24 November, KUALA LUMPUR – When it comes to marketing a township development, the track record of a developer is an important criteria. However, it is ultimately the strategic marketing component that can make or break a development.
In the case of Albury 2 @ Mahkota Hills by UMLand, this important component had led to its recent win for ‘Best Affordable Housing Project’ at the recently concluded iProperty Development Excellence Awards (iDEA) 2017 held on16 November at Hilton Kuala Lumpur.
“Strategic marketing of a development encompasses many aspects ranging from building awareness of a project in a unknown location to creating online content, from understanding your target market to achieving high and fast conversion rate for all the bookings. We are honoured to have been the exclusive marketing partner for Albury 2 @ Mahkota Hills by UMLand Berhad, it has resulted in a winning for the developer, the buyers and inadvertently the Group” said Dr. Daniele Gambero, REI Group of Companies CEO.
Located in Negeri Sembilan, marketing Albury 2 @ Mahkota Hills initially proved to be challenging as the location, re-branded by REI Group as ‘Semenyih South’, was considered a backwater area. However, through strategic thinking and dedicated effort, the Group managed to transform ‘Semenyih South’ to an uber cool award-winning township development.
“When we took over the project in September 2015, we faced various challenges as Mahkota Hills in ‘Semenyih South’, was considered by everybody to be an isolated and inaccessible area. This was a huge hurdle we had to overcome when marketing Albury 1 first followed by Albury 2 as the target audience were primarily Gen Ys with very discerning tastes,” said Dr. Gambero.
However, through out-of-the-box strategic marketing campaigns such as endorsing the project through giving talks at expos, editorial, opinion pieces, high approval rate via its mortgage team and creating online content, the Group managed to sell 327 out of 331 single-storey terrace homes (Albury 1) and 206 out of 382 double storey terrace homes (Albury 2) by 2017 while transforming it into an award-winning township development.
“This is a remarkable achievement which would not have been possible without all team’s concerted effort,” added Dr. Gambero.
Albury 2 had beaten three other entries to emerge winner in the ‘Best Affordable Housing Project’ Albury 2’s category. Its win is particularly significant in light of the lack of affordable homes and demand-supply mismatch that are currently plaguing the Malaysian property market.
Malaysia currently faces an overhang in medium to high-end homes but where supply for affordable homes are few and far between. This had caused Putrajaya to announce a freeze approvals on luxury property developments since 1 November 2017 due to a glut in the sector. Johor has the largest share of unsold residential units, followed by Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Penang.
For years, REI group has been studying and analysing the actual demand for housing in Malaysia and championing affordable homes. This market segment had constituted the largest market share in terms of demand around the country since 2011. This demand is especially pronounced in highly urbanised areas such as KL, Greater KL and Klang Valley.
For Albury 1 and Albury 2’s success story, the strategic roles played by all parties (such as developer, main contractor, the developer’s construction team and its strategic marketing partner) have led to rewarding sales with almost all units fully sold by the time of delivery of Vacant Possession (VP). This win-win partnership with all parties had allowed us to avert the current housing crisis Malaysia is facing,” said Dr. Gambero
On 17 November, Bank Negara had issued statistics that showed that Malaysia currently faces a decade-high level of unsold units (130,690 units as of the first quarter of 2017). Of this, 83 per cent are those priced above RM250,000. 61 per cent of these unsold units are high-rise apartments.
“UMLand is a sustainable developer that builds according to market needs. For its Albury 1 and Albury 2 projects, more than 70 per cent of the buyers are genuine home owners while the remaining minority are investors. This ensures the sustainability of the development and capital appreciation for buyers. We are pleased to be a contributing factor to this award-winning township development,” said Dr. Gambero.
iProperty.com Malaysia, last week honoured 14 of the most outstanding developments in Malaysia at the iProperty Development Excellence Awards (iDEA) 2017. Close to 700 guests attended the award that is designed for innovators within the property industry players that are redefining landscapes, skyscapes & cityscapes across Malaysia.
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