New Houses

Something interesting about property development in Miri is that other than those heavyweights e.g. Naim (linked to the chief minister of Sarawak) and Shin Yang (Chinese tycoon but again is linked to chief minister), there are many boutique developer who also undertakes property development at an extremely limited quantity e.g. from building 4 units of semi-D at an empty land inside a housing estate, to not more than 30 houses in a new mini housing estate.

Due to fast appreciation of property prices in last 2 years, both big and small developers have made a killings though many still chose not to "pre-sell" their houses which are already in progress. For example, I know of a developer who is holding his remaining 5 houses in a housing project with a high price tag i.e. take it or leave it. I also know another developer of 8-10 new semi-D (nearly completed) who's still waiting for even better market before releasing them for sale.

At current market prices, i.e. 600-700K for 2-storey semi-D near to Miri town center, the prices are already considered way above the earning power of local people, save for those successful businessmen or employees in oil & gas industry. To those people from KL, the prices might look unbelievably attractive (a small semi-D in KL easily crosses 1 mil mark), mind you the land here is mostly 60 years leasehold. If you start buying a house at the age of 25 and assuming you live to 85, the leasehold period is just nice for 1 generation. Anyway, as I understand, it costs only a few thousands to renew hence it is not an issue unless the government wants to take back the land upon expiry. 2 keys factors which drive the property prices in Miri are no doubt the sustainability of oil & gas and the spill over effect of wealth from Brunei.

The average house price in Miri is considered the most expensive (even higher than Kuching, the capitol of Sarawak state), hence there might be some truth that Foo Chow clan are quite good at building wealth out of properties. And looking at the success of Desa Park City at KL, which is developed by a subsidiary of Samling group based in Miri, am starting to wonder if the boss of Samling group is a Foo Chow.