When the team behind Urby looked at the Malaysian property market, they did not see a shortage of homes. They saw the opposite. Vacant houses sitting in familiar neighbourhoods like Subang Jaya and Petaling Jaya, slowly falling into disrepair, while most Malaysians could not afford to do anything about it. So they built a platform that lets anyone participate in restoring those homes, starting from just RM10 a share.
Urby is a fractional property investment platform that turns undervalued, freehold landed properties into tradeable shares. Backed by Urbanmetry’s proprietary AI model and accepted into the Securities Commission’s regulatory sandbox, the platform has already listed over 25 homes and fully redeemed seven.
In this interview, the team shares how they brought an unfamiliar investment model to market, why restoring mature neighbourhoods sits at the heart of everything they do, and what it means to make property investing genuinely accessible for the first time.
1. For readers discovering Urby for the first time, could you share what the company does and what makes your platform different from other property investment options?
Urby is a fractional property investment platform that lets Malaysians invest in real estate starting from just RM10! It’s as simple as downloading the app, choosing a house you like, and purchasing shares.
What makes Urby unique is its convenience and accessibility—no large downpayment, no legal fees—just RM10, and you’ll be able to invest in property without the usual fuss. Bonus: Urby was selected to participate in the Securities Commission Malaysia’s inaugural Regulatory Sandbox.
2. How did the idea for Urby come about, and what gap in the property market were you trying to address?
Urby is a part of Urbanmetry, a WEF Technology Pioneer backed by Monk’s Hill Ventures specialising in property data.
This niche has given us insight into the current state of Malaysian housing, with many viable houses left vacant and/or abandoned for a good amount of years. Many of these houses fall into disrepair and become undesirable—whether it’s physical deterioration, weathering, outdated architectural designs, and such.
Restoring these homes into living spaces for families is decidedly a community effort—many of these homes are in familiar neighbourhoods like Subang Jaya and Petaling Jaya.
Urby provides the space for people to participate in restoring old homes through investment in a more inclusive manner, so anyone can invest in property while helping a neighbourhood of their choosing!
3. What is Urby’s business model, and what is its core mission?
Urby operates as a fractionalised real estate investment platform. Before a property is listed, the lister uses its own resources to acquire it or secure the relevant ownership interest. The lister then issues property-specific Profit-Share Contracts (PSCs), referred to as shares, through Urby.
Proceeds from PSC purchases help the lister recover and recycle capital already committed to the property and support renovation and other project-related costs. Investors may receive a share of the proceeds when the property is sold or when the lister’s stake is bought back, depending on the investment model. Urby charges a 2.5% transaction fee on New Drop purchases. Urby currently charges no additional fee when users sell on the Exchange.
The idea is that every investor contributes to upcycling houses in mature neighborhoods while benefitting from it. The more each neighborhood is restored, the more living space there is for Malaysians to flourish within the existing urban ecosystem.
4. How does a property get selected and prepared before it is listed on the Urby platform?
Urby currently curates undervalued, freehold, landed properties— we evaluate each listing to ensure that the capital being raised does not exceed that of the underlying asset value as determined by Urbanmetry’s proprietary AI model. This model uses over 50 geospatial factors to determine an asset’s price and accounts for risks such as natural disasters (e.g. floods or landslides).
Simply put, we use our property data resources to ensure that whatever property listed on Urby is viable for prospective homeowners to purchase—even more so after it’s been renovated.
On a less technical side, factors like area, house features, and amenities help us determine which properties would be suitable for homeownership.
5. Who are the people working behind-the-scenes on Urby?
Urby is made possible by many experts working in different roles, such as legal, finance, architecture, tech, and more.
Together with Urbanmetry and our sibling company Urbanwave, we’re all working to make sure users can invest freely as efficiently as possible with all the information at their fingertips.
