My Space: Tapping the old for gold

If you were a property developer, what would you build now? Landed homes, which are indisputably the hottest items on the property market now? Condominiums? Strata office towers paired with serviced apartments? A hybrid retail centre? Perhaps an industrial estate?

Unless your project site boasts that all-important criterion of location, location, location, the above property types are nothing out of the ordinary.

Selling property is about timing too. Landed homes may be sexy now but how much upside can there be after prices  went through the roof recently? Surely there will come a time when supply and demand are equal and plummeting yields caused by rising property values start to sting?

The tricky bit about property development is that nothing can be launched overnight. The process can be long — five years or more — and costly even for sell-then-build developments. The time taken hinges on the existing land use of the planned project site and the developer’s ability to secure the necessary building-related approvals.

This is why developers like the Mah Sing group opt to pay a premium for tracts that come approved for development and ready for an immediate launch. This way, the developer minimises both holding costs and the risk of a market downturn.
Product differentiation is key to any project and in a market where needs keep changing, it is no surprise that there is renewed interest in building retirement homes.

Some developers are already said to be studying the prospects for retirement homes. Their only question is, are Malaysians ready to embrace a retirement home concept similar to those in developed nations?

Don’t forget that retirement homes are not new to Malaysia — and we are not talking about nursing or old folks’ homes here. A retirement home debuted in Mont’Kiara Sophia in Kuala Lumpur’s exclusive Mont’Kiara area in the mid-1990s, but the low-density condo project never took off. Sunrise Bhd, which was helmed by Datuk Alan Tong at the time, had to then reposition Mont’Kiara Sophia as a high-end condo. This project was completed in 1997, but so much for Malaysia’s first retirement home.

Reasons for taking another look at retirement homes are the success stories of those in the West, the growing affluence of Malaysians and their exposure to what is happening in other parts of the world. It is also noteworthy that baby boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) are near or at retirement age. 

Mont’Kiara Sophia failed as a resort-like haven for senior citizens simply because it was associated with abodes for the aged, the frail, the despondent and those in dire straits. The name Sophia, belonging to an elderly character in the once-popular TV series Golden Girls, did not help.

Interestingly, someone familiar with the project says the concept was rejected although the developer had invested in a lot of research and profiling. As it panned out, those who had said “aye” to the project eventually did not put their money in it, much to the developer’s dismay.

Obviously, plans for bathrooms with handrails and an ambulance service on standby in the condo grounds did not go down well with the market.

It will take more than creative branding to make a success of a retirement home. The running and maintenance of the property plus an exit scheme are key considerations — what happens after a unit is vacated?


Good security, convenience and amenities on top of a healthy and soothing environment are important, as is easy access to medical care and attention. Cooking and cleaning can be a chore, so food and housekeeping se
rvices at reasonable prices will be attractive indeed.

Creating demand in an uncontested market is challenging. Creating demand in a tested but failed market is an even bigger challenge. It will be interesting to see which developer takes the leap of faith.