Greater KL should have 10 million population by the year 2020. Is this a lofty goal? Well, the truth is, if everything is geared towards making this a reality, then it is no longer just a dream. It is a goal which is happening even as we speak. Greater KL has a population of around 7.2 million today and is expected to hit 10 million within the next 5 years. Oh yeah, by calculation, it needs 80,000 new homes on a yearly basis. KL city itself is 243 sq km and has an estimated population of two million but Greater Kuala Lumpur (KL City, Putrajaya, Klang Kajang, Subang Jaya, Selayang, Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam, Ampang Jaya and Sepang) covers an area of 2,793.27 sq km. This population will be connected via High Speed Rail (HSR) with the following towns and cities. Seremban with 556k people, Melaka with 790k, Muar with 248k, Batu Pahat with 417k and of course, close to 6 million people in Singapore. If you think by 2020 KL will be gridlocked, think again. MRT Line 1 will be ready within 2 years and MRT Line 2 has also been announced. Do not forget, MRT Line 3 may be next in line. Greater KL would be completed by a few extremely huge developments such as Tun Razak Exchange (TRX), Bukit Bintang City Centre (BBCC) and Kwasa Damansara.
Using the United Nation’s projection, there would be 28 global megacities comprising 10 million inhabitants. Yeah, perhaps not the top 10 but top 28 within the world is still a huge achievement because Malaysia is considered a small nation when compared to the world. It said that today, 54% of the world’s population live in urban areas and this will increase another 10% by 2050. Projections also show that 90% of the new 2.5 billion people moving to urban areas would be from Asia and Africa. I hope everyone sees the main reasons why I am always pro-Asia instead of Europe. I love travelling to Europe, even more than travelling within Asia. However, for investment, make no mistake in selecting the right growth areas. Do not buy based on yesterday’s results. Buy based on what the future may be bringing. Think long term instead of the usual speculative thoughts of wanting fast money.
Personally, I prefer to invest in places which have lots of rooms for further growth. I am very sure the matured ones or the current hotspots would continue to appreciate in value but that’s the reason why I would prefer in newer areas. When these hotspots reaches a new high, the newer areas would be following suit. It’s just a normal transition. When we look at the potential new demand due to the continuous urbanisation, we can see that the potential continue to be huge, as long as we do not close our eyes and buy. In many developed nations, these opportunities are no longer there. In a young country where the growth is continuous, do not make the mistake of ignoring this altogether. It is true that one may not need property investment to be financially free or independent but it is also true that it would be easier to do so with the right investment; real estate. Happy understanding about KL as the next mega-city of the world.
written on 27 Dec 2014
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