Kuala Lumpur, August 5, 2013 – Motivated by cooling measures recently introduced by the Singaporean government, Singaporeans continue to view properties across the Causeway favourably, especially in the key locations of the Iskandar region, Johor and traditional hotspots such as Kuala Lumpur.
The PropertyGuru Malaysia Property Show (MPS) in Singapore, held on July 13-14, saw over 2155 Singaporean visitors with over RM30.1 million transacted from more than 30 units sold.
This was followed suit by the inaugural Malaysia Property Show in Johor (MPS JB) held the subsequent weekend on July 27-28, which saw over 1349 visitors transacting a total of RM18.3 million in sales from over 20 units sold.
“A total of RM 48.4 million in sales was transacted in just two weekends as a result of our Malaysia Property Shows in Singapore and Johor. This is a telling sign that Malaysia properties are still highly sought after,” said Gerard Kho, Country Manager, PropertyGuru Malaysia.
“Reception for the first Malaysia Property Showcase in Johor was especially positive as it was the first time visitors were able to visit the actual showroom gallery or the site of the property before purchasing. Shuttle buses were provided from the event venue and pick up was also available from Singapore to Johor,” mentioned Kho.
Among factors fuelling demand are higher property prices in Singapore, existing cooling measures and most recently, the introduction of a new Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) that requires Singaporean loan providers to take borrowers' other outstanding debts into account before granting property loans.
“The momentum for Malaysian properties among Singaporeans remains strong. What’s interesting is that we notice a growing interest in Iskandar Malaysia.This shows that Singaporeans are well aware of the developments occurring in Johor and believe in the future prospects of the area."
“It also appears that KL and Penang are now competing with Iskandar Malaysia for the overseas property investor dollar,” shared Steve Melhuish, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of PropertyGuru Group.
Statistics from the MPS show an almost equal number of sales transactions for both landed and high-rise residential units.
“With space being a premium in Singapore, it makes perfect sense for Singaporeans to choose Iskandar Malaysia when looking for more spacious condos or even landed properties. However, we need to look beyond just transaction numbers."
“There are key insights and buying trends happening that are indicative of the bigger property landscape and how Malaysia and Singapore are connected via the Iskandar region,” added Melhuish.
Receiving strong support from Malaysian property developers, both MPS saw participating developers including leading names such as UM Land, UEM Land, Country Garden, OSK Property, Tropicana Danga Cove and Tropicana Danga Bay, KIP Group, Land & General Berhad, HCK Capital Group, Tanah Sutera, Mah Sing, Zhuoyuan Iskandar and Bandar Utama Development Berhad .
“The event has given us a head start on the potential buyer’s needs and expectations. 200 potential buyers have since registered their interest for the Medini Lakeside development by UM Land in Iskandar, Johor,” said Hiew, Deputy General Manager of UM Land.
The Malaysia Property Shows are part of PropertyGuru's monthly international event platform which showcases properties from cities across Asia, leveraging on the popularity of online property search and actual on-ground investments to enable property investors to make smarter property decision faster.
-ENDS-
About PropertyGuru Malaysia
Propertyguru.com.my is the fastest growing property portal in the country with offices in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor. The Malaysian portal currently has over 1.5 million visitors viewing almost 12 million property pages monthly.
PropertyGuru Malaysia reported a 2.5 times growth in revenue in 2012, attributed to a large growth in agent members, real estate developers and bank clients as well as a rise of 132% in website visitors to reach more than 11 million in comparison to the same period at the end of the previous year.
2012 also saw PropertyGuru taking the lead in the mobile space in Malaysia with the triple launches of PropertyGuru Malaysia’s consumer mobile app on Android and iPhone platforms as well as the Agent app on Android. The mobile apps have proved to be highly popular since launching in Q3 2012, with both consumers app receiving more than 77,700 downloads within three short months alone, with over 20% of all PropertyGuru users are now using mobile phone or tablet to visit the website in Malaysia.
About PropertyGuru Group
PropertyGuru Group is Asia’s leading online property portal group used by almost 11 million property buyers, viewing over 89 million property pages and generating over 350,000 enquiries for real estate developer and agent advertisers – every month.
Headquartered in Singapore, PropertyGuru was founded in 2006 by 2 entrepreneurs with a vision to simplify the property search process and help buyers, sellers and investors make better property decisions faster. Taking advantage of Asia’s growing affluence, property demand and online explosion, it received its first VC investment funding in 2008 and most recently secured approximately $60m investment in 2012 from Deutsche Telekom, South East Asia’s largest digital investment to date. Since its launch, PropertyGuru has reported rapid growth and most recently announced a record 96% increase in revenue, 60% increase in internet users and 50% increase in paying agent advertisers to 24,000 – in 2012.
For more queries or to arrange for an interview, contact:
Sally Yeow
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Email: sally@mustardtree.com.my
Jade Wong
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Email: jade@mustardtee.com.my
Joshua Rayan
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Email: josh@wordswizards.com
Adam Rahman
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Email: adam@allproperty.com.sg