0 Bekasi Boom Encourages Metland to Seek Sales Surge

Property developer Metropolitan Land is aiming to grow its marketing sales by as much as 37 percent this year amid strong consumer demand to own homes and a steady rise in prices. Olivia Sudjoro, the corporate secretary of the company, said in a meeting with journalists on Tuesday that this year Metropolitan Land aimed to have Rp 1.1 trillion ($114 million) in marketing sales. Marketing sales refer to the sales of property units that are still under construction. Olivia was confident the company’s marketing sales would surpass its 2012 target of Rp 800 billion. 

She said most of the marketing sales at Metland would come from landed residential projects and from sales of commercial properties, including office buildings. Several sales will be derived from the company’s M Gold project, located in West Bekasi, which has a 15-floor office tower and 12-floor apartment building. In addition, the company has developed Grand Metropolitan, a shopping mall also being built in West Bekasi. Metland Puri in West Jakarta will also likely add significant sales to the company after it is relaunched this year. The company is selling 1,760 housing units in the first stage, after 783 units were sold in 2009. 

Nanda Widya, president director of Metland, said a price increase in Puri should also help boost sales revenue. “In five of our projects, the price of land rose by an average 20 percent to 30 percent, but in Puri, we believe it may be higher,” he said. The director did not provide any further details on the price. Olivia added that in 2009, the company sold houses in Metland Puri for an average price of Rp 1.9 million per square meter. Now those units are sold on the secondary market with prices higher than Rp 5 million per square meter. Meanwhile, Puri houses are typically priced at around Rp 20 million per square meter driven by the robust demand for residential property. 

Nanda said he believed that the sentiment in the property market would remain positive due to a strong demand for housing. He said Indonesia still required an additional 2 million units to fulfill the current population’s housing needs, while population is predicted to continue to grow. Shares in Metland closed steady at Rp 540 in Tuesday trading in Jakarta.

source : the jakarta globe