Damansara Foresta and Damansara Avenue Azelia?

Bandar Sri Damansara(BSD) used to be an area with low rise residential houses but recent development show that BSD is also catching the high rise bug. Prior to the current development there are only a few medium cost condominium such as Paradesa Rustica, Paradesa Tropika and Menara Sri Damansara in the vicinity of BSD as what i have stated in my last article. I will go through both of this new development.

Damansara Avenue Azelia

This development on the edge of Bandar Sri Damansara seems to be catching a lot of attention lately. With a master-plan in place, this place is definitely have a good future prospect. Currently, Altivo Retails and offices and Azelia Residences have been launched. The response have been good even with the condominium is going at RM600psf rate. Why? Buyers are riding of the prospect that once the area is fully developed it will be commercial viable due to Damansara Avenue is strategically located in between Desa Park City and Sierramas and also next to middle income to low income area Damansara Damai.

Damansara Foresta

This project started off quite controversially as residents around the area protesting against it as it is located near the Lanjan hill and on a steep slope. However, now it seems that everything is in full steam to be launched. Priced at Rm500psf which is quite reasonable for a piece of freehold condominium in BSD. The major selling point for this condominium is it location at the the hill and the forest surround it. Seldom you can get a condo that is so near to nature and at the same time 15 minutes drive to Mutiara Damansara and OneUtama. Addition to that, there will be a access road from BSD through The Rafflesia to Damansara Perdana. I am not sure will the road be open to public or exclusively for the residents in The Rafflesia.

To be continue.....

Just came back from the preview. First impression? Sales people are not very keen in selling and explaining compared to sales people from Capers. Even though Block A was almost sold out, the sales person should at least explain to us and not letting us wondering around without any clue. Back to the location, very impressive and nice floor plan. Even the landscape is impressive with canopy walk and various facilities and services. Total built up for the whole area is 4 blocks and each block is 36 floors.

Given all the good points, i also found a few bad points regarding Damansara Foresta. Below are few points that you need to consider before getting Damansara Foresta.

1) Can the narrow Persiaran Meranti support so many development around that area?

2) Seems that there will be another few development nearby by L&G which will increase the congestion in Persiaran Meranti.

3) Maintenance Fees, is it worth it? Can the mgmt manage the area well?

4) What is the track record of L&G in building high end condo?

The Elementz Ampang as the only example?

5) Are you happy to stay near a hill slope?

Give me your comments also regarding this project?What do you think?

Bandar Sri Damansara

I was reading this week TheEdge paper for this week. In the City & Country Section, there is a article by Wong King Wai - Prices stabilise after several quarters of growth. From the statistics shown by CB Richard Ellis, Y-o-y growth for 1 storey terraced houses is 28%, 2-storey terraced houses SD7 is 27.91%. SD10 is 41.03% and highrises is 20%. This indicated that interest on Bandar Sri Damansara(BSD) is picking up healthily. Why is BSD become the prime target for home buyers? Below are some of the points which i think impact the price positively.

Good Points for BSD

1. Next to Desa Park City, Sunway SPK and Sierramas
2. There are less high-rise apartments and mostly are landed double storey terraced houses.
3. There is not much low cost apartments and houses except few blocks in Persiaran Meranti.
4. Private School and college in BSD
5. Adjacent to Mutiara Damansara, Damansara Perdana and Bandar Utama
6. Near to few major hospitals e.g Sg Buloh, Selayang, and Damansara Specialist

Future Prospect of BSD

1. 8trium shopping mall will complete BSD as a complete township
2. Damansara Avenue (high class development) within BSD
3. Bypass road to connect Damansara Damai and BSD(if it happens) - not sure good or bad point

Disadvantageous of BSD

1. Matured township not much mega launch by L&G in BSD expected
2. Not much mega commercial viable shoplots compared to Desa Aman Puri and Bandar Manjalara so can consider a pure residential area with some shoplots to cater for daily need s.

Conclusion

BSD recent price hike is mainly due to the spillover effects of Desa Park city and Sierramas. Nevertheless BSD is a well plan township that have wide roads and no bottle necks zone as it is mainly develop in a big circular shape. (if you view it from google map). Upside of further price increase will really depends on the nearby RRI and MRT project.

For more information about BSD you can go to the official website http://www.sridamansara.com.my/ for more information

Up and coming areas in Klang Valley that property buyers should lookout.

Evertime, when people tell us that the price of property have appreciate by this much and that much. We always tell ourselves why we never buy that asset that time even we can afford it. The reason is very simple we do not dare to risk it when the area is still under-developed and less access road to that area. Take Puchong and Kota Damansara for example, during the early 2000s, Puchong and Kota Damansara(Mutiara Damasara) only got a big Tesco hypermarket erected in the middle of nowhere. Look at these areas today, it is consider prime and central location. Even Hilton is setting up hotel in Puchong. We should also take notice from where is the next big Tesco hypermarket as they always give us some reference where is the next up and coming area. However below are some areas i think will be booming soon and those budget buyers can get cheaper home in these areas.

1) Government lead development zone. RRI in Sg Buloh, Batu Cantonment in Jalan Ipoh, Sg Besi Airbase and Jalan Cochrane/Peel. These megazone will be the next up and coming location regardless of commercial or residential

2) Rawang. Although this place is still consider far for KLites but it will serve as a central location for RRI Sg Buloh and northern part of KL (Batu Caves, Selayang and Gombak corridor). As the train hub in Rawang will serve this area well in the coming future.

3) Serdang, Seri Kembangan and Balakong regions. This area is still quite under develop

compare to the north and south of this part of the region. To the north, you got TPM, Desa Petaling and Kuchai Lama(Another good area to invest) and to the south you got Cyberjaya, Putrajaya and Bangi.

