How could it be? There are no huge industries. It is not an education hub. Even tourists are few and fellow Malaysians said Ipoh is a city for the old folks. The airport is so small that no one knows Ipoh has an airport! Private hospitals? Yea, as if the patients would want to fly into KLIA, then take a 4 hour journey to Ipoh just to reach the private hospitals? My mum was very excited because it was a neighbour’s house which was to be sold at RM500K. My parents bought the original house at just RM85,000.
Actually this RM500,000 price is an artificial price because there are no other transactions at that price. Thus the price is more of a buyer and seller willing basis. Should an old house of over 20 years be priced so high? Actually I think the main reason would be due to its location. While it is true that for RM500,000 you can buy much bigger sized landed properties on newer areas or the not so popular ones, the truth is, nice locations no longer have any expansion probability and thus it will continue to increase until a level which is deemed too high. RM500,000 is definitely not deemed too high when buyers have information on the prices in other states. What if the buyer is a Ipohan who is working in Penang or KL?
This is not just in Ipoh which is a secondary property market. Look at Melaka, Seremban, Batu Pahat etc. All these markets would continue to rise because when primary markets rises, it will also bring up the prices in these secondary markets. For example, can prices in Ipoh continue to be RM85,000 when markets in Penang and KL rises to RM1.5 million for a similar property? The answer is a clear no. Nevertheless, without a catalyst, Ipoh properties would always be a secondary market and definitely have very little speculation if any. This is good for Ipoh market as it is more of a need and not greed basis. 🙂
written on 6th jan 2014
next suggested article: condo market in ipoh
