This article first appeared in City & Country, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on November 24, 2025 - November 30, 2025

OSK Property Holdings Bhd, the property arm of OSK Holdings Bhd (KL:OSK), had a busy FY2024 ended Dec 31. It launched projects with a total gross development value (GDV) of RM1.3 billion and recorded property sales of RM929 million.

According to its FY2024 integrated annual report, the property segment — comprising the property development and property investment divisions — registered a 6% increase in profit before tax (PBT) to RM154.3 million despite revenues declining by 5% to RM877.3 million.

The property development division’s PBT and revenue were mainly driven by property sales and construction progress of ongoing projects in Malaysia such as LEA by the Hills in Taman Melawati, Shorea Park in Puchong and Alia @ Mori Park in Shah Alam in the Klang Valley; Iringan Bayu in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan as well as Bandar Puteri Jaya in Sungai Petani, Kedah.

In Melbourne,  Australia, it has the ongoing BLVD tower at Melbourne Square, for which profit recognition will be realised upon completion of the settlement and handing over to purchasers at a later stage.

The division reported a share of loss of RM5.92 million in FY2024, compared with a share of profit of RM5.79 million in FY2023 from associates. The losses in associates were mainly attributed to sales and marketing expenses incurred for Phase 2 of Melbourne Square.

Meanwhile, the property investment division recorded a higher share of profit due to the disposal gain from the sale of Faber Towers 2 in Taman Desa and a fair value gain from You City Retail in Cheras. These gains were offset by a fair value loss on an overseas investment property, resulting in a net gain of RM38.9 million, contributing to the PBT for FY2024.

For FY2025, OSK Property CEO Ong Ghee Bin says the developer has launched slightly over a billion ringgit of products so far. On top of that, it continues to explore new business opportunities in Australia.

In the following excerpts from an interview with City & Country, Ong shares more on the company’s projects and what’s ahead.

City & Country: How did the property development division perform in FY2024?

Ong Ghee Bin: FY2024 was a defining year for OSK Property as we achieved strong growth momentum despite operating in a cautious market environment.

Revenue growth was driven by several projects in Malaysia such as LEA by the Hills and Hana Hills in Taman Melawati, Alia @ OSK Mori Park in Shah Alam, OSK Shorea Park in Puchong, OSK Iringan Bayu in Seremban and Bandar Puteri Jaya in Kedah. These projects recorded encouraging take-up rates, reflecting our brand strength and the demand for well-planned, quality homes in prime and emerging locations.

In Australia, our flagship mixed-use development, Melbourne Square, continued to anchor our international presence. Construction of the BLVD tower is advancing steadily and we are finalising plans for a build-to-rent tower in collaboration with GURNER and Qualitas, which marks our strategic entry into the institutional rental housing market. This diversification will provide recurring income and long-term stability to complement our development business.

In Malaysia, a key reason behind our solid performance is our Prop-Con model, an integrated ecosystem that brings property development, construction and procurement under one roof.

This model has enabled OSK Property to deliver projects efficiently, maintain construction quality and manage costs effectively even during volatile periods. It allows us to react quickly to market conditions, giving us a competitive edge in execution and profitability.

With disciplined financial management, a robust land bank and a portfolio that balances township developments with high-rise projects, our property arm continues to be the main growth driver for the group.

One area we are looking into is the development of new high-rise products. For high-rise, we have always been playing in the affordable range of RM500,000 to RM800,000. We felt that there’s an opportunity in certain locations for us to go mid-higher. We are mindful of that, so in the coming years you will see some of these new products entering the market, more in the central region, and priced from RM1 million.

How has OSK Property been able to stay relevant in the market?

If you remember, in the early days we had three listed companies — OSK Holdings, OSK Property and PJ Development Holdings. In 2014, our founder and chairman Tan Sri Ong Leong Huat and the family decided to bring everything under one umbrella. That’s where the changes and transformation started in terms of the organisation as a whole.

The exercise was completed in 2015 and that’s when we streamlined all the business units into five business pillars, with property and financial services being the two main core businesses for the group.

Subsequent to that in 2016, our property and construction businesses started working together, and we embarked on what we call the Prop-Con collaboration, which is a unique DNA for OSK. A number of developers do not have it because they either lack a construction business or it is too small.

