SHAH ALAM: Kumpulan Hartanah Selangor Bhd (KHSB) is shifting emphasis to boutique projects due to oversupply of mass appeal properties in some locations.

Executive chairman Datuk Abdul Karim Munisar said affordable properties in some areas had reached saturation because developers had repeatedly targeted the segment over the past few years.

''We are moving away from affordable housing and are into boutique development because there is still a market for high-end properties,'' he said after launching KHSB's home ownership campaign here yesterday.

To mark its entry into the high-end market, Abdul Karim said KHSB would be launching its Templer Park Equestrian in August.

He said the project, on a 11-acre site, comprised 56 2½-storey semi-detached houses with prices from RM700,000.

Datuk Abdul Karim Munisar putting his signature to a board at the launch of KHSB home ownership campaign.

Also in the pipeline was the Templer Park Resort consisting of nine bungalows priced from RM1.8mil, he said.

Abdul Karim said another project aimed at the high-end market was its serviced apartments in Bangi, to be launched later this year.

He said there was a sizeable foreign population in Bangi due to the presence of big factories, but there were no condominiums.

Abdul Karim said KHSB, a unit of Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Bhd, had about RM45mil worth of unsold residential properties, including the Armada Putra apartments in Port Klang and the Astaka Heights condominiums in Cheras.

''The majority of our unsold properties are in the industrial segment,'' he said.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd general manager (consumer banking) Datuk Wan Ismail Wan Yusoh said the bank would provide loans of up to 135% and financing of 42 years for properties developed by KHSB.

Under its Baiti Cakna scheme, he said the profit rate started from 2% for the first year, 4% for the second year and 6.4% for the third year onwards.

Source : The Star 16/3/2006