Creating opportunities for foreign investors

Dynamic real estate companies put environment concerns foremost in developing new areas of the country

As Malaysia's economy continues to reap the benefits of international partnerships, local property development firms are creating opportunities across the country for overseas investors. "Malaysia's property sector continues to attract foreign investors, and still has significant growth potential," says Datuk Syed Mohamed Bin Syed Ibrahim, president and CEO of Iskandar Investment Berhad. The company has played a key role in creating Iskandar Malaysia, a development region in Johor state that lies on Singapore's opposite shore across the Strait of Johor. Iskandar is a mix of brownfield and greenfield developments covering an area of around 2,200 square kilometers, three times the size of Singapore.

Datuk Syed Mohamed's role as CEO includes the strategic planning and development with federal and state agencies, global partners and other key stakeholders of a number of crucial and "catalyzing" projects that have contributed towards Iskandar Malaysia's ongoing growth.

He says that Iskandar Investment Berhad's mission is to imbed within Iskandar Malaysia strategic projects to turn almost 2,300 square kilometer development area into a world-class city by 2025. "This involves tapping into the Malaysian government's National Key Economic Areas (NKEA) and adopting several incentivized clusters such as infrastructure development, tourism and leisure, education, healthcare and wellness, and the creative industries to drive population and business growth. Iskandar Investment has also created Edu-City?, a broad multi-campus community that has attracted the attention of some of the most renowned foreign universities from Australia, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands; we also welcome Chinese universities to be part of this ambitious program."

Iskandar is flanked by five ports, three in Malaysia and two in Singapore, and is close to two airports, one in Malaysia and the other in Singapore. It also sits between two major highway bridges linking Malaysia and Singapore.

One of the area's premier developers, Berinda Properties, a member of the Kuok Group, has been hard at work bringing first-class residences to Johor Bahru, the capital city of Johor state. Berinda Properties has played a pivotal role in making Johor Bahru the essential commercial hub of southern Peninsular Malaysia, by providing high quality properties to investors.

Frank S.K. Goon, Berinda Properties' group managing director and CEO, who believes that a green approach defines a developer vision, highlights the company's commitment to sustainability: "Green development is our core value in order to provide the best living environment. We always adapt the development to the market and to the environment. One of our developments, the Molek Pine Tower, received, as the first high-rise in Malaysia, platinum status in the Green Building Index, which is the highest status that a building can achieve," he explains.

Mr. Goon says that Berinda Properties' is attracting many international investors and that around half of buyers are non-Malaysian. "For example, a Japanese group recognized the potential and advantages of living in Johor Bahru. We are also looking to attract more European investors. In the past, Malaysia has always been too far away to be of interest to European investors. More positive news about Malaysia should reach them in order to inform Europeans about our developments and standards of living. Nowadays Malaysian standards of living are similar to [those] in Europe," he points out.

The capital, Kuala Lumpur, is also continuing to attract foreign and domestic investment, while the government is working to establish it as a regional business hub.

But Kuala Lumpur is not as cheap as it used to be, and property prices have more than doubled in the last five years, according to local developers like Dato' Dr. Eng Wei Chun, managing director of Orando Holdings, a boutique property developer company that has built six upscale housing projects over the last decade and is looking to expand its expertise in the City of London.

Nevertheless, property in Malaysia is still among the cheapest in the region, says Dr. Eng: "Malaysia's population is still young and growing. The Malaysian government is trying to [transform] Kuala Lumpur [into] an international business hub. Due to this, a lot of [infrastructure] is being built up in the city together with many healthy commercial activities. I believe Malaysian properties have a bright future and that there will be significant demand. I believe that the Malaysian property sector has a lot of products and concepts with great opportunities. This is a very high-selling point for Malaysian property developers, and of course in the future, [at Orando Holdings], we will build more quality and good lifestyle homes. The most important thing is for investors to appreciate property value."

Orando Holdings recently received two awards: one for Quality Leadership from the Swiss-based European Society of Quality Research, and another for Property Excellence from the Chinese Media Group Sin Chew Daily. "This recognition has helped us to play a vital role in the Klang Valley, Kuala Lumpur, ranked by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) as the second-most competitive global city in Southeast Asia, and is home to the world's top industry players and the regional operations of numerous global brands," says Dr. Eng.

(China Daily European Weekly 11/28/2014 page16)