In the old days, we had quality issues and that delayed handover, causing the business to lose money. Since the collaboration, there has been tremendous improvement and today, the team is able to deliver projects on or even ahead of schedule. Quality-wise, they have been able to sustain it consistently. Our Qlassic (Quality Assessment System in Construction) score for both high-rise and landed projects is 80 and above.

The other part that works for us in this collaboration is, we bring in the construction team during the design and conceptual stage to ensure costs are well managed.

Also as part of this collaboration, we have centralised procurement for all of our projects. So we are able to negotiate better pricing for materials. Take toilet tiles, for example. We choose one that we are going to use for the next three to four projects so that we have the volume to negotiate better deals.

Then, we make sure that we move towards standardising certain details. For example, by standardising some of our unit layouts, we are able to also reduce wastage, which translates into cost savings that will be passed back to the company.

Another part is the financial position. For my chairman [Tan Sri Ong], a banker himself, financial discipline is top of mind, and that has become part of the way we think. We are very disciplined with our finances.

Can you update us on your ongoing projects and those in the pipeline?

For FY2025 and beyond, we are preparing new launches with a total GDV exceeding RM1.3 billion. Among the key highlights is NARA @ OSK Shorea Park Tower B in Puchong. The concept targets urban millennials and young families who value convenience, community and design sophistication.

In Shah Alam, we have introduced Bayu @ OSK Mori Park, the second phase of the OSK Mori Park master plan, after the success of Alia @ OSK Mori Park.

In Australia’s Melbourne Square, we completed and handed over the first two towers in 2020. We launched BLVD after the pandemic in late 2023 and it is under construction now.

But our property activities are predominantly in Malaysia and we are still in township and high-rise developments. For township development, over the last two years, we acquired new pieces of land measuring a total of 751 acres in Kedah, in a town called Bedong. We expect to launch the first phase in 2027.

In terms of high-rises, we have one piece of land in Tropicana Metropark in the Subang area, and we have three pieces of land, totalling about 15 acres, in Rawang within the Bandar Country Homes township.

Our latest high-rise project is in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan called OSK Areca. It is our first high-rise in Nilai.

On the east coast, we have an upcoming development in Kuantan, but it is in the planning stages. It is located next to Timurbay Seafront Residence, which we handed over in 2019. After the handover, we learnt that the area [had become] a tourist spot because you have a beachfront and most owners use [their unit] for short-term rental. The property is doing very well. That gives us confidence to plan for the adjoining land.

The other project that we are planning is Bayu68, the first commercial precinct in our Iringan Bayu township. To date, we have handed over close to 3,500 houses and there is a population of about 10,000 now. With that, we felt that the timing is right to unveil a commercial precinct, which will sit on about seven acres, with a GDV of RM78.1 million. Bayu68 offers 68 single- and double-storey shop offices sized from 1,650 to 6,203 sq ft. The selling price starts from RM650,000.

What environmental, social and governance initiatives have been implemented in the company?

Within the property segment, our efforts are focused on reducing environmental impact, enhancing community well-being and ensuring responsible governance throughout our value chain.

On the environmental front, we have installed solar photovoltaic systems across several operational sites, doubling renewable energy generation from 1,217.8MWh in 2023 to 2,431.3MWh in 2024, a 12.1% reduction in carbon emissions.

We are also aiming for green building certifications for all upcoming high-rise projects to ensure sustainability is embedded into every stage of design and construction.

Our commitment to sustainability was recognised through Iringan Bayu Wetland Park’s achievement at both the Fiabci Malaysia Property Award, where it won in the Environmental category; and the Fiabci World Prix d’Excellence Awards, where it received the World Gold Winner honour.

We also enhance the environments our residents live in, such as through the creation of the new Forest Park in OSK Iringan Bayu to promote biodiversity and outdoor recreation, the Community Park in Taman Lang Aman, Kedah to foster neighbourhood interaction and well-being, as well as the upcoming River Promenade at OSK Mori Park.

We do a lot of community-based activities, such as health screenings, to get the community together.

We’ve also adopted an Orang Asli village called Kampung Paya Mendoi. We helped build and repair the houses there and plan to return every year. In 2024, we built one house for a deserving person and upgraded the multipurpose hall. We also distributed food and other necessities.

The other social initiative is helping a school in Iringan Bayu that needed painting and upgrading work.

We encourage our staff to take regular breaks. We even offer an annual two-week rejuvenation leave for staff of certain levels who have worked [with us] for three years at least.

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