Market demand for studio living

MALAYSIA Land Properties Sdn Bhd (Mayland) vice-chairman Tan Sri David Chiu is very proud to have proved his critics wrong with the current keen demand for small studio units at Plaza Damas. 

“I was told time and again that there will never be a demand for 400 sq ft studio units, that it’ll be a failure, when we launch the 600-odd units of Mayfair and Dorchester. Well, we have huge success. Today, other developers have done units along the same size,” he says. 

Buoyed by the success, Mayland will be launching Kenny View around the middle of the year. The development is located along Jalan Kuching and comprises units with built-ups ranging from 500 sq ft to 2,300 sq ft. Prices have not been fixed yet. 

The 38-storey will have two views, one side faces the lush greenery of Kenny Hills, the other the city centre with picturesque KL Tower and KLCC. 

About 30% of the units will be 500 sq ft, 50% between 600 sq ft and 800 sq ft and the remainder between 1,800 sq ft and 2,300 sq ft. The bulk of them will be in the one and two-room category. The 2.5 acre piece of land was bought in 2005. 

Chiu says this will be a high-end development. 

“We are concentrating on smaller units to bring down the cost to make them more affordable. We will be catering to the above average executives who want to live in the city. If we have only big units, the price will be rather prohibitive,” says Chiu. 

Besides Kenny View, the company also built Park View Serviced Apartment in the Jalan Pinang area. Park View is smack in the city while Kenny View will also be a city development but with spectacular views of the country’s most prestigious residential area. 

Chiu says Mayland may also built condominiums on top of Sheraton Subang basement car park. The Faber Group Bhd (previous owners of the hotel) has provided foundation for it.  

Other projects keeping Mayland busy will be the third phase of Plaza Damas, located across the road from Hartamas Shopping Centre. There will 80 units of three-storey shop houses and another 800 units of studio serviced apartments there. There are currently 1,330 units of serviced apartments in Mayfair, Dorchester, Wardoft and Windsor. 

On the proliferation of city condominiums, particularly around the KLCC area, Chiu says this will be digested. 

“There is a lot of supply. But 5,200 units around KLCC area is not shocking. Neither is the RM2,000 per sq ft that is being bandied about today. By Hong Kong and Singapore standards, it is not shocking, pricewise. 

“Living in the city is going to be the trend. People will be bored taking an hour’s drive to work. They will eventually relocate. Property prices in Hong Kong and London city have bombed. There is a demand for these and the condo market here will also become bigger. Families are getting smaller, and security is becoming very important, among locals and expatriates.” 

On high-rise residentials around KLCC touching a peak of RM2,000, Chiu says this is possible, but it is very unlikely that Malaysia’s property prices will surpass that of Singapore, which in some lifestyle locations is going for S$3,000 to S$3,500 per sq ft. 

On the measures by the government to boost the property market with the exemption of the real property gain tax (RPGT) and the slew of measures to benefit the property sector, Chiu says this is the right direction as the property market was in doldrums last year.