by Jack Miles

Sunway Vivaldi, an avant-garde development by one of Malaysia’s most influential developers, Sunway City Berhad (SunCity), is now available for sale in Hong Kong. SunCity is a publicly listed Malaysian company armed with numerous international awards and accolades. Colliers International has arranged several seminars and an exhibition for this brand new residential project by SunCity at Mandarin Oriental Hotel from 18 to 20 April 2008.

 

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With Binaderas ‘ Seni Mont Kiara playing with ‘affluent’ names by naming its blocks from Monet, Mozart and what not, Suncity decides to follow the trend and name its latest offering, Sunway Vivaldi. Sunway Vivaldi is their latest condominium offering after Casa Kiara 2 and Palazzio at Sri Hartamas. The location for Sunway Vivaldi is just down the road if you are coming from Sri Hartamas side towards Mont’ Kiara side (Jalan 19/70A), right after their own Kiara Hills bungalow development. The land has been cleared for the longest time and had no activity until recently and finally the billboard was up. The development is also being launched in Hong Kong (see report below).

Location

While the immediate location is not so favourable, higher floors facing Hartamas side will definitely have unblocked views of KL city skyline and I would expect these to be priced at premium and would be the first ones to go too. The location this development is sitting is a plot where it has power lines at one side, and Penchala Link highway on the other. Having said that, with so many development popping up in Mont’ Kiara, a good view is harder to get by the day.

Click for larger pic

As with any other Sunway development, existing buyers may be entitled to the 3% rebate under its PALS programme. I will need to confirm this though. That’s all the details I have now, but will definitely pay the office a visit for a full picture, so stay tuned!

17th April 2008 – Site plan & floor plans update, after the jump.

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Finally a new launch to perk up the quiet property market a bit! If you have driven along Jalan Ampang before, you will probably see this rather small billboard previewing a new development around that area. I recall the façade was rather sleek, with a very contemporary and modern building with full glass façade… and now it’s finally being launched. Called Panorama, the smallest 1 bedroom unit will start at above RM 1 million!

Panorama is just about 5 minutes away from KLCC, and located right behind Hotel Corus. I have yet to visit the site but I have always liked the Hampshire area as it looks rather secluded but in actual fact it’s just a few minutes away from KLCC. More photos and layout plans after the jump.

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Finally, new season of Property Ladder is here! After months of repeat of old episodes, I’m quite interested to see what Sarah Beeny’s got up her sleeves! Property Ladder is an UK show that documents property developers journey to climb up the ladder and is assisted by Sarah Benny, a well-known developer herself.

I just love the way Sarah puts facts in front of the would-be property developers’ faces; and some of them seriously have got totally no clue of what needs to be done! She speaks so much sense that I couldn’t help but to agree with every single suggestion that she has put out.

For instance, when dressing a property, ensure that you don’t over personalise it, remember you are selling it, it’s not for your own stay, and think the mass market and never narrow your target market. Or for rental property, how it’s advisable to opt for more durable worktop in the kitchen, or a darker shade of sofa. Pretty 101 to me, but some of these newbies really have no clue! And at times they just go against what Sarah advised and at the end, they all somehow regret to have not follow Sarah’s advise earlier on.

Recommended watch for all property developer and real estate enthusiasts! For Malaysian peeps, you can try to download the episodes off torrent sites. In tonight’s episode, it seems that Sarah’s got preggers…again!

Update: You can now watch the episodes on demand on 4oD (Channel4 on Demand) and you can even download high quality version of the episodes and they valid for 48 hours after first watch.

Related Links
Property Ladder on Channel4
Episode 1: Bishop’s Waltham and Windsor

News broke that YTL has paid a record price of about RM2,000psf for a land located along Jalan Stonor with land size less than an acre. This would be interesting to see what YTL will do with this land, probably a really high-end residential development is in the pipes. But with cost of acquisition that high, would there be room for appreciation? Let’s wait and see.

08-04-2008: YTL pays record price for KL land
by Joyce Goh (The Edge)

KUALA LUMPUR: The YTL group is believed to have set a new record for land transactions in the city centre with an acquisition of a piece of land of slightly less than an acre (0.4 hectare) for RM85 million. Sources said the land is located along Jalan Stonor and the transaction price works out to about RM2,000 per sq ft. The vendor in the transaction is the Eng Lian group, better known as the owners of Bangsar Village.

“They recently signed the agreement and the land size is slightly less than an acre. The deal is done at a new record price of RM2,000 per sq ft (psf),” said the source. It is not known which company from the YTL group bought the land, and what the group has in store for the land, but analysts reckoned the price paid was on the high side.

“Given the current situation, it is surprising. If the land will be used for residential then the price is a bit on the high side, but if it’s for commercial use, then it’s a different story… it might actually be quite fair pricing,” said a property analyst with a local research house. The status of the land is not known but that area was mainly for residential properties although some owners have converted the status to commercial.

The property analyst said that among the transactions that were made public in recent times, the highest was RM1,732 psf paid by GuocoLand (Malaysia) Bhd in January for a piece of land along Changkat Kia Peng. According to a company’s announcement, there were two residential buildings on the land. “There is also another piece of land transacted on Jalan Kia Peng itself, which was said to be at a higher price, but it was done between privately owned companies. So the price has not been disclosed,” said the property analyst.

Industry observers said that there was room for property prices to rise further given the uncertainty in the equity markets. “The potential for property prices is there. Although some believe that the rising property market may take a possible breather spooked by uncertainties, land in the area is scarce, hence the high price,” said the industry observer.

Related Links
YTL deal proves market still vibrant