SEMENYIH, The Green Heartland A Small Town No More

Semenyih is located at the south-eastern edge of Klang Valley and falls within the jurisdiction of the Kajang Municipal council of the Hulu Langat district. This is an upcoming township that will be the next hot spot for property development growth in the southern corridor of Klang Valley.
According the Kajang municipal council, Semenyih is 23,616 per square kilometres in size, the council’s data also show that Semenyih has a healthy population of 92,491 people.
Currently Semenyih is known as a hotspot for eco-tourism as is surrounded by numerous scenic waterfalls such as the Sungai Gabai Waterfalls, the Semenyih Water Reservoir, the Congkak River Forest Recreational Centre and Broga Hills.

Semenyih has seen rapid growth in terms of the developments of new amenities in the last 10 years and these days one might be able to find the Tesco Hypermarket, The Store Supermarket, Econsave Supermarket and fast food outlets such as Pizza Hut/Kentucky Fried Chicken & McDonalds , all within the township.
Residential, commercial and industrial elements are what form the Semenyih township, which consists mostly of landed properties, but more high rise developments can be seen in newly completed and on-going projects.
“The newly opened LEKAS Highway has very much benefitted the township. Then there is the SILK Highway and the Pintasan Kajang-Semenyih Bypass which connects the township to all major roads heading towards Kajang, Cheras, Seri Kembangan, Bangi, and Putrajaya,” said Oregeon Property Consultancy Director Sr. Kok Chin Yee.
Currently there are no train stations located within the township, the nearest train service available will be the KTM train station located in Kajang, however, there is a plan to allocate several MRT stations in Kajang in the near future and residents from Semenyih will have access to train services travelling to any part of Klang Valley.
Semenyih is no doubt emerging as a key area with plenty of potential for development. This is due to relatively reasonable land prices compared to Kuala Lumpur City Centre, giving developers an option to plan, manipulate or even inject new ideas into their development strategies as there is an adequate supply of land.

Kok is of the opinion that at the moment, connectivity and affordability are key factors to the success of this township especially with the presence of big property developers such as EcoWorld and SP Setia, who in turn, will influence other parties to invest in Semenyih.
REI Group of Companies chief executive officer Dr. Daniele Gambero did a comparison between Semenyih to what Puchong was 10 years ago. He said that Puchong properties boomed in a substantial way and has continued growing after 2007.
In less than 10 years, the property prices in Puchong have been seen to progressively increase, from the original RM180 per square feet, to the current RM650 per square feet. The same phenomenon is happening again in Semenyih.
Gambero is of the view that the main drive leading to such phenomenon is the supply of land availability where developers can obtain land for their development at much lower cost.
Demand wise there are plenty of choices but Gambero recommends buyers or investors to look into the issue of product scarcity. For example there are two products that are not so common in Semenyih South, they are the condominium and landed properties that have ‘liveable’ space with a built-up of less than 2,000 sq.ft. Investors or buyers should choose these products because there will be lesser competition when they want to sell or rent upon delivery, one good example would be the Albury project by UM Land.
Semenyih is poised to follow the same “up-grading” process that Puchong went through except that it might be happening at a faster pace,” expressed Gambero.
Gambero says that when you buy from developers you have to be able to ‘visualise’ what the area/accessibility/public transportation/infrastructure will be in the next few years.
The strategic location of Semenyih at the eastern side of the Southern Corridor of Klang Valley, is easily accessible from North and West through a completed network of highways.
“LEKAS and SILK allow residents to commute within the 45 minutes’ tag. The terminal station of MRT Line 1 is also reachable within a short distance and will allow easy movement for its residents throughout Klang Valley and KL,” mentioned Gambero.
“Developers and authorities are in close cooperation to even increase the accessibility to the main roads and highways and soon we will see a new link road from Jalan Semenyih to LEKAS which will shorten the daily trip to KL from Semenyih South benefitting UMLand with Albury@Mahkota Hills, Eco World with Eco Majestic and SP Setia with it’s Eco Hill 2 township.” enthuses Gambero.

ALBURY MAHKOTA HILLS
Semenyih and the whole Southern Corridor has been quite a hot spot since 2014 when launches of new townships started flocking the market. Semenyih has been on the radar of almost all top Malaysian developers mostly because of the “affordable” value of land which has been a big factor in the designing and delivering of affordable homes. When UMLand decided to confirm the purchase of a roughly 300 acre of free-hold land in the existing Mahkota Hills township, they knew who would most likely be their purchasers.
“Everything has been thoroughly and carefully considered starting from the inception of the project to the finishing and even the costing in order to ensure the delivery of a good product that is affordable for the middle class as well as investors,” said director of Kia Ace Development, Mr. Benjamin Lee. Kia Ace Development is a subsidiary of United Malayan Land Berhad.
“I’m not looking at six or twelve months but a much longer time frame of two to four years. We can expect a doubling of property values within the next five to six years,” said Gambero who is also the exclusive marketing partner of UMLand. He adds that once the population growth reaches ‘critical mass’, authorities will definitely look into having a proper extension of existing infrastructures via either rail or bus lines.

SETIA ECO HILL
Setia EcoHill is a 673 acre township development which has incorporated the SP Setia philosophy of ‘Live, Learn, Work and Play’. This will further expand by 1,010 acres of sprawling greenery when it introduces its sister project, Setia EcoHill 2. The original initiative of Setia EcoHill is to become a self-sustainable township which is identical to SP Setia’s flagship project in Setia Alam. “The response from our recent launches have been very good with a 90% take up rate. To begin with, Semenyih is doing well in terms of development and we should know because we have been here for past two years now. There is still a demand for affordable housing especially for landed properties below RM 1 million even though the property market has somewhat softened due to property cooling measures implemented since 2009,” shared SP Setia sales and marketing manager Chris Choy.
Residents can find almost all their requirements met within Setia EcoHill because of its good infrastructure and township planning, coupled with its green and fascinating landscape. More than 10 percent of the total site area, has been designated as park lands and green lungs.
Setia EcoHill will feature 13 extraordinary themed gardens within its development. Some of it will be made available to public while most of them are Private Parks solely for residents, such as the breath taking ‘Rainbow Creek’ and ‘Oriental Garden’.
In terms of education, the Tenby International School and Community Club House which are both in the pipeline will be ready to serve the community by the end of 2016 and the end of 2017 respectively.
Choy advises home buyers who are planning to purchase a home to first look at the developer’s portfolio on whether the developer has significant township projects that could be used as references, secondly you should look at the masterplan on what are the potential infrastructures that can boost your property price. You would also need to study the value added features of a township, because a well landscaped township with good security usually ensures a lucrative return on your investments.