Just like the California Gold Rush of 1849, investors in Singapore have been flocking in droves in the past three years to the region of Iskandar Malaysia to purchase property. Now, the party is over and the fat lady is clearing her throat.
In the past three years, it seemed like nothing could stop the Iskandar train. Malaysia’s richest man Robert Kuok, Australian billionaire Lang Walker, Valencia’s adopted son Peter Lim, and a host of other big players had invested huge sums of money in the region.
Kuok had purchased S$74 million worth of land last year for a mixed-development project. Walker had bet more than a billion dollars on Iskandar Malaysia becoming a boomtown, constructing the “largest master-planned urban project ever undertaken in Southeast Asia”. As for Lim, his considerable influence can be felt everywhere in the area that’s roughly three times the size of Singapore. ......