SKUDAI (June 8): Landed homes on the secondary market priced between RM300,000 and RM600,000 are continuing to see strong demand in Johor, said Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents (MIEA) Johor branch chairman Liew Toh Sen (pictured, below).

“We have seen the trend there in the past half year, people are sourcing for secondary properties in the mature market for a few reasons. [The first reason] is that [the] location [is good]; the other is that [there is] more choice and third is because of the price. [Houses priced] from about RM300,000 to RM600,000 [are] still in very high demand, and [demand] is still growing,” he told The Edge Financial Daily yesterday.

He added that properties within this price range are not available in Johor’s primary market due to higher construction and land costs.

“The price set by the developers is at a reasonable level of about RM1 million [given the design, workmanship and materials]. But it is not affordable for first-home purchasers,” he said.

Liew noted that buyers would be able to find homes within this price range in areas such as Senai, Pasir Gudang, Kota Masai and Puteri Wangsa, which are around 20km from Johor Baru’s central business district.

Out of the RM2.5 billion worth of properties offered at the Malaysian Secondary Property Exhibition (Maspex) Johor Baru, Liew expects 15% to be sold within a month, which is a satisfactory figure considering prevailing market conditions, such as lending curbs and the real property gains tax.

He was speaking on the sidelines of the Maspex, an annual event organised by MIEA to promote secondary market properties in attractive locations for owner-occupiers and investors.

He said the three-day exhibition at Sutera Mall is expected to draw 15,000 visitors.

Maspex will also be held in Penang in August and in Kota Kinabalu in October, Liew said.

The exhibitors include real estate agencies, property services firms and financial institutions such as Malayan Banking Bhd, which is the main sponsor for the event.

One of the exhibitors is theedgeproperty.com, a new one-stop property portal by The Edge Media Group which features news, listings, and a full range of analytical tools which include indicative valuations, past transactions, rental rates, trends, hotspots, and new project launches.

The booth drew many property agents and negotiators who signed up to list their properties as well as to use the free and exclusive agent tools on the portal.

Singapore billionaire entrepreneur and Valencia CF football club owner Peter Lim recently took up a 20% stake in the new portal — launched May 7 — for an undisclosed consideration.

Maspex took place amid a backdrop of cautious sentiment stemming from negative press surrounding the state’s property market.

At a press conference on June 5, Iskandar Regional Investment Authority CEO Datuk Ismail Ibrahim said despite the negative sentiment, the state has continued to experience rapid economic growth since 2006.

He added that various sectors — including tourism, creative, logistics, healthcare and education — had generated over 500,000 jobs within the state to date, which in turn fuelled demand for property.

 

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