Conflicting info makes it hard for property consultants here to advise clients.

Iskandar Malaysia may hold out promise to Singapore firms seeking a reprieve from high costs, or to property investors hunting down a lucrative residential project, but the process of making an investment there appear stricky.

Property consultants here say that they have had difficulties advising clients interested in staking investments in the southern‐Johor development zone because of conflicting information coming from lawyers and business consultants there on how to go about doing this.

For example, some property consultants have come up against the apparent lack of land zoning and plot ratio controls in Iskandar, which could mean that residential projects marketed as having sea views may not deliver on that front.

Interest in Iskandar has been rising, and is expected to continue growing as the Singapore government encourages firms to relocate some of their operations overseas. Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, in his Budget speech last week, had announced that help would be given to those who choose to relocate some  operations offshore, including to the immediate region.

Source: AmFraser