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| The Towering Empire in Subang |
According to speakers in the forum, Selangor is the richest state in Malaysia in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and of the many urban centres in the state, Petaling Jaya (PJ) is the most active in terms of property development. The areas that are hot on buyers’ radar is the stretch from PJ/Subang Jaya to Shah Alam, and goes way way west to Port Klang.
Though for the past two decades, property projects remained almost unchanged in the western corridor, the landscape is fast changing with the launch of new township developments in Shah Alam and Klang. These are - Bandar Bukit Tinggi, Setia Alam, Setia Eco Park, Aman Perdana, Cahaya SPK, Denai Alam, City of Elmina, Bandar Botanic and Tropicana Aman.
Today, the western corridor is transforming into one of the more exciting corridors where the entrance of big developers has changed the property landscape and beckons more to come. .
S. P. Setia is credited as one of the first developers to introduce master-planned community living in northern Klang through its Setia Alam project in 2004. It has been a game changer. Though never been favoured as a local for residency, S.P. Setia changed the face of Shah Alam with the development of Setia Ecopark and Setia Alam.
Shah Alam’s has a growing population of approximately 750,000, among the highest in Selangor. Besides this healthy threshold population size, job creation is also seen as a corollary when corporate headquarters moved there and supply chain and service companies do like-wise.
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| Value Creation in Setia Alam |
In Klang, the population is approximately one million, and there is potential spillover from those living in Klang to invest in Shah Alam as Shah Alam is closer to the centre of gravity. Greater Kuala Lumpur’s centre of gravity has shifted towards Kinrara, spurred by the proposed new Serdang-Kinrara Putrajaya Expressway, Kinrara-Damansara Expressway, Sungai Besi-Ulu Kelang Elevated Expressway, and Damansara-Shah Alam Highway (Dash).
Shah Alam will remain on investors’ radar because it is close to Port Klang as the Japanese have chosen Penang and Port Klang as their manufacturing hub for the long-term.
As for current and future infrastructure, the western corridor is now home to modern award-winning township developments and all the necessary amenities including sports stadiums, tourist attractions, golf courses, recreational parks, higher learning institutions, and shopping centres.
The key factors contributing to the growth of the western corridor is infrastructure and accessibility. The network of highways serving the corridor include:
Federal Highway (connects KL to Klang)
NKVE (Jalan Duta to Bukit Raja)
Federal Highway Route 2 (Batu Tiga to Sungai Rasah)
Kesas (Sri Petaling to Pandamaran)
Guthrie Corridor (Shah Alam and Rawang)
Elite Highway (connects to Nilai and a few highways)
Kemuning-Shah Alam expressway (LKSA)
Proposed Dash highway (Damansara Perdana to Shah Alam)
Additionally, the KTM Komuter connects Batu Caves to Port Klang, with stations in Shah Alam, Padang Jawa and Batu Tiga.
The extension LRT project that is being built will connect to Bukit Jalil and to Kelana Jaya while the MRT blue line will cover from Sungai Buloh to Kajang. The Prolintas highway development connects Damansara to Shah Alam, and can be linked to Sprint or the LDP, which will help to enhance the value of property in these parts.
Additionally, the LRT 3rd line’s (Bandar Utama–Klang) is awaiting approval and alignment has yet to be released. According to a speaker of hte forum, “The main thing is not to be near the alignment, but position properties near the stations.”
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| Klang - Moving up the Price Ladder |
From 2011 to 2013, there has been a consistent decrease in the number of transactions from 430,000 to 381,000. Despite this, the transaction value has steadily increased from RM137bil to RM152bil.
According to Siva Shanker, the Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents president, he opined, that “If there is GDP growth, it is usually between 2% and 5%. During recession, it is minus 2% or minus 3%. We are now at minus 11%! What people don’t recognise is that we are already in the middle of the bubble and it is already here. Is it right time to invest? Looks like there is no wrong time to invest in Malaysia, as it seems to be on the uptrend all this while and we are in the middle of the bubble.”
Another interesting aspect: Malaysians have become brand conscious as they evaluate both the project’s and developer’s image.
In Shah Alam, i-City could be the go-to destination for the area when it starts building a brand name for itself. i-City was conceived as an MSC hub, but it is much more than that as it is self-contained with leisure, office and residential components. i-City is a fully integrated digital city comprising a shopping mall, corporate office towers, Cybercentre office suites, hotels, apartments, data centre, innovation and theme park.
In purchasing properties, Gen-Y are perceived to be more receptive to new areas, looking particularly at the uniqueness of these developments. Despite the availability of social media, Gen Y are trained almost always to look at new things and fail to look at subsales of old houses which are truly hidden residential nuggets.
Gen-Y should also switch on their “trading up” mentality. By going for things that they cannot afford, and ignoring those that they can, Gen-Y will constantly complain about properties being out of their reach.
Gen-Y should think about purchasing lower priced properties first. After all, property is a good hedge against inflation. When the lower-priced property increases in value, capital appreciation can be used to slowly trade up to better properties.
For those who are looking into purchasing commercial properties such as SoHos, and SoFos, a forum participant, SkyBridge International’s Un has this to advise: “With the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax in April 2015, developers should educate Gen-Y buyers. As they are on a tight budgets, they thought they might have factored in all the financing, only to find that six months down the road, they might be unprleasantly shocked to discover that they have to pay for the 6% upon full loan disbursement.”
Shah Alam and Klang have definitely outgrown their image as sleepy old towns. In the past decade, there has been an influx of infrastructure, connectivity and townships which opened up the western corridor of the Klang Valley.
The western corridor is now truly the new Canyon Del Oro!
