Malaysia eyes digital living

July 28th 2011
http://www.property-report.com


UEM Land Holdings Berhad and Iskander Investment Berhad are working together with Cisco to develop a 24,000 acre ‘smart’ digitally connected city, Nusajaya on the southwestern tip of the Malaysian peninsula.

The project is supported by the government which is working on a Digital Malaysia masterplan to create a more integrated, innovative and interconnected economy.

The plan is focused on information and communications technology (ICT) and services and the companies’ goal is to establish Nusajaya as a world-class benchmark for the design, building and operations of a sustainable, networked and efficient city.

“In addition to providing a solid foundation for businesses to thrive, integration of the latest technologies will [...] enhance the quality of life of residents,” said Datuk Syed Mohamed Syed Ibrahim, president and CEO of Iskandar Investment Berhad. “Families will enjoy the convenience of real-time access to public services from the comfort of their own homes such as medical consultations and video conferencing.”

Cisco aims to help the process with its Smart+Connected Communities architecture, which is based on the idea that integrated operations and communications can help homes, schools, transportation systems and more run more efficiently and provide better lifestyles for people.

Rising prices in Singapore has investors eyeing Malaysia

5th August 2011
http://www.property-report.com/

As real estate prices in Singapore continue to spiral upwards, investors of the city-state are beginning to turn their attention towards cheaper pastures. According to recent research from Property Guru, as many as 37 per cent of respondents in a survey of Singaporean investors said that they are considering investing in the housing market of northern neighbor Singapore, says the International Business Times.

The 37 per cent figure makes Malaysia the most popular international destination for Singaporean buyers, and with good reason. Speaking with Channel News Asia, director of Singapore Tenancy Management Tom O’Reilly praised the Malaysian property market. “Malaysia as a country has extremely strong fundamentals and the property market in Malaysia tends to be a lot less volatile than Singapore,” he said.

In addition to the 37 per cent eyeing Malaysia, nearly half of the study said they would consider not just investing, but outright purchasing property outside of Singapore.

Johor in all-out war against vice activities

JOHOR BARU - Johor police are on an all-out war against vice activities and online gambling syndicate in the state.

State police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Mohd Mokhtar Mohd Shariff said a task force had been set up to tackle the issue, adding that special branch and disciplinary officers were involved.

"The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) would also be included especially in handling secret or sensitive operations.

"This task force will be under a committee headed by me," he said in his speech during the state police monthly assembly here yesterday.

DCP Mohd Mokhtar said widespread vice and gambling activities had prompted the police to act, adding that the failure of the police ito handle it was being questioned.

DCP Mohd Mokhtar assured that the police would step up the effort to achieve its Key Performance Index (KPI).

"Even though the state crime index has fallen to 2.11% while street crimes have decrease to 6.07%, I am still not satisfied," he said, adding that the focus should be on crime prevention at hotspot areas.

DCP Mohd Mokhtar reminded his officers to increased their efficiency with a "quicker response time."

M'sia govt to tackle cost of living in new Budget

By Rozanna Latiff

KUALA LUMPUR: Budget 2012 will focus on tackling the rising cost of living, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said yesterday.

He acknowledged that the global increase in prices had begun to affect the majority of the population to varying degrees, but promised that the government would find ways to slow its effects.

"We will devise the best strategies to ease the rakyat's burden while managing the country's economic development," he wrote on www.1malaysia.com.my.

These strategies, he said, included plans to expand people-focused initiatives such as the 1Malaysia Clinic, Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia and, most recently, the 1Malaysia Rakyat Menu, a programme encouraging food vendors to offer a package menu with a maximum price of RM2 for breakfast and RM4 for lunch at participating restaurants.

"The government will continue to provide subsidies for daily travel, meals and health bills." Najib said that while many Malaysians were feeling the pinch, many were unaware that prices were rising dramatically throughout the world because of a combination of factors, affecting poor and developing countries the most.

These factors included the rise in prices of fuel and food in 2007 and 2008 as well as unpredictable weather conditions as a result of climate change, leading to poor crops and a shortage of essential produce such as wheat and sugar.

Najib said production shortfalls in major exporting countries such as Russia, Canada and Australia led to lower exports, causing panic buying in the market and forcing prices up.

"Malaysians must face the fact that world prices are unlikely to return to the levels of five years ago." He said the cabinet had agreed to make tackling the rising cost of living the seventh National Key Result Area (NKRA) on July 27, exactly two years after six NKRAs were identified as the core of the Government Transformation Programme to improve the government delivery system and address the needs of the people.

The six NKRAs are reducing crime, fighting corruption, expanding access to quality and affordable education, raising living standards of low-income households, improving basic rural infrastructure and improving urban public transportation.

M'sia's Iskandar plan may aid S'pore housing market

SINGAPORE: Malaysia's ambitious Iskandar development in southern Johor may have a spin-off effect that would eventually aid Singapore's crowded housing market.

It may even help cool prices, as foreign investment meets increased demand for services and homes.

A plan for seamless connectivity from Johor Baru, Malaysia, to Woodlands in Singapore by 2018, is an attractive allure for investors.

