These days, it seems easier to sell the idea to Malaysians about buying properties overseas, especially in hot traditional markets such as Australia, US, Britain and Singapore. Why the sudden surge of interest?

INTERESTING indeed - while Malaysian realtors aggressively showcase the country's properties overseas to encourage foreigners to make the country their second home (there has been meaningful impact from these road shows), there is also rising interest among Malaysians to scour properties overseas.

The reasons for the surge of interest, as evinced by the marketing efforts by local realtors that appear to have been stepped up for overseas properties, are aplenty.

Generally though, they revolve around a few key factors - the interest to grow capital, to have a holiday/retirement home or family-related considerations such as children studying abroad.

The diverse reasons for Malaysians who opt to make that significant step underscore the changing trends in overseas property purchases.

Henry Butcher Malaysia chief operating officer Tang Chee Meng says the reasons why Malaysians buy overseas properties, the type of properties they go for and buyer’s profile have changed compared to a decade or so ago.

He said children’s education overseas used to feature prominently before. Today, while that still is a predominant reason, a larger proportion of those under this category also do so to reap higher returns for their investment.

“They want the capital appreciation, not so much the yield. It’s 50% education and 50% investment today, unlike the previous ratio of 80:20 or 70:30, with the majority buying to house their children,” says Tang.

Because the objective of the purchase has changed, the type of developments they opt for has also changed. Today, investors are buying landed units and going into the suburbs, a trend seldom seen a decade or so ago unless they were immigrating.

“They are prepared to go 25 km away from the central business district area. Before they would buy apartments closer to the universities,” Tang says.

For example Sanctuary Lakes Resort is one of the most striking assets in Melbourne, Australia. The properties range from A$390,000-A$765,000 (home and land packages) and is 29 km or 20 minutes via freeway from Melbourne CBD.

The unique feature of this resort-style development is that it is set around an 18-hole Greg Norman-designed championship golf course and features 168 acres of lake as well as next door to a bird sanctuary, nature reserve and Port Philip Bay.

Such traits are big carrots to draw in affluent Malaysian homebuyers who most often than not, have preferences for the unique and not-so-common.