This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on November 27, 2015.

KUALA LUMPUR: MK Land Holdings Bhd will shift its focus to affordable housing developments in the northern part of Malaysia from premium developments as the property developer sees more demand for cheaper houses.

Its group chief executive officer Lau Shu Chuan said the group will be focusing on its Klebang Putra and Meru Perdana projects in Perak. Meanwhile, it will reserve some of its land bank in the Klang Valley for premium developments in the future. “What is still in demand in the market is affordable housing. In fact, since last year, our focus has been on affordable housing. In terms of the central region, Damansara Perdana is our crown jewel. We have already done most of the affordable housing in the past, so we are reserving the land for more premium housing, those priced above RM1 million.

“We’ll still be doing some of this, but not aggressively as this is not the current market trend. Most of the focus will be on the northern side, as I mentioned, in Klebang Putra and Meru Perdana where we have single-storey houses starting from RM200,000 and double-storey houses ranging from RM300,000 to RM400,000,” said Lau.

Currently, MK Land has a land bank measuring over 4,000 acres (1.619ha) in the northern part of the peninsula, out of its total land bank of close to 5,000 acres. Asked if the group wants to acquire more land, Lau said: “We have 5,000 acres of land, which is very sizeable, so technically we don’t need to replenish. But we are also selling land which we have no immediate plans for development, to realise our investment. So we are on the lookout for opportunities, for example in the Klang Valley.

“If there are opportunities for us to acquire land at a reasonable price, we will consider it. However, our focus currently is not on buying big parcels of land, but more on small parcels. For bigger tracts, we would consider it if there is an opportunity for privatisation, where we can work with the state authority,” he said.

One of the assets that the group intends to sell is the Setiawangsa land, which MK Land is not looking to develop. “There have been potential buyers that were looking to do a joint venture with us [to develop the land] or buy the land. We are more keen to outright sell the land, rather than develop it.