Iskandar Malaysia can tap overseas market

PETALING JAYA (Feb 10): Property prices in Johor’s Iskandar Malaysia is expected to drop in 2017 due to weak market sentiments and other challenges, but there are opportunities for developers to target buyers from overseas, said Landserve (Johor) Sdn Bhd executive director Wee Soon Chit.

“There will still be a slight downward adjustment in property prices this year,” he told TheEdgeProperty.com, adding that property prices have softened over the last two years with the most affected sector being serviced apartments.

Going forward, despite the catalytic projects in Iskandar Malaysia, namely the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail, the Johor Bahru-Singapore rapid transit system and Petronas Pengerang Integrated Petroleum Complex, there will be challenges such as the uncertain economy, the weak ringgit and, specifically, for newly completed properties, how to get occupants in, said Wee.

Wee will be speaking at the 10th Malaysian Property Summit 2017 organised by the Association of Valuers, Property Managers, Estate Agents and Property Consultants in the Private Sector Malaysia (PEPS) on Feb 23 at Sime Darby Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur.

In his presentation entitled “Regional market performance and outlook — southern region”, he will be sharing about the current issues and future outlook for Iskandar Malaysia, including the supply and demand in residential, industrial and retail markets, price and rental movements, and how China developers fare.

He noted that the projects rolled out by China developers in the southern region, such as Country Garden Holdings’ Forest City, are reported to be doing exceptionally well despite the weak market sentiment.

It means that there is still the overseas market to be tapped and one main factor is the comparatively cheap property prices here, he said.

Nevertheless, Wee believes that Singapore will continue to be one of the main buyers and occupiers of Iskandar Malaysia’s properties both in the short and long terms due to the geographical connection between Malaysia and Singapore.

He expects the landed residential properties with prices around RM800,000 per unit and high-rise residential properties of about RM600 psf in Iskandar Malaysia to do well this year.

“Landed properties, especially those priced RM800,000 per unit and below, have still been holding strong since the last two years, and there is still demand for more affordable houses in the future,” he added.

Meanwhile, the summit will see Raine & Horne International Zaki + Partners senior partner Michael Geh presenting his views on the northern region’s property market performance and outlook.

“There are plenty of opportunities in the northern region, but a serious development player must thoroughly understand the multi-tier layers of a development terrain to succeed,” he said, adding that the talk is expected to provide valuable information and enrich the knowledge of real estate players.

“Besides sharing the deep insights behind the National Property Information Centre’s figures, I will also swing into the predictive mode on the development activity and pricing movements of the market,” he said.

With the theme “Property as it moves into an era of possible rising global interest rates”, the summit will feature other prominent speakers including the Finance Ministry’s Valuation and Property Services Department director general Dr Rahah Ismail, Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd head of equity research Sarah Lim, Knight Frank Malaysia Sdn Bhd executive director Teh Young Khean, Savills (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd executive director Allan Soo, and Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association past president Datuk Ng Seing Liong, Khong & Jaafar Sdn Bhd managing director Elvin Fernandez, Rahim & Co International Sdn Bhd research and strategic planning director Sulaiman Akhmady Mohd Saheh and Taylor Hobbs principal consultant Liaw Lam Thye.