PROPCAFE Review : Lake Point Residence @ Cyberjaya By Yan Jian

Cyberjaya has been launching highrise projects non-stop over last two years. The feeling of oversupply is very common when someone talks about the property in Cyberjaya but one need to understand that landed property in Cyberjaya is rather limited. Well, many claimed that there are still many choices. Yes, nothing wrong with that perception. However, if you know the masterplan of whole Cyberjaya, then you should know that the total highrise units will be around 20k+ units whilst the landed properties will be only around 3k+ units. We are talking the whole township of 7000 acres. A lot of choices now, yup. But in future? Take an example of Desa Parkcity, when one of the PropCafe founders bought a landed property there, many claimed it was expensive and choices would be there in future given its 420 acres lands. But if you have studied properly the masterplan of Desa Parkcity then you would know that there are only limited choices for landed property and every launch will make it less affordable. Majority of the lands are meant for condominium. So, while we discuss the context of oversupply, we need to be careful to cite it in a right way with the full masterplan in mind.

If you observed the launches in Cyberjaya, other than Mah Sing’s Garden Residence, SP Setia’s Setia Eco Glades and UEM Sunrise’s Symphony Hills, the rest of the landed properties development are boutique developments and smaller scale. This review, we focus on the latest boutique landed property development in Cyberjaya called Lake Point Residence by a China developer called Yan Jian.

Developer:

Yan Jian is a big construction, engineering and real estate company in China. If you know the city of Yan Tai, according to unofficial information, Yan Jian is the company that built half of this Yan Tai city. On paper, this company looks solid and they have ventured their real estate business in other countries. Also, based on its website, other than this Lake Point Residence project, it has another Cyberjaya project. Therefore, likely it will not be a build and run type of property developer since there is another project is waiting for them. However, no matter how big is the company, unless you have seen their final product in China or other countries, one should be mindful on the potential quality issues from an unknown (at least to Malaysian) developer. See more on this company info:
http://english.yanjian.com.cn/about/ShowArticle.asp?ArticleID=4
Yan Tai City:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yantai

Location:

Lake Point Residence is sitting right opposite the lake (see picture above) of Lakefront Residence project by MCT. The location is within walking distance to the future Union SJKC smart school. Another benefit being located at this side of Cyberjaya is near to Setia Eco Glades project which will be the landmark residential development in Cyberjaya soon. Setia Eco Glades is expected to have a community commercial mall (not so soon though) and jogging/hangout place with nice landscape and lake environment (8 islands surrounding it). The new interchange to MEX at Setia Eco Glades (right outside the project) will bring the traffic (of course both cars and human’s Qi) to this area which will provide visibility and add value to the nearby development like Lake Point Residence project.

On top this, Lake Point Residence is also not too far from the recreation site like Cyberjaya Lake Garden which provide outdoor leisure like park, lake, go-kart, driving range, playground, and community clubhouse. The planned medical centre will be just behind this site together with another new commercial mixed development called Roppongi.

It looks great so far in term of location, so what is the downside? Luxtar’s development called Symphony Park which is right besides Lake Point Residence has stopped work or should I said it never started after all the disputes between the developer and buyers and APDL problems. It was proposed to build low cost properties with the price around RM200k. The question of whether it will be revived is still very much pre-matured. It certainly will not bring values to Lake Point Residence. Also, Indah Water’s Sewage Treatment Plant is at the other end of the road. As you know, Cyberjaya is always more “canggih”, so does this STP (http://www.spmultitech.com/stpa.html). I personally been to the site of Lake Point Residence and there is no smell at all. I am not a technical person in this area, but I believe this STP-A should be different from the conventional Oxidation Pond. Or else, I could have been fainted there!

This side of Cyberjaya is going to have a lot of construction activities and one should expect it to be vibrant after 3 to 5 years time.

Development Key Information

This development consist of two block of highrise buildings and 77 units of 3 storey Garden Terrace (phase 1). There is another phase of landed development in a much smaller land within the development. No news on the number of units there yet as it will be the last parcel to launch.

From the masterplan, one can see there is a row of terrace houses that backing a big drainage. The photo below is what we captured during the site visit. Well, it is quite a distance from the development and the “longkang” looks clean. Cyberjaya, one should not use old and conventional township to compare when comes to these sort of issues. Opps. Very controversial topic again.

It is a strata title gated and guarded development. The condominium and landed properties will be sharing the main guardhouse but separate boom gate will be located at each parcel. The entry point of Garden Terrace in the masterplan above is current planned near to LPR3 unit 3 and 5. However, it could be a change on the entrance to the edge of this parcel which is near to unit 23. Currently, unit 3 and 5 are having discounted price due to the facing of entrance. So, risk takers may see the value there to bet on the change of entrance.

