SEMENYIH is one of the most rapid growth areas in Greater Kuala Lumpur or the southern corridor of the Klang Valley.
Semenyih, in the Hulu Langat district in Selangor, is popular with day trippers because of its eco-tourism offerings.
It has plenty of areas for recreational activities, such as a weekend hike on Broga Hill or a picnic at the Sungai Tekala waterfalls.
More than 10 years ago, it would probably have taken you about 45 minutes to an hour to reach Semenyih from Kuala Lumpur city centre, especially when you use the old Kajang-Semenyih bypass.
Things have changed today! The little Semenyih town that used to be a sleepy hollow is no longer how it used to be. There are more roads and highways as well as interchanges connecting it to other major towns and cities, including Kuala Lumpur.
There’s also more traffic because of new developments in the area. New housing and commercial developments have taken Semenyih by storm.
There was a time when the prices of landed houses were just below RM130,000 but today, the prices of sub-sale residential properties have quadrupled from the initial figures.
Big developers like Eco World Development Group Bhd, MKH Bhd, SP Setia Bhd, UEM Sunrise Bhd and Kueen Lai Group of Companies as well as China’s Country Garden have been buying up land in Semenyih.
Based on a recent census by the Kajang Municipal Council, the current population in Semenyih is at 92,491. The council also expects Hulu Langat district to have a population of more than one million, from 738,067 currently, in the next few years as more residential developments take place.
Strong Chinese interest in Semenyih
Country Garden, through its property arm Country Garden Properties Sdn Bhd, is developing Diamond City — a 104ha Spain-inspired township located across the University of Nottingham Malaysia campus.
This premium township offers spacious homes with built-up areas of between 2,385sf and 8,681sf and has attracted many buyers since its launch in 2014.
The whole development will have 450 houses comprising 120 units of linked houses, 272 bungalows and 23 mansions.
The linked houses, with built-up area of 2,385 sq ft and 2,650 sq ft, are priced from RM900,000 each.
The bungalows range from 3,333 sq ft to 3,657 sq ft, and are priced from RM1.3 million to RM1.4 million.
The mansions, ranging from 5,560 sq ft to 8,681 sq ft, are priced from RM3.9 million to RM5.5 million.
Phase One (40.4ha) of the township (launched June 2014) is slated for completion next year. This phase has two-storey terraced houses, bungalows and mansions.
The Chinese developer, which has built luxury serviced apartments as well as commercial, leisure and entertainment properties across 23ha of freehold land in Danga Bay, Iskandar, Johor, since 2014, launched the first parcel of Phase Two in the middle of last year.
This parcel features 60 units of two-storey terraced houses with built-ups ranging from 1,862 sq ft to 2,097 sq ft. Prices for the units start from RM618,688. The houses come with four bedrooms and three bathrooms and will be fully completed in 2019.
A key attraction of Diamond City is the 57,000sf built-up clubhouse. which is home to the largest infinity pool in Kuala Lumpur, a private cinema, bowling alleys and a spa.
Eco Majestic — Semenyih’s more precious gem?
Eco Majestic is without a doubt the most stunning development in Semenyih. Developed by Eco World Development, Eco Majestic is a wholesome synthesis of form and functionality, environmentalism and luxury, capturing the easy contentment of home and a balanced lifestyle surrounded by rolling hills with gentle creeks meandering through the site to provide a sense of peace and serenity.
It is designed with a colonial straits flair and the master plan includes a 60.70ha dedicated commercial hub that will make it the centre of business and economic activities for the Kajang, Bangi and Semenyih areas.
Also planned for the township is a lifestyle sports centre offering among others, facilities like a swimming pool, football field, indoor futsal court, badminton, basketball and squash courts, a sports hall and function rooms.
The project with a gross development value (GDV) of RM11.2 billion launched its first component in May 2014. This was the Cradleton Precinct comprising terraced houses, followed by bungalow lots, cluster homes and semi-Ds.
In 2015, Eco World opened the Eco Majestic Red Carpet Bridge, a 118m bridge constructed using red interlock pavers to symbolise the red carpet, where residents are welcomed by the one-of-a-kind entrance statement and the simple act of coming home every day becomes a grand homecoming.
The bridge is part of a new link road from the Semenyih toll (exit 2102) to shorten the travelling time for those going to Eco Majestic via the North Gate and to avoid the heavy traffic on Jalan Semenyih.
In March last year, Eco Majestic launched 750 units of Karisma Apartments and because of the success rate, Eco World launched 352 units of Harmoni Apartments five months later.
