“So much staying below has triggered good feelings, I get a nice lake view and it’s very comfortable, ” said Ong, who also owns a private apartment system on Singapore’s Farrer Road.
“ I think there is a chance we get earnings- from both capital understanding and hire yield- but I’m hardly too stressed about that, ” he added.
Nevertheless, buying Johor home is not without its challenges for Taiwanese buyers.
Some buyers are already in a legal dispute with a Johor property designer over their possession position, while others are suing Chinese creator Country Garden for fraud and misrepresentation.
Some Singapore investors who bought Johor properties earlier have formerly even spoken about their regrets, saying that they did not achieve money gains for numerous reasons, such as an surplus of homes, difficulty in renting out their units and the continuing strengthening of the dinars against the Singapore buck.
Meanwhile, financial influencer Loo Cheng Chuan, a Singaporean who recently purchased a RM2 million semi-detached home in Mount Austin, has a different take on the issue.
The former chief executive of Singtel Digital Media is of the view that Singaporeans who wish to buy property across the Causeway should be wary of treating the purchase as an investment and that they must be ready to write off capital depreciation from the property value.
“For one simple reason, the powerful Singapore dollar will appreciate against ( most ) of these currencies and over time you’ll find that even if the house value has gone up, the appreciation is somewhat discounted by the Sing dollar strengthening, ” said Loo.
On the other hand, he sees value being derived from improving “quality of life”. Living in JB has allowed him to purchase a landed property of a significant size for him, his wife and his three children to enjoy as a weekend home.
The property analyst Tan outlined that the high housing costs in Singapore have become a push factor for some to purchase homes across the Causeway.
“ In Singapore, the ( monthly ) rental for a ( two-room ) HDB flat could cost ( more than ) S$ 1,000 ( US$ 732 ). This is equivalent to about RM3,500. For RM3,500 they can easily afford ( a monthly mortgage ) for a landed residential house in Johor and they will have a more leisurely lifestyle, larger space, ” said Tan.
Ong added that a key reason why he has chosen to buy property in JB is because of cost of living pressures in Singapore.
He explained that he cannot afford to buy a retirement home given Singapore’s “significantly higher ” property prices and he even buys his groceries in JB.
Loo echoed similar sentiments, pointing out that the tide of rising asset prices is a global phenomenon, and that both Singaporeans and Johoreans should do their best to adapt.