Some hotspots stay hot for decades while new ones spring up every few years. For 2017, this is property consultant Dato’ Sri Gavin Tee’s picks for Greater Kuala Lumpur.
One Belt refers to the 6 hotspots that if you were to trace on the map look like a U-shaped belt. They are (from left to right): KL Metropolis, Pusat Bandar Damansara, Mid Valley City, Bandar Malaysia, Bukit Bintang and Kuala Lumpur City Centre (better known as KLCC and includes Yap Kwan Seng area).
Out of the 6, 4 are well-known and have been much sought-after for years – Mid Valley City, Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur City Centre (better known as KLCC) and Pusat Bandar Damansara/Damansara Heights area.
Prices there have held steady despite several cycles of slowdown. Only KLCC high-end condominiums have seen some price weakness which swings according to the economic cycle.
Two hotspots are fairly new – KL Metropolis and Bandar Malaysia. Construction is still underway for these 2 iconic projects.
12 DIAMONDS
The 12 diamonds are Mont Kiara, Damansara Heights, Bukit Kiara, KL Sentral, Bangsar South, Taman Desa, Sungei Besi, Chan Sow Lin, Cochrane, Warisan Merdeka, Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) and Ampang East.
Among them, Damansara Heights is evergreen with an exclusive community of millionaires living in bungalows and Bukit Kiara is an affluent area close to the suburbs of Bukit Damansara, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Mont Kiara, Sri Hartamas and Bangsar. Mont Kiara is long established as an expatriate enclave.
The new ones in the list are Warisan Merdeka, TRX, Ampang East, Sungei Besi, Chan Sow Lin and Cochrane.
The presence of an upcoming MRT station, and several new popular shopping malls like Sunway Velocity, IKEA and MyTOWN Shopping Centre plus its proximity to TRX makes this KL city centre’s next shopping mall destination after Bukit Bintang.
HOTSPOTS OUTSIDE OF GREATER KL
According to Gavin, cities that are tourism-related will have the greatest potential such as the following:
Penang, Melaka, Kota Kinabalu, Iskandar, Ipoh, Bentong (durian city), and Lumut (gateway to Pangkor Island).