Another milestone for the township with the official opening of the dedicated and elevated LEKAS-Eco Majestic Interchange (exit 2102A) which acts as a third major entry/exit point for the development.
Some 182 units of bungalow lots were also handed over last year.
This year it is mostly about constructing and handing over the properties that were sold in the last two years as well as launching new projects within the township development to meet demand.
Early this year, 612 units of Phase 1 Cradleton terraced houses with colonial style architecture were also handed over.
During the handing over ceremony, Eco World president and chief executive officer Datuk Chang Khim Wah said the group was excited and delighted to welcome the first residents to Eco Majestic.
Chang said Eco World was also thrilled to showcase the environment and landscape of Eco Majestic as it is a testament of the group’s promise to deliver unmatched products and service quality in all its developments.
EcoWorld’s latest offerings in Semenyih
Near Eco Majestic is the highly-anticipated Eco Forest development, a freehold 208.4ha mixed-township located next to Broga Hills. Strategically situated with connectivity to various highways and expressways such as LEKAS, SKVE and SILK and situated near tertiary educational institutions such as UTAR, University of Nottingham, UNITEN, UKM and UPM, Eco Forest is set to cement the group’s leadership position in the growing southeastern Semenyih corridor.
With a GDV of RM3.5 billion, the freehold development will have more than 1,800 landed-strata homes, 3,500 apartments and more than 200 commercial units to be developed in the next 10 years.
To get the ball rolling, the developer will launch Phase 1 and it will feature 685 double-storey terraced houses in its Ebonylane precinct consisting of Artisan homes, priced from RM590,000 (20ft by 65 ft, 20ft by 70ft and 22ft by 70ft) and Garden homes (measuring 30ft by 62ft).
According to Eco World divisional general manager Evon Yap. the Garden Homes are a replica of the successful Eco Grandeur Homes (Eco World’s other project in Ijok, Selangor), which has received great demand as it provides an innovative lifestyle when it comes to terraced houses.
“Priced from RM700,000, the Garden Homes with a width of 30ft enables the owners to create another space out of the normal living, dining, entertainment and you still have another patio/garden outside to enjoy, so this is something different that we are offering,” said Yap.
Asked if landed strata titles would deter potential buyers from owning a house, especially under the current soft market sentiment, Yap said that it wouldn’t be a problem because from the feedback that she had gathered, customers didn’t mind paying for the maintenance of common properties and security.
“Building and maintenance is important so strata is good. We have completed two strata projects in Eco Majestic and the feedback is that buyers like strata developments as there is standardisation in terms of colour scheme among other things.
“The colour code will become timeless compared with normal housing schemes which after a while will be randomly painted by the respective owners. If the colour is distasteful, will it bring value to you?” she asked.
“For a strata development we still have 1.05ha of the central park and the back lane gardens. Unlike normal developments, they have individual titles with 10ft extra space for the back alley, but for Eco Forest, we utilise 16 to 20 ft of space and turn it into a linear garden,” said Yap.
She added that because cars were parked at the front of the terraced houses, children or even the elders could use the linear gardens to walk about without worrying about passing traffic.
Yap said the Garden Homes was indeed a breakthrough for Eco World.
Garden Homes has attracted potential buyers from Semenyih, Kajang, Cheras, Puchong and Serdang which lack developments with a similar concept.
“The project has also attracted buyers from Seremban. It is not new for people staying there to commute to Kuala Lumpur daily to get to work. If they stay in Garden Homes, they can shorten their travel time to get to their workplace,” she said.
Pioneer residents who have benefited from new developments
Aisamuddin Afiq, 33, who is currently residing in Taman Pelangi Semenyih 2, said when he bought his 20 x 70 double-storey terraced house in 2013, it cost just RM365,000. But today, the same property can easily fetch up to RM500,000.
When asked what he likes about living in Semenyih, Afiq said it was the rustic feeling of living in the countryside with complete amenities.
“What I’ve heard is that SP Setia will build Ecohill Taipan, the first shopping mall in Semenyih that will be completed in 2020,” he said, adding that residents were excited about this new development.
With regards to the current traffic which has built up over the years, Afiq feels that the situation is still manageable as some of the developers have opened up road access to highways.
“Road access has improved ever since Ecohill opened up its door to get to LEKAS. So you have an option of using the road to Semenyih town or Ecohill to get to Kuala Lumpur. EcoWorld also has access to LEKAS. So basically there are several options to get to the destination you want,” said Afiq.