Property Malaysia

While most people were more fascinated with the the 07.07.07 weekend, yesterday marked the 2nd anniversary of this blog’s inception.

We can’t believe it’s only been two years since we started this blog to talk about property launches on the free blogsome site, it has certainly come a long way over the last 24 months. After all this while, the blog turned out a little different from what we envisioned it to be.

But at the end of the day, the primary objective of the blog remains unchanged, and will stay so for as long as the blog is running.

While tomorrow we may go out for a teh tarik at the mamak to celebrate the occasion, thanks to all our loyal readers for their support and we will be back very soon with more reviews. Business as usual.

Some of you may have seen it advertised by some local developers as “to Conquas 21 Standard!” or something like that.

But what really is Conquas 21 and what has it got to do with Malaysian property?

In a nutshell, it is a quality standard used by the Building and Construction Authority of Singapore (it’s something like our CIDB) to control the standards of buildings by giving a score for every project. The score is in percentage, like say this project has achieved a final Conquas score of 81. How they derive this score is based a systematic, transparent and rigorous testing that involves architectural, structural, mechanical and electrical random testing carried out by different teams throughout the construction period. (The 21 refers to the revision number)

For example, for the architectural component score, they randomly select different locations of the almost complete building and do numerous tests to every imaginable part – like floor levelness, tile pull out test, door alignment, etc. They the Conquas rod and and other normal equipment like spirit level, and all data is keyed in to a computer to be tabulated.

It all started back in the recession of the late 80’s, and the Singapore government took advantage of the slow construction industry to improve the quality of construction work in the country. As a result, after almost 20 years, the Conquas score has become an important factor in determining a particular contractor’s caliber and it stands as a good quality benchmark for other countries to emulate. In Singapore, a lot of precast work and skilled labor is used, which helps in maintaining good quality, something not as widely practiced here.

Scores are published in BCA’s website, so buyers can know what kind of quality to expect, while developers can also know the standard to expect from some contractors.

Malaysian developers can also get BCA to train their staff to this standard and get them to test their own projects, Sunrise and Gamuda are two early adopters of this standard, and many more developers are catching on here. It must also be emphasized that most Malaysian developers opt to test only the architectural component, which is basically the finishing touches, as doing the complete tests can be costly and time consuming. Also, since testing by local projects are voluntary, not all are listed on the website, only those that score well are usually listed.

You can see some of the local projects with the Conquas score here.

It should also be noted that when a local project says that it is ‘to Conquas standard’ it basically mean that it was tested according to the specs, it doesn’t mean that it has any better quality than other projects, unless if they quote score. Even then, it is important to ask if the full Conquas component tests were carried out or not.

For more info, you can check out these websites:
http://www.corenet.gov.sg/iquas/
http://www.bca.gov.sg/

In a small area saturated with high rise condos that are trying to outdo each other in terms of building height and extravagance, Ampersand stands as a welcoming alternative where low rise and low density is the order of the development. That is not to say that Ampersand is not high on the luxury quotient, but while living with a 200+ other units (at the very least) sharing all the facilities and entry / exit points, something has to be said about lower density and exclusivity.

Ampersand is located on Jalan Kia Peng, a name that has long been synonymous with high-end apartments and shady bungalows before the days of the KLCC condos. The location is quite near to the KLCC Park itself, although being only a few storeys high, there is no mention of any KLCC view or RSGC view. Just greenery view available here. Opposite is Cenfad, and most of the neighbours are privately owned homes (for the moment).

This spot of the road along Kia Peng is far enough from the busy traffic of Jalan Ampang and Jalan Tun Razak, and the tourist-y crowds around the KLCC Park, but still retains the ambience of a cozy enclave in the heart of the city. With a rectangular land of about 2 acres, they have surprisingly gone for the straightforward design, with three rectangular blocks built squarely parallel to one another and to the road. Block A and B are the two nearest to the road, with 5 storeys each (top floor houses a duplex unit). Between these two blocks is a small area for common facilities. There isn’t much facilities here, given two controlling factors – small piece of land, and proximity to all the available amenities around this area. But for the price this is at some people may expect more extravagant facilities right at their doorstep, but it is not so here.

Block C is the largest and highest block, located behind the other two, so that all three are clearly visible from the road and higher floor owners have a better view around. There are 10 floors or so here, still very low-rise but at least looking over the tree tops. That’s another thing, Ampersand seems to emphasize on the shady trees in the proposed layout, giving the low density a very dense foliage feel, so we were quite impressed. However, we hope that in execution the final product is the same or better.

In compensation for the low rise feature, units here are largely built. The unit sizes for typical units range from 2,613 to 3,520sq.ft. The price tag starts from RM2,260,670 upwards to RM5,343,820, giving it an average of RM860psf. This is quite average for the higher end units around this area, but with large built up the prices are bulked up accordingly. The units are all luxuriously designed, we won’t go into the details here, as there are many different types of layout for varying tastes. Each unit comes with a touch pool with a view at the edge of the unit, penthouses have your own private swimming pool.