The key unresolved issue is the usage of condominium’s facilities by Garden Terrace residents. Firstly, it is not easy to control and share the fees. We see objection from ground floor owners to JMB/MC to change the lift of the building not to say landed residents vs condominium resident within same development. Secondly, not all Garden Terrace residents want to have the facilities because there are many owners only want to stay in a tight security environment not those fancy facilities that cost more money for maintenance fee. Possible solution would be based on subscription basis which may not be a bad news to condominium owners as it could help to bear the maintenance cost there. Nothing has been finalised on the maintenance fee. The estimated fee is around RM300 without facilities.

There is also another question raised on the Garden Terrace which is regarding the security. Currently, there is no plan on having the fence for the Garden Terrace itself. Normally, condominium will draw more visitors or residents and no doubt the rental market will be there too. Without the fence, it means the Garden Terrace is exposed to higher security risk due to higher number of the residents and visitors from the condominium. According to the sales agent, only hedges will be planted to segregate it. The purchasers may need to take note on this.

Generally, there are three types of footprint:
20sf x70sf – Type C and 22sf x70sf – Type A & B
24sf x70sf – Type AA and Type BB i.e. Corner Units

The built-up is ranged from 2896sf to 3242sf. It is quite generous and 3ksf is about right for a standard family set-up.

Layout

All types come with 5+1 rooms which four rooms at 1st and 2nd floor are attached with bathroom. Many people may not like the master bedroom at the top floor, so if the master does not need a big bathroom with bathtub, he/she can choose the second master bedroom (reasonable size) at the 1st floor.

The key difference between type A and B is the kitchen at the ground floor. No brainer, the type B is the clear winner with a connected wet and dry kitchen. Type A’s kitchens are separated and the guestroom’s door is facing the wet kitchen. It means you need to go into wet kitchen before you can get into the bedroom 5. Normally, this sort of room’s position is meant for maid room. Apart from this, overall, the layout is practical!

Actual Site and Progress

Façade and Common Area

Based on the AI from the brochure, the façade is quite modern. However, this design probably too normal nowadays
that you won’t remember it after a month. As the developer has no development in Malaysia before, the standard of the landscape in the common area is still a guess. If you have followed development in China, surely you know they will make the fountain GRAND. I believe it will be the case here at Lake Point Residence too.

Pricing

Lake Point Resident – Garden Terrace is priced around RM310psf.
Type C – RM921k to 927k; Type B – 983k; Type A – 988k (Facing common area/fountain – 980k)
Endlot (no extra land) – RM1.02mil and Corner – Around RM1.2mil

There is only 7 units of endlot which seems like a good value as it only priced about 50k to 60k more than the intermediate unit. The endlot comes with more than just extra windows but also the sliding door etc that similar to corner unit. The lane besides the endlot also expected to be the garden strip instead of conventional “lorong”. It gives extra space to endlot owners. Unfortunately, developer blocked most of the endlot units and chances to get it is near to zero if one has no connection with them. The back lane, too bad, only 10ft width and I would not bet it to have fancy landscape there.

Majority of south oriented units in type A needs to pay extra rm5k than the north oriented units. The rest of the pricing is pretty standard. Surely, the one backing the drainage and facing directly the side of the condominium will be the last to go. But if you do not like to face another unit (opposite) and like to have a small garden strips infront of your unit (more carpark space as well), then these units are not too bad either. So, the choice is yours!

Cheap or Not Cheap?

Big question! Some claimed that it is the cheapest G&G landed development in Cyberjaya at the moment. So, let’s do a quick comparison on all the terrace houses in Cyberjaya, from both launched price and market price perspective.

Terrace Price Comparison in Cyberjaya

Note: Some prices were adjusted by developer to accomodate its promotional package, so the pricing table above is based on best effort basis from the information obtained previously.

Indeed, from the table above, it is clearly the cheapest in term of psf. Though Ceria Residence is cheaper than Lake Point Residence in term of absolute amount but it is 2 storey and the built-up is much smaller. Certainly, different project comes with different concepts and selling points. This Lake Point Residence is a basic G&G development without those fancy features. Since majority terraces in Cyberjaya are well equipped with all great facilities and landscape or concept, this project gives an alternative choice for others to own a simple gated and guarded house in Cyberjaya with a slightly lower budget on maintenance fees.

The supply of terrace house in Cyberjaya is around 1550 units which includes those work in progress. Some may claim that it is a lot but bear in mind, master developer of Cyberjaya has stopped selling land, there are only limited new landed launches in future. It is hard to say whether this supply will be easily absorbed especially all of them are million ringgit houses. But one thing for sure, if one want to get a no-frills good size terrace house, then this Lake Point Resident will stand out as one of the top choice due to its lowest psf.

Investment always comes with risk. One need to weight his own holding power when invest in landed properties, be it Cyberjaya or Bangsar, it is different ball game from investment in condominium. For ownstay, needless to mention, buy it if like it and can afford it.

See Website: http://www.lakepointresidence.com.my/

http://youtu.be/hh2c2Pmj33g

If you want to know more about Cyberjaya, you may see the previous article from PropCafe below:
https://propcafe.net/cyberjaya-love-it-or-hate-it/