PETALING Jaya was developed in the 1950s as a satellite town to ease the population pressure in Kuala Lumpur. Bounded by Kuala Lumpur at its eastern border, Sungai Buloh to its north, Shah Alam to its west and Subang Jaya to its south, Petaling Jaya has grown by leaps and bounds to become one of Malaysia’s most populous cities, with an estimated population of 619,925 people, just within Majlis Perbandaraan Petaling Jaya’s administrative area.
For the purpose of preparing our value map for Petaling Jaya, we have divided it into four sections: PJ North covering PJU1, PJU1A, PJU2 to PJU10; PJ South covering Sections PJS1 to PJS8, PJS10 to PJS11, Bukit Gasing and Taman Medan; PJ East covering Sections 1 to 14, 16, 17, 17A, 19 to 22, 51, 51A and 52 and PJ West covering Taman Mayang and Taman Seapark, Kelana Jaya, Damansara Intan, and SS 1 to SS 25.
This week, we look first at PJ East
Notable landmarks in PJ East include Phileo Damansara 1 Commercial Centre and Menara Star (Section 16), International Islamic University Malaysia (Jalan Universiti), Columbia Asia Hospital and Jaya One (Section 13), Assunta Hospital (Jalan Templer) and VSQ@PJ City Centre (Section 14), which house Brickfields Asia College, IACT College as well as a multitude of small offices.
We noted that a number of well-known corporations have set up shop in the area, including Fuji Xerox, AIG, Schneider Electric and Celcom (Section 13), webe digital (Section 8), IJM Land (Section 7), as well as Johnson & Johnson and Nestle Manufacturing (Jalan Tandang).
All three major rail transit options — KTM Komuter, Light Rail Transit (LRT) Kelana Jaya line and Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) — pass through PJ East. KTM Komuter serves the southern area (bordering PJS 1 and PJS 2), with the Setia Jaya, Seri Setia, Kg Datuk Harun and Jalan Templer stations. There is an MRT stop at Phileo Damansara; while the LRT runs across the centre with stations in Asia Jaya, one of the busier stops along the Kelana Jaya line, and Taman Jaya.
From a bird’s eye view, property prices in the area are generally high with some outliers. Unit sizes hover mainly around 1,100 to 1,800 sq ft, with Prima 16 (completed in 1995) standing out with its maximum area of 3,606 sq ft.
Zooming in, the developments in Section 14 and Section 16 command higher prices, compared with the rest of the sections in the area. It is noted that projects located further away from these two sections registered lower prices. With Section 14 and 16 being popular commercial and retail hotspots within the PJ East conurbation, it is no surprise that all the attention are on these two sections and developers are still building within the area, fully utilising every plot of land they can gather.
Price-wise, projects in Section 14 starts at RM401 per sq ft while developments in Section 16 fetch higher prices starting at RM601 per sq ft. Moving further away, sharp eyes can find affordable buys — Happy Mansion and Happy Apartments in Section 17, Impian Seri Setia (Section 51A) and Sri Aman (Kampung Tunku) are priced at RM201 to 400 per sq ft; Impian Baiduri (Section 51A) and Gasing Indah (Jalan 3/132) are below RM200 per sq ft.
Projects that are priced at RM601 per sq ft and above are mostly found around Section 16. Four projects are located in the area — Li Villas, Latitud 3, Menara Inspiration and Centrestage.
There are four developments currently under construction: Pacific Star, with built-up areas of 617 to 1,242 sq ft and expected completion within this year; Biji Living with built-up areas of 550 to 1,095 sq ft and expected completion by next year; Boulevard 51 with sizes of 438 to 2,098 sq ft and expected completion by next year; PJ Midtown with sizes of 600 to 1,200 sq ft and expected completion by next year.
Out of the four projects under construction in PJ East, three — Pacific Star, Biji Living and Boulevard 51 — are priced from RM601 per sq ft while PJ Midtown is marketed from RM801 per sq ft.
Petaling Jaya has always been a popular place for the Klang Valley urbanites to set up home and PJ East blessed with its proximity to Kuala Lumpur and the availability of commercial as well as retail amenities is certainly a favourite hot spot.
Residential prices are expected to continue its upward march although market slow-downs like what is currently being experienced may put the price rises on a lower gear.