Puchong: Growing, Leaps And Bounds

Good investment opportunities at great prices

Whenever I asked any expert in the industry on the property market in Semenyih and how it would be in 10 years, I get the same answer which is “It will be the next Puchong.” That piqued my curiosity made me wonder, I need to see Puchong!

So I talked to a well-known property investor in Puchong, Dato’ Shah Razali to discover a few treasures within the area. According to him, Puchong was quite a vacant area in 1995 to 20015 when there were not many developers having projects there – only Talam Corporation Berhad in Putera Perdana and IOI Group in Bandar Puchong Jaya.

“Things started developing in Puchong in 2002 when the Damansara-Puchong Expressway (LDP) was built,” said Dato’ Shah. He also stated that in 1995, upgraders were moved from Old Klang Road to the flats in Puchong Permai and Puchong Perdana. “Puchong was previously occupied by the groups of upgraders from Old Klang Road, till Bukit Hitam Development built Bukit Puchong and LBS Bina Group developed D’Island in 2010.” 

ACCESIBILITIES & CONNECTIVITIES

Dato’ Shah mentioned, the main factor that were involved in enabling Puchong to develop rapidly was the LDP – with greater accessibility to New Klang Valley Expressway (NKVE) and South Klang Valley Expressway (SKVE). Also when Equine Park was developed in a neighbouring township, the connectivity to Puchong expanded being a few minutes away from the Maju Expressway (MEX).

Puchong will see the RapidKL Light Rail Transit Ampang Line under its LRT Extension Plan (LEP) stopping at 7 stations from PH13 – PH21. One of the terminals, Kinrara BK5 LRT Station, opened on 31 October 2015. The rest of the extension line is expected to be fully opened in March 2016.

According to the Director of VPC Alliance, James Wong, “Puchong South benefits from the amenities and facilities available from the established neighbouring townships like LRT Extension Lines (Kelana Jaya and Ampang Line) in Putra Heights stations and 7 new Ampang Line stations in Puchong North, commercial developments like Tesco and Setia Walk in Taman Mutiara Puchong, Cyberjaya and Putrajaya.”

LANDMARK AND DEVELOPMENTS

“There were not many skyscrapers nor any landmarks so to speak in Puchong previously. But we have the Puchong Financial Corporate Centre (PFCC) now,” said Dato’ Shah. PFCC is the MSC Cybercentre located in Selangor, and the only corporate office building in the upcoming Puchong vicinity. It is the next hotspot for multi-national and local ICT companies who wish to move into the area.

Another notable landmark in and around Puchong is the IOI Boulevard, IOI Mall and SetiaWalk. There are also private hospitals located at Bandar Puteri Puchong, which are Columbia Asia Hospital and KPMC Puchong Medical Centre.

In accordance with a spokesperson from IOI Group, “Bandar Puteri Puchong is a 930- acre mature and vibrant township consisting of a mix of commercial and residential components.  The inspiration for this place came from the unrelenting thirst to create a better and more vibrant township after the success of the pioneering Bandar Puchong Jaya which put Puchong onto the map of the Klang Valley.”

“We were already developing Bandar Puchong Jaya, a close to 1,000 acres township about 1.5KM away from Bandar Puteri Puchong and were familiar with the potentials of Puchong.  When the opportunity was presented to develop Bandar Puteri, we saw it as a good opportunity to continue with our master planning for the whole Puchong area and bring this area to an entirely different level of sophistication in terms of green spaces and the attractiveness of the area for work, to live and to play,” IOI Group added. 

IOI RIO CITY

Envisioned to be the next pulse of South Klang Valley , IOI Rio City is a  72- acre metropolis consisting of secured work spaces, myriad of retail offerings, hotel & residences; all interlinked with a network of pathways, bicycle lanes and park connectors and connected to the 2 LRT stations situated at the fringe of Bandar Puteri Puchong. This will be a very liveable city where people can get around easily without cars  

The highlights for IOI Rio City’s Phase 1 are the shop offices (11443 sq ft – 19406 sq ft), office suites (850 – 1608 sq ft), service apartments (600  – 1200 sq ft) and nett lettable area of the retail podium – 55000 sq ft. The facilities for the apartment include a lap pool, a private function room, a barbeque area, a state-of-the-art gymnasium overlooking the pool and also a cabana. IOI Rio City is expected to be launched in 1Q 2017.

IOI Group also said that “Traffic congestion is one of the drawbacks in determining the success of this township and we are now looking into upgrading the interchange to a free flow interchange for both the incoming and outgoing traffic. The upcoming LRT line with 2 stations at Bandar Puteri Puchong will further ease the congestion here.”

Anchored by IOI Rio City, Bandar Puteri Puchong will transform and influence the lifestyle of many people here where residents will work, live and play in a safe, secured and green environment well supported with many health and culture related community amenities. 

O’HAKO IN PUCHONG JAYA

Marimo Land Sdn Bhd also developed its O’hako in Puchong Jaya and it has become one of the freehold projects in the area. O’hako means ‘A Box of Surprise’ in Japanese language. According to the Director of Independent Sales and Marketing of Marimo Land, Andrew Ng, “The project is the result of a deep consideration between the two cultures – Malaysian and Japanese. We aim to build this serviced apartment as a perfect home for their buyers, by offering their core values – affordable pricing but with great living space.  Taro Fukagawa also dedicated these development to his family who are Takeo father, young brothers Toshie and Makoto.”

Since 1990, the Marimo group has always believed that the middle income earners are a country’s biggest contributor. Hence, the Fukagawa family feels the need to provide good quality yet affordable properties to middle class families. “Why we chose Puchong Jaya, you might ask? That’s very simple, because Puchong Jaya fits our development principles – a great location with good accessibility, that caters to the middle income family,” said Andrew.

In addition to that, he said “It’s hard to predict future prices, however, a middle class location always offers a great capital appreciation as this group is powerful in numbers. The relevant authorities always mean to serve the majority, thus, we foresee further improvements within Puchong Jaya that will lead to significant capital appreciation. Currently, the new developments surrounding O’hako are transacting around a comparative value of RM800 psf. While our O’hako is selling at around RM500 psf. That’s why we are confident that the room of appreciation is there.”     

PROPERTY APPRECIATIONS

James said, “Overall, landed residential properties performance in Puchong South shows an upward trend with capital appreciation ranging from 6.6% to 13.8%. Terrace houses located nearby to the Lebuhraya Lembah Klang Selatan (SKVE) shows an appreciation of 9.72% to 12.00%, whilst location such as Taman Putra Prima and Taman Tasik Puchong has a stable appreciation of 6.59%.”

Dato’ Shah himself bought a sub-sale residential property in Bukit Puchong 10. “The property was launched in 2003 and finished construction in 2005. I bought it in 2008 at RM501,000 – it was a corner-lot unit. Then, I sold it in 2015 at the price of RM1.2 million.” No joke!

So I was wondering, what about commercial property? Dato’ Shah said, “I have a commercial property that I purchased at a launched price of RM1.4 million and now it is valued at RM4.2 million. Everything appreciates more than double.”

Dato’ Shah believes that Puchong will someday as huge as Petaling Jaya, perhaps in the next 10 years to come. What’s the only drawback to that? Traffic congestion.