Desa Parkcity’s recent success of Park Regent and Park Place has testified its popularity among investors and own-stayers in this difficult property cycle. You all should know the reason well because we have covered it in many of our previous reviews. Anyway, if you want us to summarise in a sentence, it has to be “location, amenities, unique product offering, fantastic execution of masterplan and most importantly community living lifestyle.
Pricing Driver ~ Intangible Value: Community and Social Status
The critical factors above have created the intangible values of Desa Parkcity, which are “Community and Social Status”. It helps to attract more affluent owners to join the community and lift the property value to next uncharted territory every year. We still observed the incremental value in landed property here during 2020 Yup, the value that many of you will never agree with, if you are solely value it based on product comparison with other developments or township.
“Location, Location, Location” – No Longer Sufficient in Affluent Market
Why these buyers willing to pay RM4-5mils for DPC condominium (Park Regent) or terrace house (Mansions)? Every financially strong developer can build a nice looking property, greenery or beautify park, and grand common area in their township, but “quality community”. To get this, developer needs to know exactly what the affluent market needs and their expectation. So, location, location, location no longer sufficient. Please read our previous reviews to know more why Desa Parkcity can transform the bad perception of Kepong to be one of the most popular townships for affluent market in Malaysia.
Why Not Landed?
Let’s move to the main topic here – WHY NOT look for a more bargain landed property in Desa Parkcity, if you are willing to folk out more than RM1.5 million for a three room condominium here:
Northshore Gardens – 1948sf (3+1 room) ~ RM1.75mil (RM900psf); 2452sf (4+1 room) ~ RM2.1-2.3mil (~RM900psf)
One Central Park – 1700sf – 1797sf (3+1 room) ~ RM1.75mil to RM2mil (~RM1100psf); 1377sf (3 room) ~ RM1.55mil (~RM1125sf)
Westside Three – 1927sf (3+2 room) ~RM1.8mil (~RM930sf); 1788sf (3+2 room) ~ RM1.6mil (~RM900sf); 1540sf (3+1 room) ~ RM1.4 – 1.55mil (~RM900-1000psf);
Westside Two – 1680-1777sf (3+1 room) ~ RM1.45 – 1.7mil (~RM900psf)
Westside One – 1701 – 1819sf (3+1 room) ~ RM1.45 -1.55mil (~RM850sf)
Breezeway – 1637sf -1808 (3+1 room) ~ RM1.75 – 1.9mil (~RM1000sf)
Nadia Parkfront – 1572sf (3+1 room) ~ RM1.3mil (~RM820psf)
Park Place – 1335sf (3-bedroom) ~ RM1.2mil up (RM900psf up)
Park Regent – 2626sf (3+1 room) ~ RM 2.8 – 3.2mil (~RM1200psf); 2960sf (3+1 Room) ~RM3.25-3.4mil; 4511-4832sf (4+1 room) ~RM4.41 – 5.4mil
Let’s focus on a proper 3 rooms and above condominium here as PROPCAFE do not believe the long term viability condominium with 2 or less rooms in a family oriented environment like Desa Parkcity. The prices for 3 beds condominium here are rather steep. Unless you do not mind to own a relatively old condominium like Nadia or Westside one, a reasonable family size property is already fetching about rm1.5mil and above. It prompted us to think WHY NOT the small landed property in Desa Parkcity? Have the market missing something here? There are no more lands for new landed properties in Desa Parkcity!
The Unconventional Adora Courtyard Terrace
This episode, we revisit Adora Courtyard Terrace house in Desa Parkcity. One of the earliest batches of Gated and Guarded development in Desa Parkcity. Adora is sitting at the west part of Desa Parkcity and it has the benefit of easy accessibility since it is located right after the first round about of Desa Parkcity after the main entrance. Due to its great location, you can always enjoy the park and walk to The Waterfront from Adora.
Four Clusters And 92 Exclusive Units in 5.7 Acre Land
The developer was brave enough to introduce this unique mediterranean conceptual Courtyard Living in 2003/04. A total of 92 units are sharing the courtyard gardens in four different courtyard clusters.
With the size of only 5.7 acre land, it is one of the smallest developments in Desa Parkcity which translate to 16 units per acre (see full table of unit per acre in whole Desa Parkcity in our South Brooks review here).
Facing and Noise?
The most ideal units will be the inner facing units from each of the cluster. The second best will be the south and west cluster that are facing the West Park (which designated as future school development). The West and North clusters that facing the border are currently still not expose much to the noise as the outer ring road of Desa Parkcity is still closed. Once it is opened, it will be the alternate road for public and residents to access. Of course, that’s for future. Anyway, if you are concern about the noise, the worst will be the one that are similar facing as the guardhouse i.e. toward No 2a Persiaran Residen. Having said that, it is still the inner road, so it should be bearable because the main entrance will be blocked after 11pm.