As we said, what they lack in facilities, they make up for in large and beautifully spaced units. For those wishing to buy not-so-expensive units with the intention to rent out to the expat market here, there are plenty of other condos offering great buys below the RM800k range. But here, it is more for the successful people to live on their own, or for a weekend home. We definitely like the location and low density, but the stiff pricing is what sets it apart in the final analysis.

IJM Properties are the development arm of one the largest construction firms in the country. The property subsidiary has been releasing more and more new projects in the past few years and this looks set to continue with the acquisition of companies like Road Builder (and their property arm RB Land) and the troubled but land rich K Euro. Some of the previous projects by them reviewed here in Property Malaysia are:

Monte Bayu
Riana Green East: Sagaris

A subsidiary of Boustead Properties Bhd, Akademi Pendidikan Pemandu Malaysia Sdn Bhd (APPM) is selling a piece of prime land to a company called Crystalville Sdn Bhd.

The land tenure is leasehold and is located in Setapak. The transaction was in cash in the tune of RM30 million.

According to the report:

Boustead Properties said it acquired the land, which has a remaining lease of 89 years, in 1997 for RM14.5 million. It added that the net book value as at Dec 31, 2006, was RM22.6 million.

It added that sale of the land would allow APPM to realise cash proceeds to repay borrowings taken to acquire the land in the first place.

It said the disposal was expected to increase its net assets of by RM7.5 million and earnings per share for the year ending Dec 31, 2007, by 2.9 sen.

It is not known at the moment how Crystalville plans to develop the land.

If you had driven around Mont’Kiara some years back, you would have notice one piece of undeveloped land left behind some of the towering neighbouring condos on the road leading to Segambut, just before Kiara 1888. That plot of land, as many property watchers would have been able to tell you, belong to YNH Property, and about a year ago, they’ve finally decided to develop it as two towers of residential condo.

Mont’Kiara has been very well covered here in Property Malaysia, so it’s best we don’t repeat about the location, traffic, accessibility, expat market, that kind of thing. But if you are interested, you can read about some of the earlier reviews done to the other launches in the vicinity listed at the bottom of this review. But in a nutshell, Ceriaan Kiara is situation on the road leading out of the district, leading to Segambut, and it is slightly away from the town centres of Plaza Mont’Kiara and Desa Sri Hartamas. But on the upside, it is within walking distance to the two important international schools here.

On first impressions, Ceriaan Kiara looks utilitarian when compared to its neighbours, the design does not strike you immediately as impressive. It is situated on a rectangular 3 acre piece of land, which is roughly the same size and shape as the neighbouring lots, as we were told by the sales people. This means that the building is in close proximity with the neighbours, as most of the developments have little or no extra setback at the boundaries other than what is required. But right in front there is not a condo, but that famous hardware shop, so I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing.

We were also not entirely impressed with the facilities that were available here. We have come to expect that the condos here are always pushing the envelope in offering the best with each new launch to catch the all important buyer market, but it seems they don’t share that view here. Instead of the ‘infinity pool’ and ‘sky bars’ (or whatever else) that is often provided, there is just the normal pool, gym, playground, etc. you know, the usual stuff. We can appreciate the fact that adding more facilities mean higher maintenance cost and cost of the condo, so perhaps they have the advantage of having the condo being more competitively priced for those not looking for that much luxury.

There are two identical towers, Block A which is away from the main entrance is currently open for sale, while Block B is going to be launched soon. Construction for both blocks are going on at the same pace, so buyers of Block B may not have to wait that long, although you probably have to pay more progressive payment upfront just after booking the unit considering the advance stage of construction.

Both blocks have 119 units, there are 6 units per floor. Duplex units are available just below the penthouse. There are only 2 penthouse units per block, but however these penthouses are not big, and do not take up the entire footprint of the building, they are basically duplex units. Units on the facilities podium level have large gardens, there are six of these per block.

Units are based on a slight rectangular-ish footprint, all with no party walls to give some privacy. Some other developers might be tempted to call it the ‘bungalows in the sky’ concept, but we were glad they didn’t do so here. For the typical units they all have either 3+1 or 4 rooms, with sizes ranging from 1,828 to 2,208sq.ft. Duplex and penthouse units are double of the typical units. Podium area adds about 1,500 of space to your unit, but you are paying for the psf price.

As mentioned above, there is nothing spectacular with the design or layout, but the one point that makes it attractive is that it is competitively priced compared to the competition. Some investors may look to buying a unit in the area without paying hefty monthly repayments, so this may hold some appeal to them. But maybe for some others, the facilities and design may be just below their expectation levels, attractive pricing or no attractive pricing. It is also not the best location along this road, let alone the whole of Mont’Kiara.

Some of the other projects in this area that have been reviewed by Property Malaysia are:
Changkat View
Hartamas Regency 2
Kiara 1888
Kensington Park
Kiaraville
Kiaramas Ayuria
Hijauan Kiara
The Verve Suites
Tiffani by i-ZEN
Boulevard Tower, Solaris Dutamas
Mont’Kiara Meridin
10 Mont’Kiara