Agents: Few takers for rental rooms or houses in Johor Baru

JOHOR BARU: Dozens of rental rooms and houses once occupied by Malaysians working in Singapore have been left empty after the border was closed since March due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Fadhli Ishak (pic), 32, who rents out rooms in two properties here, said that out of the 20 units he has, only three are being occupied.

“All rooms in the two buildings used to be full before the closure of the border but they’re now all quiet.

“Of the rooms being occupied, one is by a tenant still in Singapore and is only renting the room to have a place to put her stuff, ” he said.

He said it is also difficult to get new tenants at the moment and most of the rooms have been empty for more than five months.

Fadhli noted that a majority of his tenants used to be those coming from outside of Johor in search of job opportunities here or in Singapore.

“Most have returned to their home state after losing jobs in Singapore or Johor Baru.

“Another half are still in Singapore and have dropped by to take their remaining items from the rooms before leaving for good, ” he said.

Property agent Mohammad Fansuri Md Halim, 30, said that the number of rooms and houses that have been left without tenants has increased by more than half since the movement control order (MCO).

“Some tenants living in Singapore are still paying the full rental price as they still have their belongings in the buildings and wanted to return after the border fully reopens.

“There is currently an oversupply of rental properties in areas around Johor Baru and Gelang Patah as the target group that used to rent these places are no longer here, ” he said.

Another property agent who only wanted to be known as Ong said some customers have also decided to sell off their properties, as they could no longer look for people to rent.

“I expect the number of people wanting to sell properties to rise in the months to come, ” she said, adding that fewer people wanted to buy property now.