Iskandar’s oversupply of homes? Well, 666k homes are needed actually.

News about Iskandar Malaysia are mostly negative, especially those which were widely shared. Remember the recent one which I felt that I had to write my personal comments against it? Read here:  That scary article about the US$100 billion Chinese investment in Iskandar  The positive ones are usually only reported in the local media and quietly forgotten. Well there’s another positive one. It’s a statement from the Tunku Mahkota Johor Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim. Reported in NST, he said, “I have been following the development of Iskandar Malaysia and we are now half way into the 20-year plan since Nov 2006. With a population of 1.7 million that is expected to increase to three million in 2025, we need 666,000 houses, so it is not true that there is an oversupply of 410,000 houses.”
In brief, as long as the population continues to grow and Iskandar hits three million in 2025, there are no oversupply of houses. I am not sure if the population numbers would also include some from across the causeway but the Singapore government has projected that its population should hit 6.9 million by 2030. Its current population stands at 5.66 million (countrymeters.info). In brief, 1.34 million new population within 14 years. Roughly 100,000 per year. Some of these new population may choose to stay in condominiums in Iskandar versus the HDB flats if there are convenient links between the two countries. As it is, even Singapore’s PM, Lee Hsien Loong hopes the SMEs would take advantage of Iskandar’s lower cost of operations to expand their businesses. Here:   Singaporean PM, SME, Iskandar
Tunku Ismail, who is the chairman of Fastrackcity shared three areas that Iskandar Malaysia would have to focus on. They are security, connectivity and work creation. These three areas would help Iskandar reach its goal and target by 2025. I do think security needs beyond beefing up. Whatever has been done should also be disseminated to the world because we can ask majority of any Singaporean today and their perception of Iskandar is that it’s unsafe. Connectivity is not just the high speed rail. It is also the  RTS makes more sense, HSR can wait Well, happy believing. As a Malaysian, I believe it too even if I do not own any high-rise in Iskandar yet.
written on 6 Dec 2016
Next suggested article:  Iskandar property price to surpass Greater KL