Property Malaysia

We haven’t really been to Sentul all that often recently, but no doubt there have been quite a few happenings there in terms of property watching. Although not as ‘hot’ as Mont’Kiara or Damansara Somewhere, Sentul is basically an old established neighbourhood that is slowly (but surely) catching up with the times. Some of our associates that have lived and grown up in Sentul can attest to it being a nice place to live, but of course a little bit overcrowded like most parts of KL.

But many people living out Sentul may not know that about a decade ago, there were some big plans by a few developers (YTL and Bintai Kindenko being a couple of them) to carry out large scale development in the area, which includes re-developing old areas and some KTM land. But post-financial crisis (the 1997, not the one we’re facing now) these plans had to been rescaled, and in some cases, scrapped altogether (YTL is one who survived the crunch to launch their masterplan).

These days, smaller developers are working of any available small land in this area, going for condo since most of the plots are that size. 1Sentul is located just along Jalan Sentul, the thoroughfare that has is an integral linkway in the city since the 60’s. It is very near a few well-known schools, folks using this stretch of Jalan Sentul would be well aware of the congestion during school peak hours. The plot of land is right beside the chinese temple and there is also an old wooden house beside it. The sales people have told us that the wooden house will be demolished by another developer who has acquired the land. But of course, there is also a possibility nothing will happen since the developer isn’t the one who owns that piece of land.

The sales people also mentioned the proposed DUKE highway will also benefit the condo since the planned Sentul Pasar interchange is very near here.

Across the road from 1Sentul is the Sri Suajaya which has been around for a good many years. In this area the are quite a few other condos, ranging from the Pelangi condo and Alampuri, to the more upmarket YTL’s Saffron in Sentul East, Casa Idaman and the Rivercity, the latter two located along Jalan Ipoh. Sentul East is not apples to apples comparison here though, that is a massive development with all the features of a mixed development compared to 1Sentul.

But coming back to 1Sentul, there are two identical towers built on a common podium that almost squarish in shape. There are no basement parking floors, from the ground floor up until the 4th floor are parking levels for the tenants. The fifth floor is the where the common facilities are located. With the space constraint of a small land like 1Sentul, it is understandable that the facilities are not extraordinary, only what you would expect fron this price structure.

Each block has 4 wings arranged orthogonally like the points of a compass (but the alignment is slightly off north) and each wing has two conjoined units giving a total of 8 units per floor. This is one of their main selling points - each unit is a so-called “corner unit”. Definitely it has its benefits - more privacy, better ventilation and more window space, and fewer units per floor. There are only two types of units available, and each floor has 4 of each type. The smaller unit is 1,081sq. ft. while the larger is at a generous 2,709sq. ft. Ath 1,081sq.ft. the unit is quite large, and this makes the unit price more substantial due to the price per square foot. They’ve eschewed the idea of providing a few smaller units (usually about 800sq.ft.) on the lower floors to attract entry level purchasers. From this we can see that the target market are family units and investors. Both unit types are quite similar, with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths.

Currently the developers are offering 2 parking bays for every unit, and are also throwing in some freebies like kitchen cabinet per unit, but please check with the salespeople for the latest details.

We mentioned the price per square foot earlier, it is at an average of RM280psf. The price of the units start from RM305,800 up to RM903,800, bulked up because of the large build up.

Bottomline - do we like the condo? We okay with it, its more suitable for people looking to stay or invest in the area. Outsiders may not be comfortable with the pricing or surroundings, but its actually a decent buy.