Interest towards residential, commercial and industrial properties in and around Iskandar Malaysia has been on the upward trend among Singaporeans in recent years, according to Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) president and chief executive officer Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar.
He said this was due to the significant presence of Singapore-based developers in the South Johor property market.
“The confidence of Singaporean property buyers towards the Iskandar growth prospect is at a new high and this will definitely benefit the property sector,” he said.
Abdul Wahid said the presence of the Singapore-based developers in South Johor also sent a strong signal to prospective property buyers from the republic that Iskandar was a good place for property buying.
He said this in a press conference at the launch of the bank’s two new syariah-compliant banking products to finance properties purchased in Malaysia by Singaporeans and Singapore permanent residents (SPRs).
The products are Islamic Home Financing for the purchase of residential properties and Islamic Commercial and Industrial Property Financing for commercial and industrial properties.
Both products are available for owner-occupied or investment properties and come with minimum financing of S$100,000 (RM248,266).
Also present at the event were Maybank Singapore chief executive officer Pollie Sim and Maybank Islamic Bhd chief executive officer and head of Islamic banking group Muzaffar Hisham.
Abdul Wahid said another strong reason that made Iskandar more attractive to Singaporean property buyers was the warm ties between Malaysia and Singapore,” added.
He said the strong commitment shown by Khazanah Nasional Bhd and Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd in the joint-venture projects in Iskandar and by the Federal and Johor governments further boosted the confidence level among Singaporean property buyers.
Muzaffar said its Singaporean customers had to get property financing dominated in the ringgit from the bank’s branches in Malaysia previously to buy properties in the country.
“The two new products are dominated in Singapore dollar as the income of our borrowers are in dollars,” he said.
Muzaffar added the financing would also help small and medium enterprises from the republic planning to relocate their operations or activities to Malaysia to purchase industrial properties in the country.
He said the products were targeted at Singaporeans and SPRs for the purchase of properties in Johor, Kuala Lumpur, Malacca and Penang.
