Kuala Lumpur: The chief of Glomac Bhd has quashed talks that the local housing market is overheating and will lead to an asset bubble- Group managing director cum chief executive officer Datuk FD Iskandar FD Mansor Iskandar said prices of properties in Malaysia have not "skyrocketed" as compared with Hong Kong, China and Singapore- The countries have been recording sharp price jumps of 40 per cent to 60 per cent since 2009- "We are in a highly-regulated industry so it won't be possible to have an asset bubble here," Iskandar said in an interview with Business Times- He said in general, property prices in the local housing have been increasing by 5 per cent to 10 per cent per year, which he described as healthy- "Property prices will continue to appreciate as land and raw materials become more expensive," said Iskandar, who is also deputy president of Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association Malaysia (Rehda)- He is confident that Glomac will record strong double-digit growth of 30 per cent in the next two years, led by sales from its current projects- Glomac has 13 ongoing projects in Kuala Lumpur, Sungai Buloh, Rawang and Johor, with a balance gross development value of RM3-8 billion- The company's unbilled sales remain high at RM550 million as at April 30 2011- Iskandar said the RM950 million Glomac Damansara project in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, will contribute significantly to its net profit and revenue- For fiscal year ended April 30 2011, Glomac chalked up 54-2 per cent gain in net profit to RM63 million, while revenue surged 90 per cent to RM601-5 million- "The MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) project will instill confidence in buyers and many residential projects are expected to benefit from the implementation," Iskandar said-...

More