JOHOR BARU – A total of 11,512 units of serviced apartments costing upwards of RM500,000 around Johor Baru and Iskandar Puteri are unsold, said Johor’s Housing and Local Government executive councillor.
Datuk Mohd Jafni Md Shukor said, however, that the developers with the unsold residences have started to receive positive feedback from foreign buyers, especially from Singapore as house prices in the republic are reported to be among the most expensive in Asia Pacific this year.
“Local property buyers do not need to worry about this because the housing policy of Johor has stipulated that only properties worth RM1-million-and-above are offered to foreigners, including buyers from Singapore,” he said after the Public Draw for Rumah Transit Bangsa Johor (RTBJ) at Taman Kempas Utama here yesterday.
He said as many as 50 developers will participate in the Johor Housing Expo which will be held at Angsana Johor Bahru Mall here for four days starting July 27, thereby helping solve the overhang of unsold built homes in the state.
On May 6, Jafni was reported to have said that 80% of unsold residences in the state involved serviced apartments located around Johor Baru and Iskandar Puteri.
Meanwhile, he said it was estimated that 1,000 more RTBJ units will be built by the state government in the next five years following the pilot project at Taman Kempas Utama which received an overwhelming response of nearly 500 applications.
He said through the rent-to-own programme, selected individuals can rent for RM650 a month, with RM460 deducted as monthly rental while RM190 will be saved for five years where the accumulated savings will be used as a deposit to buy a new house. – Bernama, June 14, 2023