Funds are pouring in, in the hope the development will yield economic benefit.

Singapore has invested some US$153 million (RM 463 million) into the services, education and health sector of the Iskandar Malaysia development, and analysts say further down the line, this will have a positive impact on the Singapore economy.

CIMB Research economist Song Seng Wun said: "If we do have at our doorstep an increased pool of qualified knowledge based labour force, we may be able to tap on that pool, bring them to Singapore and add to Singapore's productivity growth prospect, going forward.

"So if those two investments in those two areas were to work out over the near term, I think it could lead to more significant investment from the Singapore side.

"So I think while the outlook is positive, there are still perhaps many hurdles along the way before we can say we are going to get a significant upgrade with regard to property being moved to a higher plain in Johor.

"That could mean the pressure on property in Singapore could be alleviated because there is certainly now a much more viable option in Johor as a result of the improved communication, logistic network, the whole landscape as an alternative for Singaporeans to base themselves in Johor either for home or for business."

Singapore has already implemented measures to cool booming property prices, and the government may get some help in calming the market, now that the Iskandar project is open for investment.

Credit Suisse analyst Tan Ting Min said Malaysia will benefit from stronger investments from Singapore while Singapore could operate out of Iskandar, which has good infrastructure, and relatively cheaper land and labour.

"Hence, we expect the land price arbitrage to narrow from the current estimated 1-to-16 ratio.

"How quickly this land price arbitrage narrows depends very much on how quickly Singaporeans adopt the idea of moving their manufacturing bases to Johor," Tan added.

"I think we are realistically talking about something that is still in the works, perhaps a decade or more before we can really talk about Johor as a real hinterland," Mr Song said.

KPMG corporate finance partner Vishal Sharma said: "I think in terms of the land price arbitrage I expect you would see the Iskandar land prices going up,

"I don't particularly envisage Singapore land prices... coming down so the arbitrage will narrow but I don't think that it is ever going to go away. But yes, I expect that the arbitrage is going to narrow."

-CNA/wk

Johor second half outlook positive

08 AUGUST 2011

THE outlook for the Johor property market is likely to remain positive in the second half of the year based on the number of property transactions taking place in the state.

Johor Real Estate and Housing Developers Association (Rehda) branch chairman Simon Heng says its members who took part in the Malaysia Property Expo (Mapex) events recorded a 15% increase in sales.

Some 33 developers who participated in the four-day event held in last November raked in RM331mil in sales over a one-month period and the figure jumped to about RM384mil in Mapex held in May 2011.

“Our members reported better sales in the first half of the year and expect the momentum to continue in the second half of 2011,'' Heng says in an interview with StarBizWeek.

The 30-day period starting from the first day of Mapex is the benchmark used by Rehda to determine the value of sales by participating developers. There were several contributing factors that drove demand for properties in the Johor property market this year especially in the Johor Baru district.

As the pulse of the state, the Johor Baru district has the highest concentration of Johor-based and non-Johor-based developers compared with other districts such as Batu Pahat, Kluang, Muar and Segamat.

Sweetener: Johor Baru’s close proximity with Singapore has attracted buyers to properties in Iskandar Malaysia.

Price uptrend

“Many property buyers in Johor Baru are anticipating prices of properties will rise and have decided to make their purchase before the prices escalate again,'' says Heng.

He says the economic recovery meant that consumer confidence was returning after a two-year low period following the global recession sparked off by the US subprime crisis and European financial woes in 2008 and 2009.

Iskandar Malaysia, Heng says, is another main factor that contributed to the positive growth in the Johor Baru property market as it helps to boost demand for houses in the area.

Prior to the inception of Iskandar Malaysia in November 2006, demand for high-end residential properties was best described as lacklustre, but now demand for such properties is on the uptrend. It is common to see developers with projects in Iskandar Malaysia selling their double-storey link-house from RM350,000 up to RM450,000 each. The units are selling like hot cakes.

“Shophouses are also selling well and reports from our members show that a lot of buyers from Kuala Lumpur are buying the shophouses as investment,'' he says.

Heng: ‘Shophouses are also selling well.’

Heng says many of the buyers consider prices of shophouses in Johor Baru are much lower than those in Kuala Lumpur and that they would make good investments in view of the development taking place within Iskandar Malaysia.

Iskandar Malaysia covers 2,219 sq km located in the southernmost part of Johor and divided into five flagship development zones the Johor Baru City Centre, Nusajaya, Eastern Gate Development, Western Gate Development and Senai-Kulai.

Heng says even prices of properties in the Senai-Kulai area, on the northern part of the Johor Baru district which was one described as “hulu” or remote, are going up due to better accessibility and connectivity. A single-storey terrace house at Bandar Putra Kulai by IOI Properties Bhd launched in June 2010 was priced RM130,000 each and sold for RM200,000 in June this year. The two-storey link house in the same housing scheme which was sold at RM189,00 a unit in June last year, was going for RM269,000 each in June this year.

“Iskandar Malaysia is now gaining momentum with many ongoing projects by both the public and the private sectors at several stages of development,'' says Heng.

