Horizon Hills upbeat on high-end houses

Woon with models of Horizon Hills housing projects in Nusajaya, Iskandar Malaysia.

JOHOR BARU: Horizon Hills Development Sdn Bhd is confident of maintaining its status as a choice location for high-end residential property buyers in Iskandar Malaysia.

Assistant general manager Jim Woon (sales and marketing department) said the development had been steadily attracting both local and foreign buyers since the project started in 2007.

He said the company was fortunate because it was one of the first developers to offer high-end residential properties in Iskandar Malaysia.

“We are banking on the strategic partnership of two well known property developers to undertake the project and it works well for both of us,” Woon said in an interview with StarBiz recently.

The gated and guarded project is sited on 485.622ha of freehold land located in Nusajaya, one of the five flagship development zones in Iskandar Malaysia.

The 50:50 joint-venture project between Gamuda Land Bhd and UEM Sunrise Bhd will keep the two partners busy until 2017-2019. About half of its total land area has been developed. It has so far sold about 1,400 units of housing over three phases.

“As a pioneer of a high-end residential property developer in Iskandar Malaysia, we had a good start as we launched the projects years ahead of our competitors,’’ he said.

The company invested RM200mil for infrastructure and was the first developer in Iskandar Malaysia to offer golf club membership to house owners for the 18-hole, 80.93ha golf course within the development.

Woon said prices of residential properties at Horizon Hills were higher than the average selling prices way back in 2007.

Its first phase, with a gross development value (GDV) of RM220mil, comprised 453 units of link houses, cluster homes and semi-detached houses with average selling prices of RM300,000, RM450,000 and RM750,000 respectively.

“Many were caught by surprise with the price tags then but we managed to sell all the units,’’ he said.

According to Woon, that prompted the company to increase its selling prices for the second phase, with a GDV of RM400mil, which comprised 650 units of similar dwellings as in phase one. Buyers took delivery of their properties at the end of 2009.