Penang island getting bigger. E&O’s STP2.

Nearly 900 acres of reclaimed land would be added to Penang island’s overall size in the future. Seri Tanjung Pinang 2 (STP2) by Eastern & Oriental has been approved as expected. Out of this, 191 acres would be reclaimed and given to the state government. Pretty good deal for both the state as well as Eastern & Oriental (E&O) I think. Instead of buying more land which is not available, E&O gets to reclaim them. As for the state government, this would sort of create more money for the state coffers from the sea. J Perhaps this would then add into very attractive affordable units by the state government. I say attractive because Tanjung Seri Pinang is definitely an area favoured by many. Furthermore, at least 50 acres of the reclaimed land would be in Gurney, even more attractive to many Penangites.
While this is still very far away but, should that 50 acres be used to build affordable properties, I am not sure how the state will be able to choose the most qualified potential buyers this time because the total applications will exceed the total available units many times over. Coming back to this project. A check online revealed that the prices has already reached over RM1,000 psf for that area. How would the new phase be priced? Even higher? Haha. Seriously, I am not sure how these over a thousand psf prices can be maintained or even increasing a lot because there are really not that many working population in Penang who can afford it. Unless of course the sizes are now made even smaller so that the final price is still manageable, say RM650,000 or lower.
Also, with such a huge new phase, what’s the possibility that the prices would reduce since supply is going to be huge? For this question, I think E&O is a very experienced developer and it may be tough to expect the prices to be pushed lower. Buying for stay should be pretty safe and the area I think is pretty matured and exciting enough. Buying for speculation may be riskier, depending on the actual price that it would be launched at. As it is, if the price per sf is way too high, it may be more prudent to just wait and see, even if people would say you would miss the first boat! Most important thing is to reach your ‘investment’ destination. Now how about some secondary properties nearby STP2 for now, if you truly believe the potential for STP2 to scale new heights for pricing? Happy buying.
written on 11 Dec 2014
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