I came across this in my friend’s property site, penangpropertytalk.com. It shows the top 50 most popular projects in Penang within the past 90 days. This is based on the number of page views for all the projects. From the list, I think it’s still certain that Penangites are definitely still in love with the island. The only project based in mainland Penang is Eco Meadows and I think the reason is quite clear. This is because of the huge branding and marketing activities done by Eco World. When I first moved to Penang for work in 1998, everyone I know would tell me that their favourite place is the island. It is the place where all the actions are. In fact all the Penangites from mainland would drive into Penang island for entertainment every weekend!
I think there are today much more entertainment in mainland. There are also many more bigger integrated plans. For example, the future IKEA in Batu Kawan as an example. Read here: Vision City, the Verve and Ikano for mainland Penang However, whenever I asked my Penangites friends, their answer remain a standard one. They believe people would move to mainland only when island has become prohibitively expensive. The latest one was just days ago. A close friend asked me about buying in mainland. I asked if she will be staying, she said, ‘of course not.’ She was not thinking of staying in mainland but is buying mainland with the hope that people would ant to move to mainland? Of course, if the project is a good one, it may still give great returns. She is still deciding.
If I am still based in Penang today, I would still be staying in Sungai Ara. However, to be honest, I would be very tempted to buy in mainland if I can get a really good deal in terms of price and size. As usual, I seldom follow the majority and I may be wrong. Even buying Sungai Ara then invited so many “NICE” comments because I did not buy near Queensbay or Greenlane or Gelugor etc. Well, my potential decision allows me to do following. One stone to kill three birds. Sell high for my island home and buy low for my mainland home plus much bigger space for my growing family. Just my views. I could not act on them because I am now based in KL. The same principle applies though because I sold my Kelana Jaya (1,055 sf) home and moved to Damansara Damai. (1,743 sf). Haha. For all project announcements, you can drop by penangpropertytalk.com Happy deciding, whether it’s island or mainland. It’s just two bridges away anyway.
written on 5 Sept 2015
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