The rest are quite further out of Kuala Lumpur such as Bkt Jelutong to Meru region, Ampang region, and Cheras-Ampang region.

Sentul East -Can it be the next prime area?

YTL Land & Development Bhd recently launched condominium was a sign that property buyers are confident in the growth of Sentul. Price of The Capers were sold at around Rm550 psqft which is considered high for a place that is just a stone throw away from Public Flat (Perumahan Awam Bandar Baru Sentul). What are the attractions of Sentul that make buyers to willingly cough out hard cash to buy a unit in suburban Kuala Lumpur? The initial launching of Tamarind and Saffron were at reasonable price around Rm250sqft but recently raised to RM400sqft which is a whopping 60% gain in less than 4 years. Apart from this residential project, there are D6 & D7 commercial project which is taking place soon.

Question is the recent craze of The Capers justifiable? Below are my personal views of Sentul East.

Attractive Points

1) Owner of the area is YTL, which is famous for turning stone to gold. This company is well managed and prudent in their investment. The risk factor is much lower

2) The developer and city council is slowly cleaning up Jalan Ipoh and Sentul to change the image of Sentul as a backwater area to a livelier suburb area.

3) Up and coming hypermarket in Sentul East

4) Next to Star LRT and Komuter station and stated in the MRT masterplan that the station will be located nearby

5) 10 minutes from KLCC (if no traffic jam)

6) Future growth in the region by YTL(checkout http://www.sentul-lifestyle.com)

Minus Points

1) Near to low cost apartment, this may hamper the afford to sell it as prime area. Sentul West will be a better option.

2) The nearby condominium e.g Rivercity and Viva Residency are still about 30% lower than Sentul East

3) Considered cheaper alternative to Sentul West which have their own private park.

4) Risk of MRT project not completing is quite high since now is still in very initial stage

Conclusion

Definitely the prospect is there but paying RM400-RM600sqft is it worth it? We still need to ask ourselves how long the place needed to become a fully matured area and starting to yield high rental and going off at RM800-900sqft? My view, the area still need at least 8 to 10 years to be on par with Mont Kiara. However i believe is a good buy for a piece of land in Kuala Lumpur.

Armanee Condominium Damansara Damai

Many people always mistook this condominium with the one in Damansara Perdana. As both have similar name. The one in Damansara Perdana is called Armanee Terrace and the one in Damansara Damai is called Armanee Condominium.

Some history on this condominium, it started construction way back in 2002 and started to deliver on 2006. Rumor, that there is a long delay and difficulty by developer (MKLAND) in completing the project in time. I only took notice of this condominium this year as i always thought that it will be very pricey for a duplex high-end condo. However when i checked iproperty and propwall, it seems that the price is reasonable and i decided to do some research on that area and view the property myself.

First Impression.....

My first trip to Damansara Damai, i took an earlier turn and ended up in Damansara Prima, the place is full of medium to low cost apartment. Finally i found Damansara Damai which is the 2nd junction rather than the 1st from LDP direction. My initial feeling is that both Damansara Prima and Damai are full of low cost apartment. How can an area with such a high dense of low to medium cost apartments consist of a high-end condo? At last, I reached Armanee Condominium. Surprisingly the condo looks very pleasant from outside. The guard asked me to park my car in the visitor car park, which is just beside Block A. From my observation, there is plenty of carpark for visitors (good point).

I was shown 2 units by my agent, one on the 5^th floor and another one on 9^th floor in Block A. The one in 5^th Floor look ok but the corridor to the unit is a little too dark (minus 1 point) but the one in 9^th floor have a brighter corridor. Both units have almost identical design with just some tweaking on the 2^nd floor balcony as the 9^th floor unit have a smaller balcony but compensated with a bath tub in the master bedroom’s washroom. Overall the interior design is good as they do not have odd corners and each area is evenly divided (See below floor plan). The agents later showed me the Clubhouse, Badminton hall and the swimming pool.

I am quite satisfied with my 1^st visit to Armanee condominium.

Floor Plan

Conclusion

I managed another few trips to Armanee Condominium with many more agents and went around Damansara Damai’s neighborhood. I even visited Park Avenue and the up and coming One Damansara Condo(in another article) for comparison. Below are my Plus and Minus points for Armanee Condominium.

PLUS POINTS

1) Very big unit with nice Balinese design. When I walked around the swimming pool area I really got a feeling I’m in a resort for vacation as the ambient and the constant breeze really put me into relax mode. Got nice cafeteria also

2) Cheap (~RM200-250 per square foot)

3) Two car parks for each unit and ample of visitors carpark

4) Good facilities – Swimming pool, badminton court, tennis court, basketball court, gym, sauna and mountain bike trail(just outside the condo)

5) Urban Park just right beside block B, that means no more development on the west side of Armanee Condo.

6) Cheap maintenance fees 0.18 sen

7) Near new ETP growth area –RRI and Sg Buloh MRT station.

8) Next to OSKProperties’s high end development Damansara Sutera

MINUS POINTS

1) Single exit from Damansara Damai

2) Single road from/to Armanee Condo and Damansara Damai (damm bad)

3) Condo management cannot be compared to those like Tamarind Sentul or Nadia Desa Park City

4) Future plan, 5 more blocks of Armanee condo but dunno when they going to build it. (this can be good or bad point)

5) Damansara Damai got too many low end flats.

6) Interior fittings e.g tap, door knobs are of low quality.

To sum up, I would think this is for those who is cost conscious but want to have a resort like home. With the current housing price in KL, this is consider a bargain and much more upside since the price did not appreciate that much.

For more information about Armanee condo, you can visit Armanee Condo Residents Assoc Blog: http://armanee-ra.blogspot.com