Relatively Small and Unconventional Living
The 3-storey houses in Adora are relatively small which are mostly 1800sf-1900sf (Type B and C), except for Type A which is the corner unit (2500sf). It moved away the conventional car porch with the replacement of carpark bay(s) for each unit (covered and some uncovered).
Private Gardens and Outdoor Courtyard Design
This arrangement allows the unit to have nice courtyard garden in front of the main entrance. This will increase the interaction of neighbours 😊 because you need to walk back your unit everyday rather than just park your at your carporch and go straight to your house. The downside is you need to walk quite a bit similar to living in condominium if the carpark is unfortunately allocated further from your unit.
Open garden or Private Garden?
Each unit (except the apartment type – 1st and second floor) comes with a garden right outside the living room. These units that facing the outer perimeter are having an open garden (see below) whilst the private garden are for inner facing units (or inner road in Adora) which attach with the Balinese designed feature wall. The latter is having the advantage to allow the living room area to be opened up all the time without compromising the privacy of the owners.
Courtyard Clusters and Walkable Environment
The architect has put in a lot ideas to deliver the Mediterranean concept and adopted the natural bricks and steps to separate the zone in Adora.
There are plenty of pathway for residents to walk around and interact with neighbours.
Resort Oriented Pool Area
The best view in Adora has to be for the units surrounding the resort oriented swimming pool area. The lightings, greenery, tropical plants and trees, and multiple step levels across this area makes up the resort ambience in Adora. It is no surprise that plenty of expatriates are living here, thanks to its resort atmosphere in Adora.
Other Facilities
The multipurpose hall is located right besides the pool which is perfect for gathering and parties. There is also sauna facility in the common toilet area and allocated management office.
Signature Bougainvillea in Adora
It seems bougainvillea is the signature plants in Adora which can be seen surrounding the car porch roof and pool area. Beautiful! However, we are pretty pretty sure the landscapers are having the hard time to trim and maintain it (avoid the damage of the roof),
Layout of Adora Courtyard Terrace
Type A – 4 Bedrooms + 1 Utility
Type A is the corner and biggest unit in Adora with the built-up size of 2509sf. This is the most popular units because it is the only type that comes with 4 bedrooms (+1 Utility) in Adora. This corner unit also the only type built with the width of 24ft, which is rather rare in Desa Parkcity. You can the search around landed properties in Desa Parkcity and you will know. The market price of type A is around RM2.2-2.5mil now and rental range of RM5-7k. You may wonder why only small extra land for this corner unit. Yup, in Adora courtyard garden environment, most of the lands are designated for common gardens instead. The downside of Desa Parkcity landed house is the length of the unit. For this unit, the length of the house is only 37.8ft. Two carpark bays are given. If you have more cars then you may have to rent it (limited bays for rent) or skip this.
Type B – 3 Bedroom + 1 Study
This is the smaller corner unit with 3-bedroom and a study area. The built-up is only about 1900sf and it is 2ft narrower than Type A with 18ft in one half and 20ft in another. However, it is slightly longer (2ft) and generally most lands at the side than Type A. The negative part is, you need a strong knee to climb up and down if you intend to take up the master bedroom which allocated at the second floor. There is no utility room, it means limited storage space for this unit (under the staircase). Similarly, two carpark bays are given. Market price is around RM1.8 – 1.9m with rental around RM5k.
Type C – 3-bedroom
This is the intermediate unit with BU 1800sf. Compare to type B, it is about 100sf smaller and only comes with 18ft width in the house. However, its length (40ft) is longer than both type A and B. The developer only provided one car park lot to each owner but owner could opt for additional carpark during the launch. Therefore, you may find that some units of Type C only have one carpark and no doubt it is harder to sell in subsale (of course lower price). Again, big master bedroom but strong knee needed. Pricing now is hovering around RM1.7-1.8mil and market rental range of RM4-5k.
Type D – Apartment – 2-Bedroom
There are 12 apartment units in Adora (refer to blue dots in the Adora Site Layout above). The size is about 1100sf (with 2 bedrooms) and ground unit comes with a private garden which is the most popular unit unsurprisingly. Not many owners can stand to climb staircase everyday (multiple times), not to say with bagges/groceries :(. Yup, you need to walk additional 20 steps to reach 1st floor and another 20 to 2nd floor. Imagine you are carrying the groceries and heavy stuffs. No joke and I would say it is only for the single, couple or small families who have stronger arms and legs :). Remember, only one carpark given to owners. The price for higher floor is about RM900k and ground floor with private garden will be higher level of RM1.1-1.2mil.