He says the completion of the New Coastal Highway, the Eastern Dispersal Link Expressway and the Southern Link next year would improve accessibility and connectivity within Iskandar Malaysia; hence help to push demand for properties.

The Kempas-Tebrau, Mount Austin, Nusajaya and Kulaijaya areas are expected to be the property hot spots with several projects to be launched within the next one to two years.

Investment boost

Meanwhile, KGV International Property Consultants (M) Sdn Bhd director Samuel Tan Wee Cheng says the property sector constitutes 30% of the total committed investments while the manufacturing sector makes up about 40%.

He says although the Iskandar Regional Development Authority (Irda) wants the services sector to be the forefront, the manufacturing and the property sectors are still the main contributors to the cumulative investments in Iskandar Malaysia.

Irda chief executive officer Ismail Ibrahim says that as of June 2011, Iskandar Malaysia has received about RM95bil in committed investments, up from RM73bil in the first quarter of the year.

He says that while Iskandar Malaysia is a main factor that pushed demand for high-end properties, the stakeholders must ensure that buyers who could not afford them are not left out.

“It is good for developers to be able to sell high-end properties especially to foreigners but we need to have a balanced approach to ensure locals are not sidelined in the name of progress,'' says Tan.

Rising demand

He says demand for properties in Johor Baru was up in the first half of the year as many prospective buyers missed the opportunity to buy the properties at lower prices due to the 1998 and 2009 economic recession.

Typically, buying a property would be the last option most people would consider committing to during economic uncertainties given concerns over job security.

“The moment the economy starts to show signs of recovery, those who missed the boat earlier will invest in properties as properties are always a good hedge,'' he says.

Tan says confidence in Johor is now at all time high especially with the progress made by Iskandar Malaysia since its inception five years ago, although many are sceptical in the early days on whether it would take off successfully.

Tan says the property sector constitutes 30% of total committed investments.

He says that as the Government-backed economic growth corridor in the country, Iskandar Malaysia has strong backing from the Government in terms of funding for infrastructure development projects.

“Road upgrading and new road projects within Iskandar Malaysia will improve accessibility and connectivity and buyers will look at other locations which were previously unpopular,'' says Tan.

For instance, Rawang and Shah Alam in Selangor used to be out of the radar among property buyers in the Klang Valley but now, buyers are flocking there as better infrastructure has turned them into preferred locations.

Tan says foreign investors, who were largely interested in Singapore and the Klang Valley, are also gradually turning their gaze to Iskandar Malaysia. A definite sweetener is Johor Baru's close proximity with Singapore which has attracted buyers especially Singaporeans to properties in Iskandar Malaysia. “Like it or not as close neighbours, Johor and Singapore complement each other in economic activities due to a long history of economic interdependence,'' says Tan.

With the republic's investment arm Temasek Holdings showing its serious commitment to invest in Iskandar Malaysia, more Singapore property players such as Mapletree and CapitaLand would likely invest in the property sector here.

Tan hopes that the Government will take a proactive step to correct the misconception that Iskandar Malaysia is Nusajaya as there are other areas that need equal attention in terms of infrastructure projects and investment flows.

Iskandar Malaysia could rival KL for property investors

Homeguru.my
August 4th


As property prices in Singapore hit their peak, more investors from the Republic are venturing into overseas property, with Kuala Lumpur as one of their favourite destinations.

However, Khalil Adis, a property expert and regular contributor to HomeGuru, believes “there is a limit on how much capital appreciation properties in KL can achieve as the property market has become too saturated.”

He noted that the next frontier in property investment is Iskandar Malaysia.

Although still a relatively new and untested market, Khalil said, “Iskandar Malaysia will rival Kuala Lumpur and set the benchmark for real estate in Malaysia.”

Many property developers are now acquiring land parcels in Iskandar Malaysia for development and more property launches are also in the pipeline, including the launch of 1Medini Residences in Medini North this year and the completion of the new Coastal Highway.

Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia (NUMed) in EduCity has already opened its doors and three more developments — Netherlands Maritime Institute of Technology, the International Student Village and a stadium and sports complex — are set to open this year.

“Next year, LEGOLAND Malaysia will be officially launched, where a MRT station has already been planned next to it,” said Khalil.

In addition, the Singapore and Malaysian government have signed a deal to improve connectivity between Singapore and Iskandar Malaysia, which will boost investors’ confidence.

“Come 2018, this region will be buzzing once the planned Rapid Transit System (RTS) between Singapore and Johor Bahru, served by a single co-located CIQ facility, is completed.”

Recently, Singapore's Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced the extension of the country's East-West MRT line to Tuas, as well as the plan to build a station in Woodlands that will integrate the upcoming Thomson Line (TSL) with the proposed RTS link between Singapore and Johor Bahru.

“This will increase accessibility across the Johor-Singapore Causeway between Tuas, Woodlands and Johor Bahru,” Khalil said.

“With tourism and education as among the key drivers of the region’s economy, the Malaysian government has this time shown a lot more follow through to ensure the success of Iskandar Malaysia.”