KUALA LUMPUR: Sunway Onsen Suites, Sunway Group’s centrally located serviced apartment development in the township of Ipoh, is expecting higher foreign take-up rate from property investors from China, Thailand and Singapore.
Sunway City Ipoh executive director, property development division Wong Wan Wooi said based on track record from previous development in the city, foreign take-up rate was slightly above 5 per cent but the numbers are expected higher for Sunway Onsen Suites.
"We see a healthy influx of investors coming from China, Thailand and from other countries. We see the rate of foreigners take up to also healthily grow," he told The New Straits Times in a interview recently.
Wong said of late, the company has also observed the Perak government allowing some relaxation on foreigners purchase guidelines.
"While the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) is still ongoing, the government has also allowed certain threshold for foreigners to buy local properties, whereby a 10 percent levy is to be paid to the state government, which I believe is a smart move by the state government," he said.
Conceptualised as the first serviced suites in Asia integrating natural hot springs within the development, Sunway Onsen Suites comprise three tower blocks in total, exceeding RM400 million in gross development value (GDV).
The first tower of the development comprising 252 units of serviced suites will be launched in the first quarter of 2019 with completion slated at the end of three years after the launch.
The serviced suites comes in studio, two-bedroom and three bedroom variations ranging from 592 sq ft to 1,184 sq ft. There are also six units of luxurious Onsen Villas which start at 2,712 sq ft. The starting price of the units is RM391,000.
The highlight of the development is a courtyard within its podium level surrounded by a full suite of facilities including a natural hotsprings pool or 'onsen,' infinity swimming pool, multipurpose hall, gymnasium, sauna rooms and podium garden.
The development will have a dedicated entrance for residents and a grand lobby with a green natural streetscape.
Wong said in a larger perspective, Sunway Onsen Suites is integrated within the Sunway City Ipoh township, located within a 12.5ha site that includes the proposed Lost World Mall, a medical centre, assisted living homes for the aged and an institution of higher learning.
These development will be part of Sunway’s targeted investment of RM4 billion in Perak in the next 15-20 years which will also be supporting the state’s ambitions for socio-economic growth.
“We have completed about 70 per cent of the 1,350-acre development and have invested RM700 million here to date. To complement the current facilities we already have in Sunway City Ipoh, comprising 1,400 units of residences, Sunway College Ipoh, 174-room Lost World of Tambun Hotel and Lost World of Tambun theme park.
"We have in the pipeline Sunway Medical Centre Ipoh, an expansion of the Sunway College campus, assisted living homes with hotsprings facilities, shopping mall, and hilltop development,” he said.
Wong explained that in tandem with Ipoh’s rising acclaim as an international tourism destination and one of the best places to retire in the world, 7.6 million domestic tourists visited Perak last year, according to the Statistics Department.
It is also one of the top states with the highest tourist arrivals in Malaysia, representing a 5.7 per cent increase compared to 2016, where some 7.2 million people visited the state.
The state also recorded an increase in the arrivals of day-trip visitors to the state from 9.58 million to 12.47 million in 2017 compared to the year before.
He said the Sunway City Ipoh township, that currently has a GDV of about RM2 billion, plays an integral part in the transformation of Ipoh township into a world-class tourism destination.
Thus, it will attract more investors to Ipoh as value of properties in the area will likely appreciate and suitable for foreign investors to live here.