Property Hotspots Along Kelana Jaya LRT Line

In the current slowdown of the real estate market, where prices have stopped going up and it’s been a buyers’ market for a long time, where are the hotspots where we can still invest and hope to get steady rent and capital appreciation?

Check out Bangsar South condos with walking distance to LRT

There are 37 stops on the LRT Kelana Jaya Line. The Kerinchi station is right in the middle of the Kelana Jaya line, which is also where Bangsar Trade Centre is.

Aside from being in the middle of the Kelana Jaya line, which makes it easy to get to both Kuala Lumpur and PJ/Subang Jaya, Abdullah Hukum station is only one stop away.

This station, which has been quiet for a long time, is about to get some big changes.

A 300-meter bridge would go straight from the Abdullah Hukum LRT station to, can you guess? It’s the famous Gardens/Mid Valley Megamall, of course!

Along with Pavilion KL, Suria KLCC, 1-Utama, and Nu Sentral, Mid Valley is probably one of the most well-known malls in the Klang Valley.

The long-awaited overhead bridge will be good for the businesses and homes in KL Eco City. In fact, people who bought residential units like Viia Residence can expect good rental demand because KL Eco City has a good infrastructure and a lot of new corporate office towers. Ace, Gilbratar, and Zurich are also headquartered there.

Also, when the overhead bridge opens soon, people who rent here will be able to shop at world-class stores and eat and have fun at the many restaurants and entertainment spots in the 1.80 million square feet of net lettable space at Mid Valley/Gardens Megamall.

Kerinchi station is also in a good spot, right across from Bangsar South, which is connected to it by a 500-meter-long bridge. It is three stops from KL Sentral, where there are seven places to get public transportation, and four stops from Pasar Seni, where you can easily switch to MRT line 1.

Near Kerinchi station, CRCC Malaysia Berhad (CRCC), the same company that built the highly regarded Four Seasons Hotel @ KLCC, would build a new low-density freehold development called “Regency Suite.”

Regency Suites is probably the closest to the LRT because it is built on top of the station itself. To get to the LRT train, you only have to walk 30 metres inside the station.

It is freehold and has a Bangsar address, unlike its Bangsar South neighbours, who are mostly leasehold and whose name has been changed to Kampung Kerinchi. It also has a competitive average price of RM1,000 per square foot.

There aren’t many freehold properties in the new launches by UOA in Bangsar South. Southlink is one of the few new launches with a freehold label. But as of now, the development does not have a covered walkway directly to University LRT.

Along the Kelana Jaya LRT line, the 5th residential block of leasehold KL Gateway will be one of the most important projects.

It is near the KL Gateway mall, which has a net lettable area of 325,000sq ft. It is also close to the KL Gateway University, which is about 200 metres away and can be reached by an air-conditioned overhead bridge.

A freehold development called Establishment @ Brickfields will be built near the Bangsar LRT station. Not many people know about it. This project has been finished for a year and has access to the Bangsar LRT via a covered bridge.

Even though it is close to old and run-down buildings in Brickfields, which many people on the online forum Lowyat find unpleasant. Still, the project has been doing well for short-term stays and has a high demand from long-term tenants because of its location, which is only one stop from KL Sentral and will soon have direct access to Mid Valley Megamall through the Abdullah Hukum LRT station.

Many “property gurus” have talked enough about how important location is when it comes to investing in property, but it’s safe to say that investment properties close to popular LRT stations will have more tenants and better rental rates.

KLCC, KL Sentral, and Abdullah Hukum are all important key stations because they connect to offices, shopping, entertainment, and key transportation hubs.

Other stations that are close to the three most important LRT stops above will also be important. Aside from this, the closer the property is to the LRT, the better, and there is definitely a premium if the distance has a covered overhead bridge or at least a covered walkway.

Some properties say they are “walking distance” to the MRT or LRT, but if you look closer, you’ll see that they are actually 500 to 700 metres away and don’t have any cover to protect people from the weather.

The LRT station in Kerinchi, which will soon have a freehold low density residential tower and is only 30m from the LRT train, may be the closest to an LRT/MRT station.

Since the residential tower is on top of the LRT station, there is no need for a covered walkway or an overhead bridge.

Any other things to think about?

Many Transit-Oriented Developments (TOD) are built with investors in mind, especially the smaller studio or one-bedroom apartments. Most likely, 90% of the buyers are investors.

Because of this, an investor needs to know that the property’s rental yield will limit how much the property’s value goes up.

To get the percentage, take the annual rent, divide it by the property’s value, and then multiply that number by 100.

The rent your property can bring in affects how much it’s worth. Assuming that your studio unit rents for an average of 5% of what you pay for it. If the net rental is RM2,000 per month or RM24,000 per year after all expenses, the capital value of your investment is:

Net rental pa RM24,000
Rental income is 5%
Capital value RM24,000 x 100/5 Value RM480,000
If the average rental yield on investment property stays at 5%, your property is worth about RM480,000.

There are, of course, homes that people buy to live in, in which case rental yields are no longer the most important thing.

Bandar Utama, Desa Park City, TTDI, Bangsar, Sri Hartamas, Mt. Kiara, PJ, Setia Alam, Ara Damansara, and other areas are hotspots where people buy landed properties to live in and see their value rise.

As an investor, you need to know if the property will be bought to “rent for life” because it won’t go up in value much, or if the buyer will buy it to live in and won’t care much about the rental yield.

For the second, you can buy to flip for a gain in value. Basically, we need to be aware of these two groups of properties.

When buying a home to live in, the writer notices that people prefer to buy freehold landed property if they can afford it.

Since there aren’t many of them, there’s a better chance that their value will go up than with high-rise service apartments. However, there are no more new terrace houses being built in Kuala Lumpur because there isn’t enough land.

The new launches of landed properties are in Rawang, Cyberjaya, Kajang, and Semenyyah, which are on the edge of the Klang Valley.

A townhouse, which is a cross between an apartment and a terrace house, is another option for people who want to buy a home to live in and see its value rise over time, in my opinion.

It’s basically a piece of land that two units share. One is the lower unit and the other is the upper unit. Each unit has its own parking spot in front of its house.

A townhouse is considered “semi-landed,” and no new ones are being built in Kuala Lumpur anymore, so there aren’t that many of them.

It’s a good idea to think about TOD and buying a unit close to an LRT station if you want to make sure you get good rent and find tenants quickly.

Also, the closer a place is to a central business district (CBD), the more job opportunities it has, which makes it more likely that a lot of people will want to rent it.

There may be three CBDs in Kuala Lumpur. The first is the Petronas Twin Towers @KLCC, the second is Bukit Bintang, and the third is KL Sentral.

Good luck investing!

Source: StarProperty, which was written by John Tan.

Property hotspots along Kelana Jaya LRT Line

Compare Properties