1.9 Million Empty Homes: How Urby Rescues the Ruins

1.9 million. That’s how many living quarters are vacant here in Malaysia, nearly 20% of the total, according to the 2020 Census. This puts hard numbers to a feeling many of us have: Malaysia has a housing paradox. We see "For Sale" signs and empty houses, yet many Malaysians still feel priced out of owning a home.

UrbanMetry’s Cha-Ly Koh and Stirling Yiin discuss Urby, their platform selected for the Securities Commission's regulatory sandbox. Urby uses data algorithms to identify dilapidated homes, facilitates fractional ownership to renovate them, and sells them to genuine homebuyers, aiming to turn "ghost houses" into community assets.

We discuss:

• Not Flippers: How Urby distinguishes itself from property speculators by purchasing undervalued assets and injecting value through renovation, rather than just bridging price differentials.

• Social Assets: Why mature neighborhoods with dilapidated infrastructure are actually goldmines for "social capital", nostalgia, existing networks, and food culture that have tangible monetary value.

• The Algorithm: How UrbanMetry uses data to determine the true current asset value, ensuring renovation costs don't push the property price above what the neighborhood can afford.

• Nor For "Crypto Bros"?: Why their target demographic isn't young male speculators, but rather women aged 27–40 who feel underserved by "boring" financial products and want tangible agency in community rejuvenation.

• The Unit Economics: A breakdown of the fractional ownership model, short-term vs. long-term notes, and how the platform utilises "put options" to protect investor principal.

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