UEM Iskandar homes: Singapore buyers make up 74% of non-Malaysian purchasers

 

Homes and clubhouse at East Ledang, one of the developments in Nusajaya in Iskandar Malaysia in the southern Johor state. Singaporean buyers make up 74 per cent of non-Malaysians who have purchased properties in Iskandar Malaysia developed by UEM Sunrise. Photo: The Straits Times/Nuria Ling

Singaporeans are streets ahead of any other group of foreigners snapping up property developed by UEM Sunrise at Iskandar Malaysia. They accounted for 74 per cent of purchases made at the various developments by non-Malaysians. Most Singaporean buyers are people who go to Johor frequently for business and those wanting a weekend home, said UEM Sunrise chief executive Wan Abdullah Wan Ibrahim on Thursday. “They buy more of the upmarket products, as foreigners can only buy units that are above RM500,000  (US$158,881), and they have been buying both landed homes and strata developments,” he added at a progress update of the Iskandar projects.

UEM Sunrise is the master developer of Iskandar’s Nusajaya area. Its developments include East Ledang, a 111-hectare project with bungalows and villas and several condominiums at Puteri Harbour, Iskandar’s answer to Singapore’s Keppel Harbour. UEM data shows that Singaporean buyers usually outnumber all other foreigners combined. At the Imperia project, Singaporeans made up 39.1 per cent of buyers, eclipsing even Malaysians at 24.3 per cent. Foreigners of other nationalities made up 36.6 per cent. At neighbouring condo Teega @ Puteri Harbour, 36.5 per cent were Singaporeans, 51.8 per cent were Malaysians and 11.7 per cent were of other nationalities.

A substantial proportion of non-Singaporeans who bought units in Iskandar have strong links to Singapore, Wan Abdullah noted. Many are Malaysians who live and work in Singapore, while others are expatriates or foreigners who visit often. “These are people who travel to Singapore regularly for various reasons, like health care, education for their children, business and commerce or for lifestyle.” The high number of investors flocking to Iskandar has pushed prices up considerably, he added. Prices of bungalows at UEM’s East Ledang development have surged 44 per cent on average in the resale market since 2011. Even so, prices in Iskandar are still much cheaper than in Singapore, Wan Abdullah noted. A 1,500 sq ft three-bedroom unit at the upcoming Marina One condominium in Singapore is likely to be “in the region of US$11 million (RM3.5 million)”, he said. “For RM11 million you can buy two swimming pool villas in East Ledang. These are villas of 5,500 square feet… sitting on land of about 10,000 square feet.

“You could buy two and still have some change left over for a penthouse at our Teega condominium in Puteri Harbour and still have enough change for a tour around the world with your family.”
UEM Sunrise is partnering Mapletree Investments to manage Marina One, which is being developed by M+S, the joint-venture vehicle between Khazanah Nasional and Temasek Holdings.

— 20 Sept 2013, The Straits Times / Asia News Network