Iskandar Puteri is the city on the western side of Johor Bahru district, linked to Tuas in Singapore by the Second Link. Many people still call it Nusajaya: the Johor state secretary announced the change of name in December 2015, to take effect in January 2016, after the Sultan asked for a name with a link to the area’s history. Kota Iskandar, inside the city, houses the Johor state government’s administrative centre.

On 22 November 2017 Iskandar Puteri was declared Johor’s second city and Malaysia’s 14th, and the former Johor Bahru Central Municipal Council became the Iskandar Puteri City Council (MBIP). At that point the council area was reported at about 40,296 hectares, with almost 700,000 residents, 157 residential estates and 45 villages. Population figures differ by source and boundary, so I treat them as approximate.

For buyers, the city breaks into a few distinct parts:

• Medini and Puteri Harbour, the high-rise and commercial core.
• Bukit Indah, an established residential township.
• Gelang Patah and the gated townships such as Horizon Hills, East Ledang, Eco Botanic and Leisure Farm, mostly landed.
• EduCity and Nusa Bayu, the education hub and the family housing around it.
• Forest City, now the Forest City Special Financial Zone.

Distances are short on paper but traffic decides the real time. Gelang Patah is about 25km from Bukit Chagar in Johor Bahru city, a trip Malay Mail reported can take up to two hours by bus at peak. Newcastle University’s EduCity campus puts the Second Link bridge about 8km away.

There is no single official median for Iskandar Puteri that I can quote, so I read the Johor and Johor Bahru figures and adjust for the area. Here is what the published data says.

• Demand: Henry Butcher reported in January 2026 that Johor was the only state where residential transaction volume and value both grew in the first nine months of 2025.
• Prices: JLL put the average serviced-apartment price in Johor Bahru at RM711 psf in 2025, up from RM549 psf in 2024, and landed homes at RM388 psf in 3Q2025, up from RM352 psf. Stacked, citing NAPIC annual data, gives Johor residential price growth of 5.3% in 2025 against 0.7% nationally.
• Where the premium sits: JLL said in July 2025 that new launches around Bukit Chagar, near the RTS Link station, were asking RM1,000–RM1,500 psf. Iskandar Puteri is not on the RTS Link, so city-centre premiums do not carry over automatically.
• Overhang: The Johor housing committee chairman said in February 2025 that Johor had 102,438 serviced apartments, 11,810 of them unsold, and that about 90% of the state’s overhang was serviced apartments priced at RM500,000 and above. Stacked cites about 9,018 unsold Johor serviced apartments in 3Q2025. Back in June 2023, the state reported 11,512 unsold serviced apartments of RM500,000 and above around Johor Bahru and Iskandar Puteri alone. The trend is down, but counts vary by source and definition.
• Rents and yields: PropertyGuru’s 2026 guide quotes gross yields of about 6–7% for serviced apartments in Medini and Iskandar Puteri and 4–5.5% for landed homes, without naming its data. My own breakdown is in rental yields in Johor Bahru by area.

My balanced reading is this. Landed homes in established townships have the deeper buyer pool. High-rise units in Medini and Puteri Harbour can rent well, but resale prices depend on the building, and some still trade below their launch prices. Check recent transactions for the exact block before you commit.

• Second Link: The Second Link Expressway (E3, also called Linkedua) runs from Senai to the Malaysia–Singapore Second Link at Tanjung Kupang. Its interchanges include Iskandar Puteri, Gelang Patah and Gerbang Nusajaya. Border checks are at the Sultan Abu Bakar CIQ Complex.
• To Johor Bahru city: The Iskandar Coastal Highway and the Pasir Gudang Highway link the city to Johor Bahru.
• Local roads: A 2km first phase of the Gelang Patah bypass, from Taman Nusa Bayu to Taman Laman Setia, opened on 1 July 2026. It runs only at peak hours, to relieve roads used by Second Link commuters.
• Buses: Second Link commuters from Gelang Patah currently rely on cross-border buses.
• Rail plans: The RTS Link (Bukit Chagar–Woodlands North) is now expected to start passenger service in February 2027. Johor proposed a second RTS link between Iskandar Puteri and Tuas in July 2025, but no stations had been set. The state’s RM10 billion E-ART tram plan has an Iskandar Puteri corridor and received Cabinet approval in June 2026. Financing was still being negotiated, with completion expected within four years of award.

If the Second Link matters most to you, see my shortlist of Iskandar Puteri homes near the Second Link.