by Anders Ong

There are so much confusion among people for categorizing the type of high rise properties. Most people cannot differentiate between flat and apartment or apartment and condominium. Thus, it is of utmost importance for us to learn each one of it to be more familiar.

Flat 

A residential title high rise without facilities, it can be a walk up low rise flat as well. Normally under low cost housing and controlled by the state government for the flat allocation.

Apartment

A greater version compared to flat with a minimal of one to three facilities such as playground, gated and guarded. It is usually categorized under affordable housing which is controlled by state government as well.

Service Suite/Service Apartment

A commercial titles high rise with basic facilities for dwelling purpose such as Small Office Home Office (SOHO). It can be use as office and as a residential purpose dwelling for Airbnb. The assessment, quit rent and utility charges are higher than residential titled property.

Condominium

A residential title high rise with a full numbers of luxury features like swimming pool, gymnasium and other facilities. Designed for residential purpose with facilities to complement a balance life style.

Penthouse

The top most unit condominium in a building which usually take up the whole floor or two floors. It is also designed to be the biggest unit most of the time.

Duplex

Technically it is a double storey terrace unit constructed in a high rise building with big glass to maximize the view and a staircase in the condominium unit to go the second floor. Some constructed in a mezzanine and some in a loft design.

Super Condo

A super low density condominium development and only have big size units, which is usually more than 2,000 square feet per unit and maximum of only 2 units per floor or 1 unit. It also come with minimum of 3-5 car park for the unit.

Remarks:
represents liveability and pricing

Anders Ong – Young Property Investor, Writer and Enthusiast of Real Estate. 

Imperial Ville, yet another development by Ideal Property Group at Sungai Ara. Located along Lintang Sungai Ara 10, surrounded by Imperial Residence, One Imperial, Idaman Lavendar 2 & 3, Idaman Cempaka and Idaman Melur. It is about 3km from Setia SPICE, 10 minutes drive to Penang International Airport.

The development will see the construction of 48-storey building, featuring 500 units of condominium with 6-level multi-storey carpark.

This project is still pending for approval, more details to be available upon official launch.

Project Name : Imperial Ville
Location : Sungai Ara
Property Type : Condominium
Tenure: Freehold
Total Units : 500
Indicative Price : (to be confirmed)
Developer : Premium Flame Development Sdn. Bhd. (Ideal Property Group)
Last Updated: Nov 2024

Location Map:

Jayamas Property Group continues to pledge on making quality property development via their tagline of aspiration “Your Home, Our Pride”. Their latest addition of MARC Residences proven to be a distinguished development which features a stylish 26-storey skyscraper with only 110 residential units while MARC Service Apartment offers 40 units of accommodation for urban travellers.

Apart from featuring premium recreational facilities, MARC Residences and Service Apartment stands out with its dual and tri-key concept, which offers the flexibility of generating passive income while having the shelter of a home.

A dual key home is a residential unit that can be split into two. Both are self-contained and share a common foyer and single title. The owner can rent out each section separately to maximize their rental income. Tri-key concept, probably first of its kind in Malaysia, is an extension of the dual-key but with greater flexibility that allows the owner to rent one property conveniently to three different tenants.

Strategic Location

This impressive lifestyle development is strategically located along Song Ban Kheng Road (also known as Jalan Song Ban Kheng), the most prominent bustling road connecting to the heart of Bukit Mertajam town which has rapidly evolved from an agricultural area into one of the fastest growing town in mainland.

Song Ban Kheng Road’s humble beginnings dated back to 1999, when it was built and named after Song Ban Kheng who became the principal for Jit Sin High School for about 20 years. Today, the road is a primary route in Bukit Mertajam providing connectivity among several public schools, residential and commercial areas. It is also the main access point for commuters going to neighboring towns, North South Expressway and even Penang bridge.

As locality is evolving over time, Song Ban Kheng road has been growing steadily towards becoming a desirable destination for business and property investment. Its geographical convenience has brought the rapid growth of urban population within the surrounding area and created abundance business opportunities. This is clearly evidenced with automobile service centers, hotels, financial institutions and popular eateries mushrooming within the neighbourhood in the recent years.

Certainly, those who are not familiar with Penang mainland property market would be surprised to discover that some of the residential and commercial properties near Song Ban Kheng Road have doubled in value over the past 5-6 years. In fact, today it could cost you well over RM1million to own a decent semi-detached house within the vicinity.

Investing for Passive Income

Should you have ever considered running an Airbnb or renting out your house to earn some income without the hassle of cleaning the rooms regularly or having the time to market and take bookings, then investment in MARC Service Apartment might just be the right choice for passive income.

When you are investing into a property for passive income, the old punchline “Location, Location, Location” still rules and remains the most crucial factor for profitability. Proximity to key commercial and industrial areas, workplace and highways are some of the major factors for its valuations.

Being centrally located within several industrial areas and with easy access to all major expressway, the prominent Song Ban Kheng road is set to experience continued growth with several more development projects in the drawing board; what more if hotel development is coming soon! The upcoming international hotel brand, coupled with high occupancy rate in hotels, is a clear sign of confidence in local rental and short-stay market.

