Shop lots in Austin Heights & Nan Yang Street, Johor Bahru
A retro-styled F&B street with its own social-media identity, wrapped around an international school and a college. Nan Yang Street rents at roughly RM7,000 a ground floor.
- Ground floor rent
- RM3,800–9,000per month
- Median transacted
- RM2,080,000RM1,250 psf · — deals
- Peak trading
- Weekday school run 7–9am and 3–6pm; weekend brunch
- Catchment
- International-school families, college students, social-media visitors
The map loads here on the published site.
If you have never been here
The 60-second orientation.
- Zone
- Mount Austin sub-precinct, eastern JB
- Main commercial street
- Nan Yang Street, Jalan Austin Heights 8
- Transaction window
- asking-price indicative — transactions are recorded under Mount Austin
| Destination | Drive | Why it matters to a tenant |
|---|---|---|
| Mount Austin main strip | 4 min | The parent precinct. You share its catchment and compete for its tenants. |
| Austin Heights School | Walk | Captive school-run trade twice a day, term time. |
| Sunway College JB | 3 min | Student catchment; price-sensitive and term-cyclical. |
| Singapore (Causeway/CIQ) | 28 min | Weekend visitors who came for the photographs. |
| AEON Tebrau City | 10 min | Mall competition for weekend retail. |
Why this strip is busy
The demand engines — and what each one actually pays for.
A street with its own name and its own following
Nan Yang Street is a designed retro streetscape that people photograph and post. That identity generates fresh search and social demand every year without a marketing budget.
A captive school-run catchment
Austin Heights School and Sunway College JB put a scheduled, twice-daily, term-time flow of parents and students through the precinct.
International-school parents spend well
Parents waiting for pick-up are a high-value, time-rich daytime customer that almost no other Johor strip has in this concentration.
Mount Austin overflow
Four minutes from the main strip. When Mount Austin is full and its parking is gridlocked, Austin Heights takes the overflow.
What Austin Heights actually looks like
Real, freely-licensed photographs of this area — with the licence on every caption.
Every photograph on this page is a real, freely-licensed image of this area, reused with attribution under its stated Creative Commons licence — not a stock photo and not generated. Licences are linked on each caption. If you own a better shot of your own shopfront here, send it to us and we will feature it with a credit and a link.
What Austin Heights has that the others do not
Not “advantages” — structural facts a competing location cannot copy.
A designed streetscape competitors cannot retrofit
Nan Yang Street’s retro facade programme was built in. A generic shophouse row cannot become photogenic after the fact.
Two education anchors inside the precinct
An international school and a college, both generating scheduled daily flow. Schools do not relocate.
Long-tail search demand from the street name
“Nan Yang Street” is searched in its own right. A named sub-destination is a cheap route into a market dominated by a larger neighbour.
Who actually walks past your door
Estimated share of retail spend, by ethnicity and customer type. Read the last row before you commit.
| Segment | Share | Per visit | When | Concepts that win them |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| International-school and college families | 30–35% | RM25–70 | Weekday school run, weekends | Brunch, cafes, enrichment, dessert |
| Chinese Malaysian residents | 30–35% | RM25–60 | Daily; weekend peak | Cafes, dessert, casual dining, beauty |
| Social-media and photo visitors | 15–20% | RM30–70 | Weekends | Photogenic cafes, dessert, retro dining |
| College students | 10–15% | RM15–35 | Term-time weekdays | Value meals, bubble tea, printing |
| Singaporean weekend visitors | 8–12% | RM50–120 | Fri–Sun | Dining, cafes, dessert |
| Evening and supper trade | <5% | RM20–50 | Weak — supper goes to Mount Austin | Do not model a late-night concept here. |
Ethnic composition
2022 citizen electoral roll for the P.158 Tebrau federal constituency, which contains this precinct. The roll counts registered voters only — it excludes non-citizens (migrant workers, Singaporeans, expatriates) and everyone under 18. Source: ElectionData.MY.
Tebrau is a Malay-plurality seat on the roll (46.9% Malay and Bumiputera against 38.9% Chinese), even though the eastern shophouse strips read as visibly Chinese-Malaysian on the ground. Both things are true: the resident base is mixed and Malay-leaning, while the evening F&B trade on streets like Mount Austin skews Chinese. If you are choosing between halal and non-halal, halal keeps the whole catchment; non-halal wins the night but gives up roughly half the daytime base.
Catchment and market depth
Scale indicators for this precinct.
Rent and price schedule
Market bands, September 2026. Corner, frontage and existing tenancy change everything.
| Level & position | Monthly rent | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|
| Ground floor | RM3,800–9,000 | Anchor F&B, retail, clinic, salon |
| 1st floor | RM1,600–3,000 | Studio, tuition, spa, private dining |
| 2nd floor | RM1,100–2,200 | Back office, storage, co-working |
| Whole block | RM6,500–13,000 | Multi-floor F&B, medical, corporate |
| Asset | Asking range | Gross yield |
|---|---|---|
| Shophouse, intermediate | RM1.9M–2.4M | 3.2–4.2% |
| Shophouse, corner | RM2.6M–3.4M | 3.2–4.2% |
| Reference: — recorded transactions at a median of RM2,080,000 and RM1,250 per sq ft (asking-price indicative — transactions are recorded under Mount Austin). Source: brickz.my, from JPPH transaction data. | ||
What is missing — the opportunity list
Compiled from listings, directories and on-the-ground survey. Absence of evidence is not proof of absence — verify before you commit.
The honest assessment
Every agent will tell you the first column. Read the second one twice.
- A named sub-destination with its own search demand. Nan Yang Street is searched in its own right, separately from Mount Austin.
- Two education anchors inside the precinct. Scheduled twice-daily term-time flow that does not relocate.
