BY ZAZALI MUSA

JOHOR BARU: There are pockets of opportunities in the Johor property market, especially in Iskandar Malaysia, despite the challenging year ahead for property developers.

Johor Real Estate and Housing Developers Association (Rehda) branch chairman Hoe Mee Ling said the association was cautiously optimistic on the market outlook for 2016 “but business remains as usual for us as the demand for properties is still there.”

“Demand for landed properties in southern Johor remains good, as there is still a large tract of land in Iskandar Malaysia for township development projects,” she told StarBiz.

“It is proven even when times are bad, there are still buyers out there with cash and surplus income looking for properties,’’ she said.

Hoe reckoned that first-time buyers in Iskandar Malaysia would go for double-storey terrace houses priced below RM800,000 each.

On the other hand, up-graders preferred a semi-detached houses or a bungalow with a price tag of RM1mil and above.

“Demand for industrial buildings is also on an upward trend as many Singapore SMEs are relocating to southern Johor as the cost of doing business here is lower compared to the republic,” she said.

Hoe said the hot spots for industrial buildings would be in the Pasir Gudang, Tebrau, Nusajaya and Senai-Kulai areas.

KGV International Property Consultants (M) Sdn Bhd director Samuel Tan Wee Cheng is of the opinion that the first-half of this year would not be “an exciting” period for developers.

“Many will utilise the first six months to plan for their new launches and also to monitor the market situation to have a better idea on the outlook for 2016,’’ he said.

Tan projected that developers in Iskandar Malaysia would focus on affordable landed residential properties below RM500,000 each, targeted at middle-income earners.

He said the hot spots for new launches for the affordable houses were in the Tebrau, Kempas, Skudai, Tampoi, Kulai and Senai areas.

Tan anticipated that the secondary market would do well as first-time house buyers and up-graders would go around looking for existing residential properties for sale.

He said they would be looking for properties priced between RM250,000 and RM500,000 in areas such as Tebrau, Kempas, Skudai, Tampoi and Kulai-Senai.