Handful of people left in huge 'ghost city' full of 'creepy' abandoned buildings
A miniature train playing the same song over and over runs round the empty tracks of a ghost city.
Forest City is a sprawling housing complex in Johor, on the southern tip of Malaysia. The enormous, recently constructed settlement was meant to house thousands of aspirational families, mostly from China's middle-class.
Very few ever moved into the swishly furnished flats here, leaving it feeling like an abandoned holiday resort, according to a BBC report. The tower blocks rise up above empty beaches and slowly rusting playgrounds, while shopping centres sit abandoned, including one where an empty children's train continues to run endlessly around a small track.
One estimate suggests the city is just 1% full (AFP via Getty Images)While official figures are difficult to come by, one estimate suggests that just 1% of the dwellings in Forest City are occupied.
Nazmi Hanafiah moved to Forest City a year ago and rented a one-bedroom flat in a tower block overlooking the sea. After just half a year, the 30-year-old IT engineer couldn't take it anymore. "I managed to escape this place," he told the BBC. "I didn't care about my deposit, I didn't care about the money. I just had to get out. I'm getting goosebumps just being back. It's lonely around here - it's just you and your thoughts."
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He added: "To be honest, it's creepy. I had high expectations for this place, but it was such a bad experience. There is nothing to do here."
When the ground was broken at Forest City the property boom in China was in full flow and developers were borrowing huge sums of money to build. In 2016 China's largest property developer Country Garden planned to house close to one million people at their flag-ship Malaysian project, despite the eco-friendly metropolis they pitched being far out of reach to the majority of Malaysians.
The developer has yet to finish the bulk of the project (AFP via Getty Images)Eight years later, only 15% of the entire project has been built. Country Garden told the BBC that it is "optimistic" the full plan will be completed.
The empty apartments, eerie quiet at night, its location on reclaimed islands far from the nearest major city Johor Bahru and the tumbling value of apartments there has earned the development the nickname Ghost City.
Although it is an extreme example, the development is not unique in the region. In 2021 the Chinese government passed strict measures in a bid to stop a potential property bubble from forming after years of big borrowing. As a result many firms ran out of cash and could not complete projects.
Country Garden had to abandon two projects in Australia earlier this year. Many others have followed suit as they come to terms with new rules around debt and cash flow that significantly limit borrowing. Whether or not projects like Forest City are ever finished, and if good times return to the industry, very much remains to be seen.
While the development is on the extreme end of things in terms of size, China and Malaysia are far from alone when it comes to ghost settlements. In Australia, a town was recently evacuated of its final resident years after people began to leave in their droves. They didn't go as a the result of a bursting property bubble however, but because of asbestos.
Lorraine Thomas, 80, was the last to leave Wittenoom. At its peak the town was 800 people strong. Now it is barren, empty and toxic. A reminder of the deadly asbestos mining industry which once attracted those seeking their fortunes from far and wide.
Today signs outside the settlement warn dark tourists to push back against their curiosity and stay from a town that has claimed many lives. Lands Minister John Carey previously said the government closed the town to stop "idiotic" visitors to the area, who are attracted by the local picturesque landscape and the eerie quiet of a once thriving town.
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