- High-value daytime customer. International-school parents spend more per head than Mount Austin’s evening crowd.
- Overflow from the largest strip in east JB. Four minutes from Mount Austin when its parking is gridlocked.
- Term-time dependency. Two education anchors mean two long annual gaps. June–August and December are materially quieter.
- No separate transaction series. Brickz records this under Mount Austin. The price shown is an asking-price indication only.
- Photo visitors are not always paying visitors. A photogenic street attracts people who buy one drink and occupy a table for an hour.
- No evening economy. The precinct empties after dinner. You are buying a daytime and brunch business.
- Mount Austin sets the ceiling. Four minutes away with more choice. Anything you can do, the bigger strip can do at scale.
How it compares with the other JB strips
Ground-floor asking rents from live portal listings, September 2026.
| Strip | GF rent / month | Who shops there | Parking | Pick it if |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Austin | RM3,800–9,500 | Dense local Chinese Malaysian; highest weekday volume in JB | Congested | Your model needs volume seven days a week and you can live without parking. |
| Bukit Indah | RM2,500–4,200 | AEON-anchored footfall plus Singaporean day-trippers | Adequate | You want an Eco Botanic customer at roughly half the rent. |
| Eco Botanic | RM6,000–15,000 | Singaporean weekenders, EduCity students, expat families | Free, ample | You want high basket size and can survive a soft Monday–Thursday. |
| Taman Molek | RM4,500–15,000 | Affluent Chinese Malaysian, expat and Singaporean | Tight | You are an evening or bar operator with an existing following. |
| Sutera Utama | RM3,500–25,000 | Affluent Skudai households; the state’s highest median price | Adequate | You sell premium and need a catchment that pays for it. |
| Johor Jaya | RM2,200–4,500 | 66,000 residents; the most balanced ethnic mix in JB | Adequate | You want the healthiest yield and the deepest deal flow. |
| City Centre / IIBD | RM5,000–13,000 | Singaporean walk-in via CIQ; RTS terminus January 2027 | Paid / limited | You want walk-in cross-border traffic and will pay for the story. |
Ground-floor asking rents from live portal listings, September 2026. Expect 5–15% negotiation room on any of them. We will tell you honestly when another strip is the better commercial decision for your concept.
Buying, not renting? Same area, the residential side — NAPIC registered transactions, median price, median PSF and the 12-month move: Austin Heights & Nan Yang Street landed data → · condos · industrial
What it actually costs to open here
Rent is the number everyone quotes. It is rarely the number that kills the deal — the fit-out is.
| Item | Amount (RM) | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Fit-out — full F&B with kitchen | 231,000 – 539,000 | RM150–350 psf on 1,540 sq ft. Kitchen exhaust, grease trap and M&E are what push it up. |
| Fit-out — basic retail (indicative) | 150,000 – 280,000 | Mid-range commercial guidance; no retail-specific Malaysian benchmark is published. |
| Deposits — 2 months + 1 advance + ½ utility | 22,400 | The Malaysian “2 + 1 + ½” convention, payable before you touch the unit. |
| Stamp duty on the tenancy | 307 (1 yr) / 921 (3 yr) | RM1 per RM250 of annual rent for ≤1 year; RM3 for 1–3 years. The RM2,400 exemption was abolished in January 2025. |
| Legal fee — tenancy agreement | 1,920 | Solicitors Remuneration Order 2023, Second Schedule: for a tenancy at RM10,000/month or less, 30% of one month rent (min RM500). Above RM10,000/month the rate steps down to 15–25%. A lease (term over three years, common on commercial units) is charged separately and higher — 60% of one month rent up to RM10,000, then 30–50%. |
| Agent commission | 0 | 1.25 months rent, paid by the landlord by convention. A tenant paying this is being overcharged. |
| TNB three-phase connection + deposit | 4,300 – 6,900 | RM1,700 connection plus RM2,600–5,200 deposit at 10–20 kW. Deposit earns 2.5% p.a. and is refundable. |
| Licences — premise + signboard, first year | Budget 700 – 1,200 | Premise licence fees are set by your own council (MBJB / MBIP / MBPG / MPKu) by business type and floor area — confirm with them. Signboard licence RM200–400. This line is a planning allowance, not a quoted fee. |
| Sdn Bhd incorporation | 1,000 | SSM fee. A foreigner cannot register a sole proprietorship. |
| Realistic total before you sell anything — F&B | 262,400 – 582,400 | Plus opening stock, POS, signage design, insurance and 3 months working capital. |
Cost model, licences, the full FAQ and sources & method are on one page: the Johor Bahru shop lot guide.
Two ways we can help
We hold ready units here that are never listed publicly, and current developer rebate sheets for the new phases.
Tell us the concept. We will send matching units within 24 hours.
Most good ground-floor units in Austin Heights change hands before they are advertised. Send us your trade, floor area, budget and target opening date, and we will come back with what is actually available — including units where the current tenant is quietly looking to assign.
- Off-market and tenancy-assignment units
- Floor plans, actual outgoings and licensing feasibility
- Foreign-buyer and non-resident tenancy guidance
Or WhatsApp / call +60 10-906 6685 · email
No fee to tenants and buyers. Reply within one working day.
Get the current new-launch rebate sheet for this corridor.
New commercial phases carry incentives that are never published — early-bird discounts, rebates, rent guarantees and fit-out allowances that shift monthly. We will send you the live sheet with the yield maths done.
- Live rebate and package comparison across projects
- Net yield modelling after outgoings and financing
- Foreign purchase threshold and state consent levy notes
Or WhatsApp / call +60 10-906 6685 · see new launches
Includes the RM1M foreign-buyer floor and the 3% state consent levy for Johor commercial property.
Questions people actually ask
Short, direct answers.