Yet another low density condo, but this time it is not in KL. This is Palmville, in Sunway. Sunway has some luxurious residential projects as well as low costs ones all mixed in a small area. Prices in Sunway now rivals most parts of Kuala Lumpur but unlike the KL city area, the economy in Sunway is now largely supported by a rich student population. They are from the most expensive private colleges in Malaysia - starting with Monash, Sunway College, Taylors, One Academy and some dodgy ones over in the Mentari area.
Hopefully, this won't be for long as flagship developer, Sunway Group is building a large A grade office tower beside the Pyramid mall and the 5-star Sunway Resort Hotel. The office tower, named the Pinnacle will be ready in 2015 and it is only a short 3 mins walk from Palmville.
Palmville consists of 3 bedroom units with various sizes ranging from 1300sf to over 1700sf. Despite the luxury tag... rental here starts from RM3000/month, the tenants are mainly students. Two of the high demand condos in Sunway are the Palmville and the Lagoonview. The latter is located right beside the Sunway College campus. They have 4-5 bedroom units priced from RM700k onwards but hard to find any in the market. Palmville is slightly cheaper. The going valuation from the most bullish of banks set it at RM400psf. That means, one can get a 1300sf unit from about RM500k. From the time I was writing this, there were 2 such small units in the market with one asking for as high as RM650k. Such a huge variance for the same product!
But rental is a bit more stable here... RM3000... not much more, not much less.
The most desirable units sits inside the tower or those facing the inner court swimming pool. There was one unit in sub-sale which has a breath-taking view of the Sunway Lagoon themepark. The park was constructed around a deep mining lake and the view is anything less than epic. However, the only facility here at Palmville is the small swimming pool. Maintenance fees are cheap and one can opt to top up to use the country club which is situated right next door.
Like the rest of Sunway, Palmville is Leasehold. But not all Leasehold projects do badly - Sunway owing to the self-contained amenities including the gigantic themepark and shopping mall. I think if anything here is priced to be within affordability and reachability of the students in this area, will do well for a long time. Those that are over-priced - i.e. South Quay might struggle a bit until the place is a bit more established and those that are badly maintained such as Mentari or Lagoon Perdana will continue to languish - such is the diversity of the Sunway area. Many friends who come here baulk at the traffic jams, especially during rush hour and then again during the weekends. With success, comes sacrifice. Sunway's success is the crowd and with this crowd, brings the congestions... Another of such place I can think of is Mutiara Damansara and the One Utama area.
10 comments:
Hi, I stay at Palmville and love the serenity and convenience of the place. The student tenants nowadays are well behaved and there are a no. Of families staying here as well.
Also, sin leong, I did m
Not know you visited Palmville
.... Else I belanja you drinks at the clubhouse
Hi Sin Leong,
Would like to seek your kind advice. I am looking at Palmville Sunway, 1600 sf at RM650000 (Renovated, 13 yrs). At the same time, the property agent advised me to get a PJS7 double storey- link house at RM520K (20x65, basic, 20 yrs). I am looking at investment and not for own stay.
Could you give me some pointers on your take on these 2 properties?
Thanks!
You need to look into the exact location of the PJS7 house. If it's closer towards the south, i.e. the Taylors campus, then good... if not, then not so good... In any case, if for investment, the house will only be a good investment if you are willing to rent it room by room. You should have 4 or 5 rooms and if you are collecting RM450 per room and RM800 for the master bedroom, you should have RM2600. but if you rent out the whole house to a single tenant then i think u r looking at around RM2000/month.
Loads of people tell me palmville is easy to rent out and u can collect at least RM3k rental. But every now and then, I see ads plastered everywhere looking for tenants. At the time of viewing, I have seen at least 2 units which have been vacant for some time. So, I think at RM3k one is looking at RM800 to RM1400 per room. Students in Sunway should be rich enough to afford this but thats if you trust to rent a RM650k renovated condo to a bunch of students. The 1600sf units comes with 2 car parks. I have also seen 1300sf units with 3 bedrooms going for RM500k... that should be a better bet.
Thanks Sin Leong! Unfortunately the smaller unit at Palmville are not on sale now. Will wait and see :)
Students cause little noise here - I am a professor at one of the local universities. The real noise issue at Palmville is the continuing renovation - which currently consists of rebuilding the internal walls of an apartment judging by the piles of bricks and cement outside. The sound of drilling is intolerable. One international student I spoke to thought his kitchen ceiling was descending. I witnessed an infant being hastened from the building. There are clearly health and well being concerns here. Renovation can be conducted with appropriate tools with respect for ALL occupants and having been a member of an apartment management committee elsewhere I suggest this needs urgent attention at Palmville. Otherwise, occupants will depart to more supportive regimes and prices and rents will flow down as fast as water in the Palmville fountains. The problem is chronic - I have been here many months.
Students, academics and health workers are indeed the current major residents at Palmville. And it is true that Sunway is building office blocks. But office workers on a relatively low salary can devote a limited amount to rent - so implications for Palmville incomes are hardly sky high. Better by far to concentrate on the existing population from universities, colleges and hospital - offering them a supportive environment for their rest, recreation and study, rather than sound pollution.
I being staying at Palmville fort he past 10 years, and I love the peace & serenity and convenience. Next door is the clubhouse, where one get the full gym, swimming pool, tennis and squash courts etc. I think it is a lovely place for young families ...
I would like to warn potential investors...the mgmt currently limits 4 tenants per unit. Hence, rental will decrease...
This is to protect the well-being of residents here.
Renovations noise... not too bad unless your next door neighbour renovating...well, maybe I am not at home office hours...
Pat
First, congratulations to Sunway Construction on Palmville. Second, congratulations to the students who live at Palmville for being so considerate: maybe it's the relative absence of alcohol, but compared with a Western university residence, the place is remarkably peaceful at night. However, there are two issues: perhaps because of the age of the building (I was a resident here initially almost ten years ago) there's a lot of renovation - and concrete drills and hammers send their sound echoing through multiple floors and walls (not always stopping at 5pm). Second, because Bandar Sunway is an area much of which is high density (living and working), car travel in the mornings and evenings is highly - highly - congested, as people attempt en mass to enter/ leave the Federal Highway. Prepare for standstill- patiently!
Another warning to would-be investors. The past 2 years, the mgmt have been upgrading the place...new lift lobby etc. What this means is that owners have to fork out about Rm2000 annually for these mtce and upgrades... Also, the current mgmt is requiring students tenants to pay deposits for card access, etc. Some investors are unhappy about these restrictions. But I suppose owners vs investors interest is always competiting....
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