Familiar with investing in real estate, ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs) in Malaysia are increasingly looking at investing abroad, especially in matured markets such as the UK, Singapore and Australia, revealed Knight Frank.
In their The Wealth Report 2018, the property consultancy noted that around 43 percent of Malaysian UHNWIs intend to invest in overseas properties over the next few years, up from the global average of 34 percent.
Notably, UHNWIs refer to individuals with a personal net worth of more than US$50 million (RM193 million) and above in net assets.
Aside from hotel, office, residential and retail property sectors, Malaysian investors are also diversifying in purpose-built student accommodation, said James Buckley, Knight Frank Malaysia’s Executive Director of Capital Markets.
“Student accommodation over the last five years has been the star of the UK property, consistently delivering the UK’s highest property rental yields. An increasing number of students and a structural under-supply have driven growth rate and occupancy,” he explained.
While interest in student accommodation in the UK among Malaysian UHNWIs was still small, it was growing yearly.
“Malaysian investors are focusing at the main cities with popular universities such as Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Oxford, Cambridge as well as London.”
On the Australian property market, Buckley said Malaysians usually invest in Melbourne as the city has a high density of students.
Other areas in Australia that are popular among Malaysian investors include Perth and Sydney.
This article was edited by the editorial team of PropertyGuru. To contact them about this or other stories email editorialteam@propertyguru.com.my
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