2. Profile of Malaysian Housing Developers

This chapter illustrates the overview of housing development industry in Malaysia with profound indication on the involvement of housing developers in each state. The scenario of Malaysian residential development has transformed into a complex and diverse manner as numerous kinds of buildings are flourishing extensively throughout the country. While township development may still be relevant to be adopted by large property developers as housing demand is still burgeoning, majority of local homebuilders are switching their strategy to phasing and niche development due to the slowdown in the property market. Also, there is a novel trend of mega property developers in the country to merge and acquire other real estate firms in order to access sizeable land banks for further capital consolidation. Ironically, despite uncertain economic condition, Malaysia is doing well to attract foreign real estate corporations to invest and continue pursuing land development projects, with multinational companies from Japan, Russia, China, Taiwan and Singapore are constantly pouring their immense funding share in major cities like Klang Valley, Penang and Johor Bahru. With severe business competition, it seems that local residential developers need to capture the interest of new and seasoned property buyers with ever evolving design concepts and a variety of built-in amenities offered at a very competitive prices for their business survivability and further growth.