PETALING JAYA (April 8): Sime Darby Property Bhd has achieved RM1 billion worth of property sales year-to-date (YTD). The figure accounts for 40% of its RM2.5 billion sales target for financial year ending June 30, 2016.

Today, Sime Darby Property managing director Datuk Jauhari Hamidi said the developer was confident of achieving its sales target for the year, driven by the group's 18 property launches over the next three months.

"We have a sales target of more than 2,000 units for the year, valued at RM2.5 billion. We have achieved about 1,000 units so far, with a value of approximately RM1 billion.

"While people are talking about the soft property market, Sime Darby Property aims to take the lead in delivering products, which we believe the customer needs. For the company, we usually start to be more aggressive in sales in the second half of our financial year," Jauhari said.

Jauhari said this at the launch of Sime Darby Property's Lifestyle Collection 2016 here today.

On the Government's First Home Deposit Funding Scheme (MyDeposit) which aims to help potential first-time house buyers own properties, Jauhari said Sime Darby Property viewed the programme positively.

He said MyDeposit "is a good start" to improve the property market.

"We are still communicating with the Government, hopefully for the Government to introduce more measures that were not announced in the last budget," said Jauhari.

Sime Darby Property is the real estate arm of Sime Darby Bhd, the businesses of which include oil palm plantation and car dealership.

At 12:30pm, Sime Darby Bhd shares settled unchanged at RM7.90, for a market value of RM49.98 billion. The stock saw 1.2 million shares traded.