/// Hot Topic
Tawau: The Agriculture Power House
of Sabah
T
awau formerly known as
Tawao, is the third-largest city
in Sabah after Kota Kinabalu
and Sandakan. It is located on
the east coast of the island in the
administrative centre of Tawau
Division which surround by the
Sulu Sea in the east, Celebes to the
south at the Cowie Bay and shares a
border with Kalimantan.
In the early 1890s, only about 200
people lived in the first settlement
and most of them were immigrants
from Bulungan in Kalimantan and
some from Tawi-Tawi who had fled
during the the Dutch and Spanish
ruling.
In 1893, a British vessel S.S.
Normanhurst sailed into Tawau for
the first time with a full cargo of
trade items and in 1898, the British
build a settlement which later grew
rapidly when the British North
Borneo Company sponsored the
migration of Chinese to Tawau.
During World War II in 1945, six
massive air strikes were flown to the
town, with the main target being the
port facilities. At the end of the war,
the city was largely destroyed and
the only undestroyed remnant of
10
www.PropertyHunter.com.my
the pre-war period is the bell tower
of Tawau.
Tawau quickly recovered from the
devastation of the bombing. Almost
all the shops were destroyed in
the town, but six months later, 170
shops and business houses were
rebuilt by the British.
The Financial Crisis
In the 1980s Malaysia was hit badly
by a financial crisis which nearly
ruined the entire real estate market
in Tawau. Due to collapse, people
had no means of serving their loans
or buying new properties, and
this caused a lot of projects to be
abandoned, and the foreclosure
of a lot of properties. Very few
developers survived, most of them
had to shut down their business.
A lot of forced sale properties were
selling at about 30% below the
market price. And properties that
were unsuccessful during auctions
would drop down another 10% in
price. Land was also selling at 10
times cheaper back then.
The surplus of second hand
properties that were selling dirt
/// HOT TOPIC
cheap made it hard for developers
to sell or build newer properties.
When the stock market recovered
back in the 1990s, the demand of
properties increased and property
prices immediately shot up.
for business, which are fully sold.
Due to the cash rich population in
the oil palm industry, Tawau has
high holding power..
Property Boom
The main town area can be divided
into three sections, such as Sabindo,
Fajar and Tawau Lama (Old Tawau).
Sabindo is a plaza, Fajar is a
commercial area while Tawau Lama
is the original part of Tawau.
The highest property appreciation
rate recorded in Tawau is fuelled by
the oil palm profits. For example,
a landed double storey low-cost
terrace house at Taman Semarak
which cost less than RM50,000 is
now selling on the secondary market
for more than RM120,000 for a two
room intermediate unit on land less
than 800 sq ft.
Shop houses at Kubota Square are
selling for less than RM500,000
years ago is now priced at more
than RM1.3 million a block of threestorey intermediate unit. This is
proof that the property prices has
doubled within a few years.
Tawau was Malaysia’s hottest
property spot from 2010 to 2012
and buyers are becoming more
selective on the type of properties
they invest in. There are many
completed shop houses not open
Bustling City
A RM5 billion green concept
township will transform Kampung
Titigan, one of the oldest villages on
the outskirts of Tawau until other
new southeast township bordering
Indonesia called Bandar Baru
Titingan soon as Tawau vies to be an
education hub. A new international
school Charis has opened to cater
to the increase of the rich local
population and expatriates.
Hap Seng is building Bandar Sri
Indah which is Sabah’s largest
satellite township development
project at km 16 of the Tawau
Airport Highway with 1,368 acres
(5.54 km2) of reclaimed land is
three times larger than Tawau town
centre.