KUALA LUMPUR: The worst may be over for the property market with no further cooling measures expected, said Mah Sing Group Bhd group managing director Tan Sri Leong Hoy Kum.

Various indicators were pointing to the market reaching a turning point soon, he said.

He noted that the contraction of residential property transactions had bottomed out, with slower contraction in the fourth quarter of last year compared with the second and third quarters.

“House prices are also unlikely to contract and are likely to grow at low-mid single-digit levels,” said Leong at Invest Malaysia 2016, here, yesterday.

He said Mah Sing expected to maintain its sales target of RM2.3 billion this year. Last year, the property developer set a sales target of RM3 billion but revised it downwards to RM2.3 billion in August.

“We did anticipate the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax was going to impact us but what we did not factor in was its multiple effects, the depreciating price of crude oil and the currency volatility,” he added.

Although the group was impacted in the first three quarters of last year, there was a rebound in the final quarter, which enabled it to achieve the RM2.3 billion sales target.

“We are expecting this trend to continue this year. As at March, we achieved RM408 million in sales,” said Leong. The Greater Kuala Lumpur/Klang Valley is expected to contribute to the lion’s share of sales this year at 69 per cent.

The rest will come from Johor, Penang and Sabah. The group has a cash pile of RM1.4 billion, the highest in its history, with a net gearing of 0.04 times, as of the end of last year.

It has RM4.75 billion in unbilled sales, equivalent of 1.7 times the revenue recognised from the property division last year.

The group has 35 projects in the pipeline with a combined gross development value of RM28.32 billion, enough to keep it busy for eight to nine years.

“For the next two years at least, we will be focusing on affordable housing as there is a demand for it,” said Leong.