Paramount remains bullish on property sector outlook for 2H

Sep 2, 2020

Paramount Corporation Bhd remains bullish on the property sector’s prospects in emerging markets, especially in Malaysia, for the second half of the year (H2 2020), despite the uncertainties due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Group chief executive officer Jeffrey Chew Sun Teong said the property take-up rate is expected to recover in H2 2020 due to the gradual reopening of the economy since the implementation of the conditional movement control order (CMCO).

“Our employment market is very stable, if compared with the United States, and that is just for government services. We also have a number of government-linked companies (GLCs) in the country, which makes it a bit harder for them to retrench because the government wants to preserve employment,” he told a media briefing on the company’s first-half financial performance 2020 here today.

Besides the employment market, he said Malaysia also has other strengths to support its economic recovery moving forward, including its status as a commodity-based country.

“(Global) Oil prices are stabilising and that is even before the full recovery of the MCO. When full normalisation kicks off, oil prices will continue to pick up. That is good for Malaysia because we are among the oil-producing countries,” he said.

In addition, he said the low-interest-rate environment, coupled with the reintroduction of the home ownership campaign in June 2020, is expected to incentivise property purchases.

As at June 30, 2020, the group’s unbilled sales stood at RM873 million, with a couple of ongoing projects on track for completion this year, including Suasana at Utropolis Batu Kawan and Urbano at Utropolis Glenmarie.

The group is also scheduled to launch five new property projects in the second half of this year, mostly in the third quarter, with an estimated total value of RM640 million, namely in Sepang, Klang, Cyberjaya, Shah Alam and Sungai Petani.

— BERNAMA