There has been a vacuum of KLCC launches of late ever since the economy took a plunge worldwide. Developers have been extra vigilant in going into the market to launch new properties within KLCC what with the onslaught of many new supplies hence hurting price launches. Other than the launch of Setia Sky Residences near Jalan Tun Razak by SP Setia ( though not exactly KLCC), there has not been any big launches so when st Mary Residences was on the card, there was quite a buzz surrounding this development. st Mary Residences, by E&O Property Development (Dua Residences, Idamansara) with Lion Group (Twins Damansara Heights), is located at the site of the old St. Mary school (which has since shifted to Selayang) at Jalan Tengah. The land is owned by Lion Group who had bought the land way back in 1997.

I have yet to check out the showroom so this one will be on top of my list to check out when I’m back in KL. The prices for 1-bedroom starts at RM900k though already sold out on the day of launch. Early bird discount at 10 - 15% was quoted but according to the sales advisor, this has already lapsed. I will have more details once I get hold of it, but meanwhile, enjoy the photos after the jump.

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I have just received an e-brochure of the up and coming development by SDB (known to us as Ameera Phase 2) named Five Stones (20Trees, Park Seven, see the pattern?). This development will have 2 blocks of high rise condominium units and 3 low rise villas. From the first glances of rendering, it looks really good with a SDB stamp all over it, perhaps the first true high-end high-rise development within SS2.

And the price? Starting at an astronomical RM898,000 for the high rise, and RM907,000 for the villas!  More photos after the jump!

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Was passing through Mutiara Rini’s sales office in Mutiara Damansara last week and realise that they have the Surian Residences Show Unit signage up, so decided to check out if the show unit was truly opened. The show units are available for viewing if you enquire from the sales office. This project is yet to be launched and is expected to launch in October 2009. Sizes available for viewing are the 1400sf and 1800sf, with indicative price of Rm600psf .

Surian Residences will be the last of the 2 condominium developments in the freehold Mutiara Damansara, with Surian Condominium as the first in the now very in-demand neighborhood. All units in the Surian Residences would afford panaromic view of Mutiara Damansara, so this with land being so scarce in Mutiara Damansara, would be a huge factor in determining the pricing.

There are 2 types available for viewing, one 1400sf, and a larger one at 1800sf. The general feeling after viewing the units was that this is very good improvement from their first condo, and this one definitely is modern-looking development, opting for glass balustrades, and many ceiling height windows in the living and master bedrooms. This gives the unit a rather airy and light feeling. However, the interior designed opt for this is clunky, outdated and perhaps a bit on the rural side. Somehow I feel very claustophobic in the 1400sf due to the many unnecessary ID partitions. Overall, it is looking good, no more cheap specs like those given in Surian Condominium.With the price tentatively at RM600psf, a 800sf studio unit will be at about RM480,000.  This is already almost like Mont Kiara pricing. Mutiara Rini is definitely banking on the rising prices and demand for properties in Mutiara Damansara and is not worried about a very (very) high asking price.

More (and I mean a lot!) photos after the jump.

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Am not that familiar with Singaporean real estate market other than kept reading about the ridiculously high transacted PSFs, but now it seems that the market is taking a breather…perhaps a correction is in place. Being a keen follower on SDB’s niche product offerings, I recently picked up a brochure on their first foray into the hot (or cooling?) Singaporean property market via it’s JIA located at Wilkie Road.

JIA, home in Mandarin, is a very low density apartment development with only 22 units in a seven-storey development on 17,000 sq ft with an average price of S$1,637 per sq ft. Prices begin at S$2.1mil for a two-room apartment and goes right up to more than $S5mil for a duplex (exchange rate: S$1 to RM2.4). There are also three-bedroom units. Three of the 22 units come with private gardens of varying sizes. The two-room unit with garden is priced at S$2.8mil.

More photos & brochure scans after the jump.

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Finally there are some concrete information on the ongoing development on the tract of land sitting atop of  the golf course at The Club @ Bukit Utama. For many months now, the construction on the huge development has been ongoing and it’s going fast. Noticeably, if you are travelling through Persiaran Surian in Mutiara Damansara, the lower rise development is almost nearing completing while you can see 3 towers are rising fast at the background.

This specific development is actually 2 different developments, one being a new clubhouse being constructed, and the other, another condominium development called 9 Bukit Utama. The new clubhouse, Central Park Westlake, is a clubhouse with facilities such as a full Olympic-sized pool, multipurpose hall and squash courts, whereas the condo would actually be Phase 2 of the 1 Bukit Utama condominiums which were handed over back in 2005. This is part of Bandar Utama Development Sdn Bhd (BUDSB)’s massive 10 phases of condominium development. My guess is that there would be no more golf courses in the near future. Residents would still need to purchase membership to access the clubhouse.

I’m not crazy about the facade for 1 Bukit Utama, and upon finding out 9 Bukit Utama, the same thing can be said about the rendering for this new launch. For 9 Bukit Utama, most of the units is largely sized from 2200sf hence you can expect some bulky and blocky facade. And being true See Hoy Chan fashion, there would involve a lot of bricks and dated facade, and 9 Bukit Utama has all of it!

I managed to visit the sales office in Bandar Utama recently to enquire about the development. So far nothing is being publicised other than in Iproperty expo in KLCC recently. So I decided to check it out at their sales office in Bandar Utama. Stepping into the sales office, I thought I had entered a secondary school’s admin office. I’m not sure how the buyers can be confident in buying from a sales office like that, but then again, Bandar Utama is indeed a hot location, and units like their Megaria link houses were snapped up like hot cakes, proving that location is indeed the best selling point, regardless how much advert or branding a company puts in.

At the sales office, I managed to catch a few glimpse of the layouts. They are not regularly proportioned and many weird and arrowed angles, doesn’t seem to appeal to me at all. The facade surely didn’t help. The launch is expected to be next year, and completion in 2010.

Related Links
Developing Bandar Utama

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