W

ith their marketing sales in the third quarter showing little sign of improvement amid the current sluggish economic situation, major listed developers may revise their full-year targets.

The country'€™s largest township developer, Bumi Serpong Damai (BSD), as well as high-rise and middle- to higher-end property company Agung Podomoro Land (APL) said that while they were banking on projects to come later this quarter, target revisions might be inevitable if market conditions are not conducive to launching projects.

BSD'€™s director and corporate secretary, Hermawan Wijaya, said that as of September the company had wrapped up Rp 4.5 trillion (US$326.8 million) in marketing sales, from a full-year target set at Rp 7.5 trillion.

Hermawan said his company was optimistic that it could meet its full-year target with three new apartment complexes to be launched this year, expected to help the company generate Rp 1.4 trillion before
year-end.

The high-rise properties include the Element complex in Kuningan, South Jakarta, which is expected to earn Rp 700 billion from marketing sales, and two other projects also in Jakarta.

However, Hermawan added that while the launch of Element would certainly go ahead this year, the company was still studying market conditions before deciding on the launch of the other two projects.

'€œIf by the end of October the market is still down, we might reschedule the launches for next year. If so, we might be prompted to revise our target,'€ he said.

Meanwhile, property group Ciputra Development is considering lowering its target for the second time this year.

Last month, Ciputra cut its marketing sales target from Rp 10.9 trillion to Rp 9.48 trillion, mainly as a result of a slowdown in high-rise and office property sales.

The company'€™s finance director and corporate secretary, Tulus Santoso, said Ciputra'€™s third-quarter sales stood at Rp 5.3 trillion. The company was also studying the possibility of another revision toward year-end if the current market conditions prevailed, he said.

Of the company'€™s 13 projects planned for this year, Ciputra still had five projects that were yet to be launched, Tulus said. '€œActually, the infrastructure and the lots for the outstanding projects are all set. However, we will only launch them if demand picks up,'€ he said.

Property developers held off expansion in the first half of the year due to the lackluster market, economic slowdown and rumors that the government would issue a number of tax regulations that would limit growth in the sector.

APL, for instance, has postponed launching its projects until next year. These include an industrial estate in Karawang, West Java, as well as a superblock in East Jakarta.

APL booked only Rp 1.4 trillion of marketing sales as of August, far below its full-year target of Rp 6.5 trillion, and no projects have been launched or will be launched this year, according to investor relations spokesman Wibisono.

'€œWe'€™ll look at our September sales. If they aren'€™t good enough we might cut our target by half,'€ he said.