Medini Iskandar stops land sales amid concerns of housing glut
Date：2015/03/20
![]()
The master-planner for Medini, which is the designated central business district of Nusajaya, was forced to stop land sales amid concerns of an oversupply in residential property in Iskandar Malaysia.
According to Medini Iskandar Malaysia Sdn Bhd (MIMSB) managing director and CEO Khairil Anwar Ahmad, the Board decided to develop the commercial plots instead, which account for 50 percent of the 55 unsold plots.
“The last thing we want to do is to cannibalise the market. Most of the developers who have bought land in Medini are developing residential properties so that’s the last thing we want to do,” said Khairil.
“We would rather work with them to make them successful because their success is Medini’s success,” he added.
Notably, MIMSB is 60 percent owned by Iskandar Investment Berhad, while the remaining 40 percent is equally held by Japan’s Mitsui & Co Ltd and Dubai’s United World Infrastructure.
In 2013, it completed the development of Medini 6, which has a total gross floor area of 80,000 sq ft of office space. It is expected to complete its second office project, Medini 7, this year. To date, MIMSB is developing tow other high-rise office buildings given the demand for quality office space within Medini.
Meanwhile, Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA), which is the statutory authority that regulates and drives Iskandar Malaysia’s development, has down played fears of the looming property glut.
IRDA’s senior vice-president for strategic communications Khaidzir A Rasip said while the influx of mega projects by Chinese property developers in Iskandar was not expected, they expect the developers “to do their own research to ensure that whatever they supply will match the demand.”
However, he believes that a property supply overhang will unlikely happen given the government’s conscientious efforts to drive economic activity in Iskandar Malaysia.
“We have to work even harder to bring in the investments to ensure that economic activities actually happen. With that, then we can increase the population and create the demand for the properties,” he said.