6. What has the response been like from investors and owners since the platform launched?
There has been a lot of enthusiasm, especially from users that have had experience with property investing. Having the option to invest from RM10 gave a lot of flexibility to accommodate for each user’s own risk appetite—many of which are working female professionals in their 30s to 40s—and the impact of restoring neighbourhoods is also a standout. The idea of investing with a good cause resonates with many.
We’ve also got users that simply enjoy witnessing the transformation of our houses—watching before-and-after renovations happen to be a popular pastime, particularly for other homeowners.
It’s always fun when a user recognizes a neighbourhood near and dear to them, and becomes interested to invest.
7. From a business perspective, what have been some of the biggest challenges in growing Urby so far?
Much of it came from just how new Urby’s investment model was within the investment space—imagine how thrilled we were when we finally got accepted into the sandbox!
It was also a pretty strange concept to introduce to users that were curious but couldn’t wrap their heads around the idea—that’s when we started doing regular events and house tours to walk them through the process.
8. Because fractional property investing is still new in Malaysia, how does Urby help users understand how the investment works, including risks and timelines?
Social media plays a big role—we’ve got Instagram, Whatsapp, and a website to help explain how Urby works as a platform and what we’re all about.
On the app itself, we incorporate key details about our properties, such as location, size, and more. Of course, this includes pictures of the house and its various features!
Additionally, we list the estimated return amount per share of each property, along with the estimated time it takes to realise this return. Importantly, estimated returns and timelines are projections and are not guaranteed. Like any investment, Profit-Share Contracts involve risks, including changes in property-market demand, price volatility, limited liquidity, uncertainty around the timing of an exit, interest-rate movements and homeowner default. Users should review the information for each property and consider whether the investment suits their goals and risk tolerance.
Legal documents such as the profit-share contract and proof of ownership are also easily accessible on the app for each property.
We know savvy investors want to get as much information as possible, and we’re happy to accommodate!
9. For someone new to Urby, how can they get started and participate through the platform?
Download the app, explore our properties, and if you see a home you like, put some money in your account to invest—it’s just that simple! If you have any doubts, reach out to us via Whatsapp or Instagram. It’s our main channel of interacting with our users.
10. Since launching, what progress or impact has Urby seen so far — whether in revitalising homes, attracting investors, or expanding participation in property investing?
We’ve listed over 25 homes on Urby (with more on the way!) and have fully redeemed 7 homes. Our renovated FastTrack homes have consistently found buyers, making for successful upcycling stories.
As for investors, we’ve managed to grow our user base to come from a wide range of backgrounds—whether its veteran investors looking for something new, lovers of home architecture, or even beginners interested in breaking into property investing. We like to think that Urby offers something for everyone, regardless of investing experience.
Without them, our efforts wouldn’t have been possible in the first place—building a community centred around restoring neighbourhoods is certainly an impact in and of itself!
11. Looking ahead, what are Urby’s goals for the next five years, and how can investors, property owners, or property developers be part of that journey?
Besides becoming more mainstream in Malaysia, we’re hoping to branch out into the international scene as well.
What matters isn’t just popularity of course. In a few years, we’re hoping Urby helps property investment become more equitable and accessible to the public, all while contributing to neighbourhoods that they love.
Final Thoughts
A huge thank you to the Urby team for sharing what they have been building. Creating a fractional property investment platform from the ground up, navigating regulatory approval, and introducing an entirely new concept to Malaysian investors is no small feat.
Here are three takeaways we loved from this interview:
- Fix what is broken around you. Urby did not invent a new asset class. They looked at vacant, deteriorating homes in existing neighbourhoods and found a smarter way to restore them.
- Accessibility changes everything. Lowering the entry point to RM10 did not just attract more investors. It brought in an entirely different kind of investor, people who care about where they live, not just what they earn.
- Community is the product. The investors are not just funding renovations. They are part of a growing movement to bring life back to mature neighbourhoods across Malaysia.
Download the Urby app and request a referral code through WhatsApp to explore available properties. You can also help Urby discover its next restoration project through the Property Scout feature. Follow @urby.ai on Instagram for new listings, renovation updates and house tours.
