The silhouette a men jogging in the morning at the Tasik Tititwangsa Park,centre of Kuala Lumpur. Even we stay at the urban city, we must maintain our health by exercise during free time. ZAHID IZZANI/THE STAR
KUALA LUMPUR: Prime office rental in Kuala Lumpur is expected to increase 2.5% over the next three years, ahead of Beijing and Shanghai, according to the Global Cities: The 2018 Report.
Compiled by property research firm, Knight Frank, the report compares property markets in 15 prime office areas in the Asia-Pacific region.
It has forecast Manila to register the strongest growth in the region at 19.1%, followed by Brisbane (16.5%) and Singapore (15.8%).
Knight Frank Asia Pacific head of research Nicholas Holt said growth in the Kuala Lumpur prime office market was due to factors like the trend in technology, living environment, modes of transport and connectivity.
“Kuala Lumpur is a city with a mixed environment in combining work, lifestyle and recreation elements, and this is what people are looking for.
“The River of Life project has turned Kuala Lumpur into a more livable city and going forward, it could even be classified as a true super city,” he added.
He said these elements are important for a super city, so as to inspire its population and should have as a “wow-factor”, in wanting to attract local and multinationals companies of similar calibre.
He was speaking at the launch of the fourth edition of the report in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.
Holt said rental growth prospects across major cities in the Asia-Pacific looked positive over the next three years, reflecting solid regional growth prospects, which translate into strong demand from a number of sectors.
Meanwhile, Knight Frank Malaysia managing director, Sarkunan Subramaniam, said Kuala Lumpur has been among the key market leaders in mixed used-development that promotes the “live, work, play” factor.
“Successful mixed-development projects such as Mid Valley City and Bangsar South with integrated retail, office, residential units and well supported by a good transport infrastructure, are best examples of the great environment that people want to invest in,” he added.
InvestKL chief executive officer, Datuk Zainal Amanshah, said Greater KL had much to offer in comparison to other South-East Asian cities, as demonstrated by the steady influx of multinational companies into it in recent years.
“The ease of doing business is strong in Kuala Lumpur and we see factors like the Mass Rapid Transit launch being the driver of growth to spur foreign direct investments in Greater KL,” he added.
He said with the increase in supply, the quality of office space is continuously being upgraded to cater to the expectations and requirement of large corporate and multinational companies. - Bernama
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