Singaporeans in Johor, buying landed and business parks

If I own a manufacturing business in Singapore today, I would be thinking way ahead and start investing in Johor Bahru / Iskandar. Alternatively, in Indonesia but it is impossible to keep trying to survive against the world just by operating within Singapore. In a recent article in The Star, the Johor Real Estate and Housing Developers Association (Rehda) branch chairman Hoe Mee Ling said that Singaporeans are looking for business parks that are near the highways and townships as the cost of setting up shops here is only about one-third the cost of operating in Singapore.
Besides that, they are also interested in landed homes too. Other factors why Singaporeans love landed and well designed business parks also include the geographical location, improvement of infrastructure, growing workforce and continuing investments. She also said something which I think makes real business sense. She said that the current economic and political climate may impact the progress of Iskandar Malaysia in the short term but this would be mitigated by Iskandar’s many other inherent advantages.
To be very direct, the inherent advantage is really because it’s next to Singapore and Singapore has always been voted one of the most expensive cities of the world today. One needs more investment, another needs a place to expand further as there’s really no other choice. If Singapore is not situated next to Iskandar, then this is definitely a white elephant. If Singaporeans should be investing in Iskandar, I think the opportunity is definitely there to buy first before they do? Selectively, please. Simply buying in whatever economic situation will still ‘hurt’ us. Happy believing.
written on 14 Nov 2015
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