What We Like?
In short, with the marginal price difference between Adora and condominium in Desa Parkcity, landed property like Adora should still be very attractive. PROPCAFE needs to be fair and honest here. If you like resort feel development (not modern design) with plenty of greenery, trees and plants, Adora is certainly at top of the list.
The facade is rather dated especially if you are only looking at the house itself or seeing it from outside of Adora. Once you entered Adora, you will notice the facade blends well with the balinese/Mediterranean concept.
You can walk around Adora and will realise the environment is indeed very neat (without clothes/”flag” drying scenes except the outer facing units without balinese feature door). The courtyard gardens are safe for young children to room around as it is not accessible by vehicles at all.
The landscape (plenty of trees and plants) are well designed by the famous Seksan which bring in the unique selling point for Adora. Unlike standard terrace house, the non-standard inter-linkages between courtyard clusters (like a maze!) makes the place more interesting and less boring. The joy from children running/cycling around and residents to chill (walking back home everyday) like holiday in a resort is simply priceless!
Beautiful But Expensive to Build and Maintain
We have to say, we don’t see any other development like this in Malaysia (except certain part of Adiva), kudos to developer (heard from sources that Perdana Parkcity didn’t make much money from this development due to low number of units with complex structure and non-standardised landscape design with different ground levels (not flat land).
What’s Our Concern?
Terrace House Without Car Porch
Let’s talk about the con side of this development. Firstly, the car park lot. Not all units come with two car park bays (you must verify when you see lower price tag in the advertisement). The distance to the carpark can be very annoying especially when it rains. We counted about 200 steps for us to reach from the unit we visited to its carpark lot. So, please check out and try to get the unit with close proximity with your carpark bays. Yes, some carpark lots are not covered. So, be aware.
Pretty Stuff Always Hard to Maintain
Seksan, no doubt, is a brilliant landscape architect, but you have to accept that their designs are not easy to maintain. We observed that some of the trees could be too near to the units and the roots may potentially go into the house and cause issue in future. Based on our source, management office of Adora has been actively managing this with periodic tree trimming and cutting to maintain the landscape. Needless to say, it is costly.
Relatively High Maintenance Fees
The maintenance fee is rather high in term of RMpsf (per unit share) compares to other developments in Desa Parkcity. This is due to its low number of unit (92 units). Without economy of scale, the maintenance cost issue will continue in Adora in future years which means maintenance fees may rise faster than other development in DPC. Plenty of hard jobs ahead for the management committee here.
Pricing
Adora courtyard terrace is now asking for RM1000psf. The smallest intermediate units (1808sf 3room) are asking around RM1.7-1.8mil and small corner 1900sf type (3-room) is asking around RM1.8-1.9mil. The largest 4+1 units are the limited in Adora is commanding the highest pricing of RM2.3 – 2.5mil. In fact, the price has been increasing since the pandemic. Surprisingly, the tough condition doesn’t apply in Desa Parkcity landed properties. Unsurprisingly, the pandemic has made home more important than ever. If you are interested on the landed properties of Adora, try to catch the level of RM1.6-1.7mil (smallest units) which we strongly believe there are still sellers there for the price in this range.
What’s next?
Don’t worry, the best is yet to come. We will continue to revisit the old landed properties in Desa Parkcity as we see there is still plenty of value there to catch up given the sky rocket price in condominium here. Stay tuned with us, see you in ADIVA (the Award Winning Project)!
Good article.
But I believe there is a niche market for 2 bedder, especially for retirees who have sold their landed and is looking for a small and safe environment to retire to. These older development like Adiva, Adora, Nadia are near perfect and is a good alternative to condominium.
Yes, We knew there are retirees owned the ground floor apartment unit with private garden. For upper floors, i don’t think it is suitable though. Thanks for supporting us.
BTW, Happy New Year and I’m looking forward to the write up on Adiva. Hopefully it’s as detailed as this.
PROPCAFE will always try. 🙂 Under the queue now. Thank you
Nice review! And I agree beautiful things always hard to maintain. A Good read to begin our new year. Motivate me to buy a home for myself.
Yes anything is possible! Surely you will get your new home soon! Hope our article will help!
Nice review with good photography. Adora pricing did not really move from 2014 till 2019 but it moved up strongly during Covid period. As the rental yield is low for this landed intermediate, it is hard to get good investment return if the pricing do not continue to move up at >4% a year (assuming enter at 1.6mil). What is propcafe estimation of the annual capital gain moving forward?