rental yield of almost six per cent.

"The value of condominiums has been pretty stable since 2009 despite very sharp increases in land and construction costs.

"The value of landed housing, however, has increased strongly due to a temporary shortage of supply. Now, condominiums in the city centre are beginning to look cheap by comparison," he said.