Malaysian Real Estate Ventures Seen Increasing in Southland

Look for a modest but steady increase in Southern California real estate investments by Malaysians, with initial emphasis on the hotel and service sector.

That’s the forecast of Datin Paduka Rafidah Aziz, Malaysia’s minister of trade and industry.

While Rafidah has been in Los Angeles to meet with U.S. investors, encouraging them to open factories and buy real estate in the Southeast Asian country, she said her nation believes in free trade. “We tell our investors to invest in Malaysia when that’s the right thing to do and the United States or other countries when that’s the right thing to do.”

The Malaysian economy, still tiny compared to Japan or even Taiwan, is growing at 7.5% with inflation at 1.5% a year, she said.

Except for Pakistan’s Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, the 45-year-old Rafidah is believed to be the highest-ranking female government official of any Muslim country.

Real estate prices in Malaysia are low for residential property of the kind U.S. business executives would buy, she said. She cited a three-bedroom luxury condominum that is selling for about $80,000. Rafidah said she has a 3,000-square-foot house on the market “that’s got everything” and will sell for about $180,000.

Prices on industrial property range from about 30 cents to $10 a square foot, she said.