With the scheduled launch of the MARC Residences and Service Apartment soon, it is set to bring a new playing field for local property investors in 2019.

For more details about this project, you may visit www.jayamasproperty.com

Malaysia is entering 2019 with unsold completed residential units rising to 30,115 units as at Sept 30, 2018, an increase of 48.35% from the 20,304 units a year ago.

According to the Valuation and Property Services Department’s (JPPH) latest figures released on Saturday, the total value was RM19.54bil, a 56.44% rise from RM12.49bil a year ago. Should serviced apartments and small offices home offices (SoHos) be included, the overhang value rose to 40,916 units, valued at RM27.38bil.

JPPH defines an overhang as completed unsold units nine months after issuance of certificates of fitness, signifying from the authorities that a dwelling is fit for occupation. The unsold units are across the board from RM50,000 or less to more than RM1mil. The concentration begins even from the RM200,000-RM250,000 segment with about 3,500 unsold while the bulk of the overhang are priced RM500,000 and above, with more than 12,000 units.

The government and the Real Estate Housing Developers Association are planning to launch a national home ownership campaign in January to resolve this blemish on the property sector. Individual developers are currently putting last minute tweaks to their campaigns.

Among those looking forward to unveil their bags of goodies are the Eco World group, Sunway and Mah Sing, just to name a few.

The overhang has been rising in terms of units and ringgit value for a few years now, with the exception of 2015 when the number of overhang units decreased to 8,804 units, valued at RM3.64bil. However, the numbers took off again a year later, with unsold units valued at RM8.27bil in the third quarter of 2016.

The situation then and now is further complicated with the completion of serviced apartments and SoHos which are built on commercial land, but which are also used for residential purposes.

Johor has the largest number of unsold completed serviced apartments and SoHo units at 7,714. It rose 191% from the 2,647 units recorded a year ago. The overhang in serviced apartments is valued at RM6.16bil compared with its residential overhang of RM4.44bil. This means the total overall value of its unsold serviced apartments are 1.5 times that of residential housing.

This brings Johor’s total overhang to about RM10.6bil, or more than a third of the national RM27.38bil figure, excluding other forms of unsold commercial properties like offices and retail in the state. Going by JPPH reports, Johor has the highest number of completed unsold units in the country, with 6,053, a 55% increase from the 3,901 units a year ago.

A source from the JPPH said the country’s overhang scenario has somewhat changed with thousands of unsold serviced apartments and SoHos, a feature of urban centre living.

To circumvent high property prices, developers shifted their focus by building shoebox-sized units built in urban centres on commercial land which has a higher value than residential land.

Local authorities also convert land to commercial status in order to get higher land premiums from developers. Owners of these units also pay high taxes to the local authorities.

Developers “cut” the units smaller to bring the overall price down to give an illusion of affordability.

The JPPH source said: “Buyers bought these units because they were priced at around RM500,000 but they did not know that they have to pay higher serviced charges, utility bills and other taxes because of their commercial status.

“When they get the bills, they are shocked with the high charges,” the source said. That is one of the reasons why buyers may be staying away from serviced apartments, he said.

It is also difficult to bring up a family in such homes because of the small size of these units. A minimum size of 1,200 sq ft with three bedrooms would be more ideal, he said.

Among the states that have a serious overhang are Johor, Selangor, Penang and surprisingly, Kedah. Known as the rice bowl of Malaysia with its paddy-farming community, Kedah with an estimated population of about 2 million, has an overhang of 3,450 units, reducing marginally by 2.38% from a year ago. Selangor’s residential overhang rose to 4,524, up 25.81% while Penang, up 43.59% to 3,261 units.

He said JPPH depends on data fed to them by developers. Developers holding back information will not give a true and fair view of the situation. According to JPPH’s latest report, Kuala Lumpur has no unsold completed serviced apartments/SoHos.

Source: TheStar.com.my

Buyers of The Park @ Mak Mandin can soon rejoice when their affordable housing project completes end of next year.

Property developer Silver Channel Sdn Bhd said the development of the project was currently on track.

State Local Government, Housing, Town and Country Planning Committee chairman Jagdeep Singh said he was delighted to see the buyers at the topping-off ceremony on Dec 22.

The Park @ Mak Mandin is one of the projects under the state affordable housing scheme.

Jagdeep said the state would continue to work with the private sectors to ensure the delivery of affordable housing projects.

The Park @ Mak Mandin is strategically located off Jalan P. Patto, with restaurants, shopping malls, prestige schools and even the famous Apollo Market are within reach.

Also present were state Youth and Sports Committee chairman Soon Lip Chee, Bagan Dalam assemblyman M. Satees, and Directors of Silver Channel Sdn Bhd Musa Mustakim and Tay Kean Huat.

FIND OUT MORE

The Park @ Mak Mandin
Affordable housing scheme by Penang State Government at Jalan Mak Mandin, Butterworth. This project is undertaken by Silver Channel Sdn. Bhd., comprising 4 blocks of 14-storey towers with 780 apartment units.

Source: Buletin Mutiara