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KOTA KINABALU: Sabah need to request for more funds from the federal government to improve its basic infrastructure as in doing so will help ‘stabilise’ the house prices in the state.

More infrastructures means more property developments, thus spur the related trades, hence the industry will certainly “boom”.

“This aspiration is achievable with proper long term planning and on time completion such as the ambitious Sabah Development Corridor, which is a very important piece of jigsaw to improve the future property development in Sabah,” said Sabah Housing and Real Estate Developer Association (Shareda) president Datuk Susan Wong Siew Guen in response to a burning question people often query her, “Why the house prices in Sabah have gone up so high now?”

“The reason to this was due to the lack of far-sighted planning in the past where we failed to address the need to implement major roads, highway and utility projects,” she said in her paper on ‘Trend of Property Development in Sabah’ at the 3rd Sabah Surveyors’ Congress.

“Nowadays, the price of lands especially in the urban areas has escalated because of the scarcity of land in these areas,” she said.

Among the factors that led to this rapid increment was the affluence lifestyle enjoyed by the oil palm operators and the demand in the property investments from the investors/developers from Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia.

“They are all interested in buying land in Sabah for property development or keeping it for capital gains,” she said.

The political stability in Sabah and the state diverse races living together harmoniously and peacefully which epitomizes the 1Malaysia concept as well as the exotic natural environment and beautiful sceneries which beckoned the tourism industry has attracted these investors to come to Sabah, she outlined.

“Needless to say, the high price of land has influenced the trend of the property developments in Sabah.”

For example, she said in order to make the price of property affordable in the central urban areas, building more high rise buildings with high density development is the answer, and to cater for the medium income group of buyers, “we need to build more smaller land lot sizes of landed property.”

For the high income group of buyers/investors their preferred choices are the expensive luxury condominiums, houses and the commercial shops in prime location of the central urban area.

“Despite an increase of interest in condominium living, local house buyers are still eyeing for landed properties such as terraces, semi-detached and detached houses at an affordable price where it can be done by moving the development away from central urban areas to sub-urban or out of town areas because the land price in these areas are a lot cheaper, thus enable the developers to provide bigger lot and floor areas at reasonable prices,” Susan noted.

In fact nowadays giving the scenario of two properties selling at a similar price but at different location, she said most of the house buyers especially those with families would fancy a spacious house with room for future extension even though the property is located in the outskirt area.

“These property owners don’t mind to spend some time on the road compared to a small apartment in a central urban location,” she said.

And now, to justify the investors’ demand, Sabah need to have the right development at right locations and this is always the key factor for a successful project.

“And since Sabah is blessed with a wonderful natural environment and romantic coastline we are never short of prime locations to entice the cash rich to invest their money.

“And these men of means have no hesitation to invest in luxury integrated development projects especially those in exclusive locations like the Royal Kinabalu Mountain Resort & Hotel Suites, which is at the fringe of Mount Kinabalu, a Unesco World Heritage site; the Nexus Karambunai resort home bungalows overlooking the beautiful sea views and romantic beach fronts; and the Kota Kinabalu City Waterfront, consisting of condominiums, shopping centre and hotel right at the heart of the city centre.

“The development of the resort hotels and high rise condominiums are always constructed nearby to complement each other. All these are the sought after homes for the cash-rich investors and they become the trendsetters,” she said.

Without second thought, these people have the confidence to invest in the integrated development project because they have the belief that the property value in prime location will certainly appreciate in near future, she added.

Nowadays, property buyers are very concern about the security aspect of their building, thus the concept of gated communities including high-rise and landed properties were conceived to offer quality living in a peaceful environment.

“This concept is a popular trend now where the common areas of the property development such as the open spaces, garden and all the facilities in the estates will be maintained and supervised, and all the property owners need to do is to pay for the maintenance fees collectively to enjoy the tranquility and security,” she said.

For gated communities that involved stratified titles or subsidiary title which is run and managed by a property consultant of a management corporation (MC), she believed the value of the property will definitely appreciate and enjoy a higher re-sale value and become a hotspot for property hunters if the MC can maintain the property well.

She hoped that property valuers will utilise their expertise to help the industry in addressing the issue of having good MC, in order to upgrade the values of properties of gated communities.

She also proposed to the government to enact a law for gated communities of the landed properties involved in the subdivided titles so that they also can enjoy the peaceful and safe living.