Article - Condo Prices In Mont’ Kiara, Sri Hartamas Hit New High

Here is an excerpt of an article in "The Star" today.

By S. C. Cheah

THE high-end property boom of the last few years, particularly in the top two prime locations in the Klang Valley – KLCC and Mont' Kiara/Sri Hartamas, has made it increasingly more expensive to own a condominium, serviced apartment or landed property.

In the case of Mont Kiara (MK) and its adjacent Sri Hartamas, an affluent neighbourhood popular with expatriates, prices of newly launched condominiums have shot up to over RM800 psf with some hitting the RM900 psf mark!

In the early 1990s, condominiums built by the Sunrise Bhd Group such as the MK Pines and MK Palma were around RM300 psf.

As Henry Butcher Marketing Sdn Bhd chief operating officer Tang Chee Meng said there was now a greater variety of property types available compared to the early days of Mont' Kiara's development.

“While the earlier developments have average built-up areas of 1,200 to 1,800 sq ft (MK Pines, MK Palma and Vista Kiara) catering to small and medium sized families, the newer projects ………(extend to) large units of 2,000 to 3,000 sq ft units (11@MK, Seni Mont' Kiara) catering to more well off families.

“There are also the super large units of above 3,000 sq ft (Matahari, MK10) for the well heeled. As the prices of the condominiums in Mont' Kiara and Sri Hartamas have gone up, the profile of the buyers also indicate that they are now of a higher income group,” he said, adding that condominium prices in Mont' Kiara have gone up significantly.

“Some of these new projects are Sunway Vivaldi (RM800 to RM900 psf), Palazzio (RM840 psf), and Matahari (RM800 psf). Generally for a RM1mil property, based on an 80% loan and an interest rate of 5% per annum for 20 years, the qualifying monthly income is RM15,000 whilst the monthly income required to qualify for a 80% loan for a RM2mil home will be RM30,000,” he said.

With scarcity of land in Mont' Kiara, industry observers believe that developments in Mont' Kiara will spill over to Segambut.

“We believe that in years to come, Mont' Kiara and Segambut will be linked up in a seamless corridor by the new developments. For the moment there is still a price disparity as projects at the Segambut side are still significantly cheaper. In future this price disparity may be narrowed although we believe that there will always be the price differential,” he added.