Anyone have any knowledge or advice regarding property investment in KL in malaysia? Have found a few deals that seem quite good but not too sure about the state of the market there at present. Any advice appreciated.

Hi Pat Have you had a look at our Malaysia Property Profile? You can download it from here: http: / /www .propertysecrets .net /downloads /157 .html This should provide you with some good information on the Malaysia market as a whole, and Kuala Lumpur in short detail. We also have a Kuala Lumpur Investment Decision Maker in the pipeline, though this may not be published in time for what you need.

I was working in Malaysia recently and chatting to a property developer (a colleague rather than someone trying to sell me anything!). He was telling me that the market was flat. He had lots of properties which he could not sell and so was now stopping any futher development until the market picked up again and he managed to sell his unsold property. He was not a happy bunny! I would be very wary of Malaysia at the moment therefore.

Hi NickB, I would back to defer your very general comment about the state of property market in Kuala Lumpur lately. If you have not heard, the Govt. had just recently abolished the Real Property gain Tax, which had push up the market tremendously as a result. According to many studies, prop in KL is still one of the most under-valued in this region. Then again, I am not too sure what kind market your developer friend is serving. Generally, most prop sector ranging from mid to high and super high end, be it condominium or landed houses are currently fetching a very good demand. Most developer would have their units all sold within a month or two after official launched. Some even less than a month. Some are sold without even the need to advertise. Perhaps the only type of prop to avoid now is the "service apartment" which essentially is built on a commercial land, thus would not fall under the protection of the Housing Act and its utilities would be billed according to commercial rate, a bit too expensive. Besides the Govt. is also currently busy promoting its Malaysia My Second Home Campaign which is really picking up in response lately, particularly investors from UK and Japan. For further details please check: http: / /star -space .com /news /story .asp?file= /2007 /7 /29 /pliving /20070727200711 &sec=pliving Or for a good forum go to: www.realestate.net.my and for property search, there are a few but I usually use www.iproperty.com.my and for information on mortgages check www.fiscal-wise.com.my or www.lloydstsb.com.my