IOI confident of property sales recovery post Covid-19 pandemic

KUALA LUMPUR, May 30 ― IOI Properties Group (IOIPG) expects that property sales will recover after the Covid-19 pandemic is over based on the third quarter (3Q) results from its 2020 financial year (FY20).

In a press statement yesterday, the group announced its 3Q20 results where the real estate giant had achieved RM401.4 million in revenue and a profit before interest and taxation of RM137.7 million.

For the nine months in the current year-to-date, it had recorded RM1.5 billion in revenue and RM678.8 million in profit before interest and taxation.

“The Group anticipates that its developments in strategic locations around Malaysia with its projects in the pipeline will continue to draw prospective buyers as the economy gradually improves post- conditional movement control order (CMCO).

“In China, economic activities have resumed and in recovery mode after the lockdown due to the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Group’s recent launch of high-rise condominiums in IOI Palm City, Xiamen, received favourable response with a take-up rate of 80% with profit to be registered in the coming quarters,” said the statement.

Locally, even though the Covid-19 outbreak and the subsequent movement control order (MCO) had disrupted a lot of economic and social activities, the group said that sales in the Klang Valley was not badly hit.

In fact, it stated that some products moved “even faster” during the MCO on the backs of aggressive sales packages such as the “Stay@Home Online Sales” and the ongoing “Instalment Also Free” promotions.

“We will continue to leverage on our digital marketing capabilities, accelerate sales via online platforms and adopt aggressive sales and marketing strategies with focus on the Group’s mid-price range of properties in Malaysia,” said IOIPG CEO Datuk Voon Tin Yow.

It had also leveraged on Putrajaya’s Home Ownership Campaign (HOC) throughout its FY20 and recorded encouraging sales through its marketing campaigns targeting audiences from traditional and digital platforms for product visibility.

HOC’s extension to December 31 last year saw continued interest in home-ownership while allowing developers to deal with Malaysia’s vast property overhang. The HOC had also assisted IOIPG to lower its inventory through more sales.

Its launch of Alanis, a mid-range property in Warisan Puteri Sepang targeting first-time buyers, young couples and extended families had already achieved a take-up rate of 67 per cent to date.

The group is also progressively handing over Lavenda 1 and Serene followed by Alena 1 and Alena 2 in Johor in the subsequent quarter.

In China, IOIPG’s launch of villas and high-rise condominiums in Xiamen is expected to continue registering an increase in sales revenue as economic activities in China are recovering after their Covid-19 lockdown.

“The remaining FY20 continues to be challenging but the Group is well positioned for the recovery post-CMCO,” Voon predicted.

“The pandemic outbreak is expected to affect the performance of the retail and hospitality segments. However, the Group is actively adopting a pragmatic tenant retention strategy for occupancy optimisation in anticipation of a less restricted movement environment.”

“Moving forward, we have a mid-price range of projects in the pipeline ready to be launched once we have assessed that the market is ready post-CMCO. So far, we have approximately 40 on-going projects and a total development landbank of approximately 10,000 acres,” he added.