TA Global’s Lee Yen Foong on CloutHaus’ appeal to Singapore buyers

Malaysian developer TA Global held an investor preview of CloutHaus, its 615-unit luxury tower, over the weekend of July 25–26. The preview was held at Paradox Singapore (the former Swissotel Merchant Court), which TA Global owns. CloutHaus is jointly marketed by Savills and SRI in Singapore.

CloutHaus, a 276m, 66-storey skyscraper, is the taller of twin towers rising on a prime downtown site in Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC). The second, 58-storey tower houses the 548-key Paradox KLCC hotel on its lower floors and the 242-unit Paradox Residences above.

The development sits just 50m from the iconic Petronas Twin Towers — once the tallest towers in the world, and still the tallest in KLCC. However, they have since been eclipsed by two other skyscrapers in Malaysia, namely, Merdeka 118 and The Exchange TRX.

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Units at CloutHaus are freehold, ranging from 549 sq ft for a one-bedder to 1,216 sq ft for a three-bedder. Prices start from around RM1.48 million and go up to about RM4.74 million — an average of roughly RM2,900 psf. In absolute prices, they translate to $469,000 to $1.5 million.

“For $469,000, you can’t even buy a new HDB flat in Singapore,” says Lee Yen Foong, TA Global COO of property development and asset management.

According to TA Global, the project is already 40% sold since it debuted in Malaysia in late 2024. Buyers are largely international, representing more than 20 different nationalities.

On the sidelines of the Singapore preview, Lee spoke to EdgeProp Singapore about the group’s international roll-out of CloutHaus.

The project has been showcased in Taiwan, mainland China, South Korea and Japan, with Singapore as the latest stop. “Since we gathered a lot of interest from these places, we thought it was a good time to launch,” says Lee.

Beyond Singapore, TA Global is now looking to bring the project to Australia, where rising living costs have prompted more buyers to consider Kuala Lumpur (KL) as a second home destination.

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Furnishing and rental options

CloutHaus, positioned as a premium serviced apartment development, offers buyers two packages — one semi-furnished, the other fully furnished. “The semi-furnished package is for those who have their own interior design preferences,” says Lee. “The fully furnished package caters to those who want a hassle-free investment.”

TA Global also offers owners the option to put their units into a rental pool when they are not using them. Residents of CloutHaus will also be able to enjoy the services offered at Paradox KLCC.

Paradox is the hospitality brand created by TA Global, which currently has a portfolio of nine operating hotels, with the upcoming Paradox KLCC set to be the 10th. “The brand is positioned as lifestyle luxury, in the same tier as Edition and Kimpton,” says Lee.

Units in the neighbouring Paradox Residences will command a premium, he adds, as they sit above the hotel and will have access to Paradox’s hospitality services.

Singapore buyers, according to Lee, are drawn to KL by the currency advantage — roughly RM3.16 to $1 — and by housing prices that remain among the most affordable in the region compared with cities like Jakarta, Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City.

Even the doubling of Malaysia’s stamp duty for foreign buyers, from 4% to 8% with effect from 2026, has not deterred buyers. “They just take it as a transactional cost — it’s nowhere compared to Singapore’s 60% additional buyer’s stamp duty for foreigners,” he adds.

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Based on his observations, most Singaporean buyers of KL property are purchasing for their own use rather than as a pure investment. Those who travel to KL for business see it as a base first, and potentially a second home when they retire, he adds. Some buyers have gone on to purchase multiple adjoining units with the intention of combining them into a single larger home.

Homegrown COO Lee, who turns 39 this year, joined TA Global in November 2009, straight out of university, at age 22. He works closely with the company’s founders, executive chairman Tony Tiah and his wife, Alicia Tan, executive director of TA Global. Tiah was a well-known stockbroker in the 1990s who later channelled his wealth into real estate.

Their son, TA Global group CEO Tiah Joo Kim, is based in Vancouver, where he is also the principal of Holborn Group, a real estate developer founded in 2001.

While Tiah Joo Kim oversees the Vancouver market, Lee covers the Asia Pacific region — a portfolio that keeps him travelling constantly. After the Singapore preview, he was due in Shanghai on the following Monday to visit the group’s 310-key Paradox Kunshan, in the nearby city of Kunshan.

Building a hotel portfolio from scratch

The CloutHaus site in KLCC has sat in the group’s landbank for close to three decades; before construction broke ground in 2025, it operated as an open-air carpark. TA Global still holds more than 1,000 acres (404.7ha) of landbank across prime sites in KL and Damansara in Petaling Jaya, says Lee.

Lee’s arrival at TA Global coincided with the group’s acquisition of the former Swissotel Merchant Court for around $250 million that same year. The hotel was rebranded in April 2022 as part of a group-wide rebranding exercise.

The trigger, Lee says, was the pandemic. “We were holding all these hotel assets that were managed by different operators, and the hotels really suffered losses during Covid.”

That prompted TA Global to build its own hotel brand, starting with its flagship property in Vancouver, where the former Trump International Hotel and Tower was refurbished and rebranded as Paradox Vancouver in early 2022.

Not every property has been converted: TA Global acquired the 262-key Westin Melbourne in December 2008 for A$160 million, and it remains the only hotel in the group’s portfolio still managed by Westin.

TA Global is now working through the rest of its portfolio of hotels, refurbishing them in phases to align them with the Paradox identity. Lee points to Paradox Singapore, where the ballroom has just been renovated, with guest rooms next in line.

The group’s property development activitiies will stay focused on its two core markets — KL in Malaysia, and Vancouver in Canada. TA Global has long wanted to add another hotel asset in Singapore, Lee says, “but it’s just too expensive — and the cost of construction is also high here”.

Over the years, the group has received offers from other investors asking whether it would sell Paradox Singapore. “But this is a very good location,” he says, pointing to its position opposite Clarke Quay Central mall and the Clarke Quay riverside F&B and lifestyle strip, with the MRT station just steps away.

An evolving second-home scheme

At the CloutHaus preview, realtor Ivan Wong spoke about recent changes to the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme. Since mid-2024, the scheme has moved from a single-category system to a tiered one: Silver (five-year renewable stay), Gold (15-year stay), Platinum (20-year stay), and a Special Economic/Financial Zone (SEZ/SFZ) category for Forest City in Johor.

“It is more a long-term visa scheme rather than a permanent residency,” says Wong.

Fixed-deposit requirements also vary by tier: US$150,000 (about $193,700) for Silver, US$500,000 for Gold, and US$1 million for Platinum.

Within 12 months of visa approval, MM2H applicants are required to purchase a residential property in Malaysia — ranging from RM600,000 for the Silver tier to RM2 million for the Platinum tier. However, they are not allowed to sell the residential property within the first 10 years of purchase, adds Wong.

Up to 50% of the fixed deposit can also be withdrawn for property, medical and educational expenses. The scheme is especially popular among foreigners such as Koreans, says Wong, many of whom are drawn by the chance to enrol their children in Malaysia’s international schools.

The minimum age requirement has also been halved to 25 for the main tiers, with a minimum age of 21 for the SEZ/SFZ category. The revised programme also allows applicants to bring their spouse, children and parents along as dependants, says Wong.