Mainland Penang becoming more popular? Maybe.

Everytime we talk about Penang property market, the focus is always on island. The expensive island. Ken Lim the founder of Penangpropertytalk.com told me that hit rates rises whenever he posts any island related developments are always higher compared to mainland and this is still true today. Recently, with the completion of the second Penang Bridge, it has gained a little prominence, especially the Batu Kawan side. Then, came the announcement of IKEA and recently, the potential of it opening in 2018.
Another piece of news seems to reinforce the potential of mainland. GUH Holdings announced that with a replanning of its 18.6ha land in Simpang Ampat, the GDV will be increased from RM238 million to RM650 million. This is a growth of over 170%, using the same piece of land. The original plan was for a 322 units of landed residential units. The new plan is for commercial, high-rise and affordable housing. It would take up to 10 years to complete and GUH Holdings was confident of the project because of its strategic location at the South of Seberang Perai district as well as the ever increasing demand for affordable housing in Penang.
Seems like a good plan. Change the landed residential units for many more units which would definitely bring up the GDV. There’s just so many units you can build on land but if you stack it up, of course you get to build more. I think the first question is, how far is Simpang Ampat from the Bayan Lepas Industrial Area if they drive through the second bridge? Well, from Google Directions, the distance is around 30km and the duration is around 23 minutes. Frankly, it’s not that bad, especially when you consider the fact that even crossing the bridge alone would already be 24km!
Besides that, consider the fact that these engineers, if they wish to buy a condo within the island and they wanted a size of 1,000sf, I think it would set them back RM650,000 today, depending on the area they chose. So, yes, the mainland Penang is growing. If you need a roof over your head, its really worth a serious consideration today. If it’s landed, then Gated and Guarded please. For those who are still thinking about the distance, be reminded that today, even if you were to travel from Sungai Ara to town which is really half the distance, it would still take you much more than half an hour or more if Greenlane is slightly busier than usual. So, don’t look at distance only. Take a look at the duration which is a much better gauge moving forward.
written on 30 Sept 2014
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