Everyone knows I love Ipoh, well at least everyone who knows me. Recently another piece of news caught my attention. Imagine homebuyers camping or queueing for homes in KL or Penang and it’s easy. However, to camp for two days in order to secure a unit in Ipoh? These units by Sunway City Ipoh called Serene Villas are being snapped up fast by Ipohans. In Ipoh, there are lots of semi-detached homes for less than RM1 million, easily. In fact, the only ones that have exceeded RM1.5 million for landed properties are only that few gated and guarded ones. These units represents the lifestyles of the richer ones in Ipoh.
Sunway City Ipoh’s Serene Villas proved a huge hit with property buyers at its private preview recently with 60 per cent of the offered units snapped up within two days. Homebuyers camped over two days at the site for their choice units. A private preview for the RM74.2 million GDV Serene Villas was held for registrants on December 13 and 14. In addition to their brand new homes, purchasers also received reward points via their Sunway Property PALS membership which can be converted to cash and be used to redeem fantastic rebates and savings for spending across Sunway establishments. The entire launch consisted of 88 units of two-storey cluster homes and two-storey superlink homes.
As usual, the question would be if there are so many other choices, why are these units snapped up easily? I think it boils down to three major reasons if I can qualify to buy. It’s affordability. Yes, affordability for the richer ones versus affordability for me is totally different. Yet, even if it’s affordable but the concept, the design and the area is just not good enough it would not appeal to these buyers. In this case, just from the concept, the photos and the overall layout, I agree that if I am looking for a landed property which is big enough and surrounded by the many green themes, I would buy one. Third and most important reason would be the market maturity. I think the Ipoh property market is slowly but surely much more open today for these new concepts compared to just more than 5 years ago. With more quality choices and the fact that property news travel much faster these days, we may be seeing the start of a small boom in the luxury segment in Ipoh. It would not be a huge boom as I think the demand is still pretty limited to those who enjoy staying in Ipoh instead of those who are buying for retirements today.
Seriously, looking forward to even more of these new developments in Ipoh besides just the usual rows and rows of terrace houses plus a playground somewhere in the middle of the development. These would always be around and these would always appeal to majority and that includes me. My wish for Ipoh is that it realizes more of its potential being in the middle of two huge property markets of Penang and Greater KL instead of always the ‘overlooked’ secondary city past its prime. Happy buying
written on 24 Dec 2014
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