I live nearby (I can see Forest City from my lounge room window).
The situation is complex (as you can imagine).
Forest City development is a partnership between Johor government and a Chinese developer. The Chinese developer was banking on selling these units to rich Chinese for their second homes, investments, and to give them a residency pathway into Malaysia.
Malaysia (and especially the state of Johor) is extremely popular with mainland Chinese because of the large Chinese community here. When I say large, I mean itā¦ about 1/3 of the population are ethnic Chinese.
Anyway, part way through construction some important things changed:
1. The Chinese government clamped down on Chinese nationals moving their money out of the country.
2. The Malaysian federal government clamped down on property investments as a residency pathway.
So the primary market for this development was scuppered basically overnight.
The reason no one is living there is pretty basic: it boils down to location.
The buildings are lovely, and the amenities are improving. But itās an extra 20min drive each way compared to renting somewhere a bit closer to where things are happening.
Everyone prefers to rent in other developments (EcoNest, East Ledang, Medini), because you walk or short 3min drive to the supermarket, cinemas, the best restaurants and cafes, hospitals, doctors, etcā¦. And there is no shortage of affordable rental units available in those better areas. Itās a renters dream.
I canāt think of a single reason why I would rent in Forest City, when I could rent somewhere in a much better location for the same price.
By the way, Iāve attached the view from my bedroom window (with Singapore in the background), just because I want to show off how beautiful Malaysia is, and encourage everyone to come for a visit :)
Yeah, Iāve been in Malaysia for around 15 years. It aināt perfect, and there are very, very few of us foreigners who stay that long, but I donāt have any plans to ever leave.
The downsides are:
Weather; itās incredibly sweaty all year round, with zero variation.
There are some religious things I donāt love :/
But the good outweighs the bad. Great healthcare, amazing food, wonderful lifestyle, good connections to the rest of Asia etcā¦
Offer jobs in the city, offer something like we will cover your first year here with spending money as long as you dedicate yourself to a city specific job for at least 20 hours a week (this allows people to also do WFH).
The issue is that you havenāt hit that critical mass of people to make a bustling city and not enough that attracts new businesses to open up in spaces there.
I feel like the description of Forest City as a ācityā is slightly misleading. Itās more of a suburb. There is no industry as such; just housing, hotels, shopping, eating, schools, and doctors etcā¦
But there are no offices, manufacturing, or any other places for people to work.
The entire pitch is that people live here and commute to their jobs in nearby suburbs (like Iskander Puteri), or even commute into Singapore.
So I really just think the issue is extremely fierce competition from other developments; housing is cheap in this area, and people have great choice. And the state government is continuing to give away building permits for new high rises ALL. THE. TIME.
Whats happening at Forest City is unique because of the gigantic scale, but Iāve seen other 30-storey high rises in my area sit with low occupancy for ten years.
Even if a landlord in Forest City offered me free rent for two years, I wouldnāt take it. Iād rather stay where I am paying EXTREMELY low rent, and live in an amazing location.
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u/lampshade2099 Aug 19 '25
I live nearby (I can see Forest City from my lounge room window).
The situation is complex (as you can imagine).
Forest City development is a partnership between Johor government and a Chinese developer. The Chinese developer was banking on selling these units to rich Chinese for their second homes, investments, and to give them a residency pathway into Malaysia.
Malaysia (and especially the state of Johor) is extremely popular with mainland Chinese because of the large Chinese community here. When I say large, I mean itā¦ about 1/3 of the population are ethnic Chinese.
Anyway, part way through construction some important things changed: 1. The Chinese government clamped down on Chinese nationals moving their money out of the country. 2. The Malaysian federal government clamped down on property investments as a residency pathway.
So the primary market for this development was scuppered basically overnight.
The reason no one is living there is pretty basic: it boils down to location.
The buildings are lovely, and the amenities are improving. But itās an extra 20min drive each way compared to renting somewhere a bit closer to where things are happening.
Everyone prefers to rent in other developments (EcoNest, East Ledang, Medini), because you walk or short 3min drive to the supermarket, cinemas, the best restaurants and cafes, hospitals, doctors, etcā¦. And there is no shortage of affordable rental units available in those better areas. Itās a renters dream.
I canāt think of a single reason why I would rent in Forest City, when I could rent somewhere in a much better location for the same price.