IPOH’S trademark taugeh chicken with kuey teow noodles is the city’s well-known street food, and some of its other delicious food include Ipoh sar hor fun, Ipoh salted chicken or yim kok kai (in Cantonese), Ipoh old white coffee, Ipoh hainanese chicken rice and rendang tok.
Despite having a population of more than half a million people, Ipoh still comes across as a small town offering relaxant panoramas, clean and fresh air, mountains where visitors can go for a one-day trekking, pleasant and exclusive environment with plenty of water features and natural lakes.
It is rather interesting to note that Ipoh has been named as one of the nine best places to retire in the world.
It is an affordable place to live for retirees and expatriates since the cost of living is generally lower, and the traffic condition is unlike that in Kuala Lumpur and Penang due to the lack of high-rise buildings in the town centre. More importantly, the property prices in Kuala Lumpur and Penang are extremely expensive, whereas property in Ipoh is a fraction of that.
For the past two years, housing and commercial estates have been mushrooming around Ipoh. What is responsible for the growth of this quaint, rustic town’s property market?
In an interview with Andaman Property Management Sdn Bhd’s managing director Datuk Seri Dr Vincent Tiew, he touched on this and other related matters.
“Generally, current perception among most of the non-Perakian is that Ipoh is the best place to retire.
IpohisknownastheCityofMillionaires,oneof the early cities in Malaysia where the population is getting richer.
Many of its people are migrating to cities such as Penang, Johor Baru or Kuala Lumpur to pursue higher education and they would likely remain at their place of studies.
In spite of this, more and more small
and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been set up in Ipoh since the
last 10 years, leading to a healthy growth of economic development. More
businesses, new shopping malls, F&B outlets and hotels are opening
up in Ipoh and during Chinese New Year or long holiday breaks, all the
hotels would be fully booked. Some people are even starting to look for
condominiums with facilities.
Tiew added that people now have more money to invest in property with full condominium facilities where they can spend quality time with family members. Kids wouldn’t get bored and due to the improvement in the standard of living, these families tend to stay back in their hometown for a longer period.
“In terms of property market, Ipoh didn’t experience high growth like Johor Baru or the Klang Valley. For Ipoh, property and land prices started to move and pick up only in the last 12 months.
“More than 24 months ago, the high-rise residential property demand in Ipoh was still weak, but there has been an increase in demand starting 2013. This was due to factors such as the security aspect as it is safer when one stays in a gated and guarded high-rise property.
“Many middle-upper level of high-rise properties have been built from 2010 onwards. They were priced from RM350,000 and above and have been attracting buyers. “From a developer’s point of view, after experiencing five years of solid growth, the Klang Valley property market is slowing down or remaining stagnant. I do not see any substantial growth for the next two years. Property development opportunities is now moving from the Klang Valley to Ipoh.
“Firstly, land prices in Ipoh is relatively cheap now. If one buys a piece of freehold land, it would only cost a fraction of the KL land price. The developer would be able to offer a good product to the buyers.
Tiew added that people now have more money to invest in property with full condominium facilities where they can spend quality time with family members. Kids wouldn’t get bored and due to the improvement in the standard of living, these families tend to stay back in their hometown for a longer period.
“In terms of property market, Ipoh didn’t experience high growth like Johor Baru or the Klang Valley. For Ipoh, property and land prices started to move and pick up only in the last 12 months.
“More than 24 months ago, the high-rise residential property demand in Ipoh was still weak, but there has been an increase in demand starting 2013. This was due to factors such as the security aspect as it is safer when one stays in a gated and guarded high-rise property.
“Many middle-upper level of high-rise properties have been built from 2010 onwards. They were priced from RM350,000 and above and have been attracting buyers. “From a developer’s point of view, after experiencing five years of solid growth, the Klang Valley property market is slowing down or remaining stagnant. I do not see any substantial growth for the next two years. Property development opportunities is now moving from the Klang Valley to Ipoh.
“Firstly, land prices in Ipoh is relatively cheap now. If one buys a piece of freehold land, it would only cost a fraction of the KL land price. The developer would be able to offer a good product to the buyers.
“For me, the land price in Ipoh is
still cheap. Even the Seremban property market is 18 to 24 months ahead
of Ipoh. One of the key points of smart investment is just like buying
shares where you buy as low a price as possible to get a good profit
margin. Coupled with the best location, the Ipoh property market started
to climb slowly since 2013.
“The reason why you do not see the property in Ipoh selling as fast as in the other cities in Malayisa is because property developers throughout the country have yet to come to Ipoh to carry out mass development,” said Tiew.
Tiew added that the new property in Ipoh is just enough to cater to the needs of the different levels of buyers, minus the scenario of supply exceeding demand.
“Since the property prices in Ipoh have been increasing at a slow and comfortable rate, investors are still able to enjoy good capital appreciation.
“The presence of retailers is a good indicator of the growth of a town. When there is no demand, retailers would not want to set up business there. There are three Aeon shopping malls in Perak and all of them are in Ipoh. What does that indicate?” said Tiew.
Ipoh has a nice water park and some unique projects, attracting tourists from home and abroad. In the works is an animation theme park in Merujaya, Perak, just 11km away from Ipoh city. Construction work has started and it is scheduled for completion in the next two years.
The animation theme park located along the PLUS highway is a collaborative project with DreamWorks, developedbySandersongroup together with the Perak government. It costs approximately RM450mil and is scheduled for openingin2017.
Animation theme park is envisioned to be a fun and exciting place where visitors get to immerse themselves in an “animation fun world”.
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“The reason why you do not see the property in Ipoh selling as fast as in the other cities in Malayisa is because property developers throughout the country have yet to come to Ipoh to carry out mass development,” said Tiew.
Tiew added that the new property in Ipoh is just enough to cater to the needs of the different levels of buyers, minus the scenario of supply exceeding demand.
“Since the property prices in Ipoh have been increasing at a slow and comfortable rate, investors are still able to enjoy good capital appreciation.
“The presence of retailers is a good indicator of the growth of a town. When there is no demand, retailers would not want to set up business there. There are three Aeon shopping malls in Perak and all of them are in Ipoh. What does that indicate?” said Tiew.
Ipoh has a nice water park and some unique projects, attracting tourists from home and abroad. In the works is an animation theme park in Merujaya, Perak, just 11km away from Ipoh city. Construction work has started and it is scheduled for completion in the next two years.
The animation theme park located along the PLUS highway is a collaborative project with DreamWorks, developedbySandersongroup together with the Perak government. It costs approximately RM450mil and is scheduled for openingin2017.
Animation theme park is envisioned to be a fun and exciting place where visitors get to immerse themselves in an “animation fun world”.
Posted on
