So is Eco City worth investing in now? What are expected capital appreciation in say 3 yrs? ANy units with DIBS scheme? Hows this compared to Concerto, North Kiara?

How many units left in Vogue Suites 1? What about Suites 2 & 3? Discounts? DIBS?

Yes only the Loft 1647 sqft unit available. RM 2.5 mil (RM 1518 psf). DIBS available.

Vogue Suites 2 & 3 only launching next year. Setia Hotel Residences launching end of this year. Not sure what the pricing would be like. Does anybody have any info?

Yes i asked then found out the info later.

2017. Any property crash then?

I dont think so. If the property market crashes, there would be many who would swoop in for good deals. But the trend im seeing is that the moment a property is put up for sale below market price, its usually snapped up pretty fast. Provided its in a good location. Thats why i doubt Malaysia wont experience a property crash but possibly a slowdown.

If ure planning this for own stay, yes a delayed VP date would not be prefered. But if ure in this purely for investment, i would think it benefits you especially with the property downturn predicted for 2015/2016.

Either way, the dates given are only indicative. VP can be earlier or later and property developers usually want to complete ASAP as a delayed construction time frame means extra overhead costs and minimised profit margins.

Cheers!

Vogue 2 starting at RM1,600 psf? Yea SP Setia is branding Eco City as a high end development but can it sustain its high end status upon VP? I too was interested in Eco City but the 2015/2016 period is a worry for me with regards to the property market in Malaysia. Banks are also starting to tighten up their lending and now Bank Negara coming out with curbs on DIBS. They must see something on the horizon which we dont. Im also considering Tropicana Metropark, Subang studio units. At RM 745 psf (after discount), it seems less riskier in the long run. I think.

well most developments will be good value if everybody has strong holding power but the problem arises when a number of owners in the development can't sustain and start offloading at lower price. U then get the cascading domino effect. Not saying it will be the case with Eco City but it is a genuine concern with most developments in KL now i guess.

This is what happens when contractors take short cuts and use improper engineering solutions or inferior quality material just to save cost. Makes u wonder if this could happen to a pedestrian bridge, whats the real condition of the residences!

Workers is not the issue. Workers are always foreigners. Even PETRONAS Twin Towers was built with Banglas and Indons.

The 3 biggest problems with construction projects in Malaysia are:

1) Construction practices which are not in line with approved consultant engineering drawings - consultants are then paid off to approve the physical works especially if the consultants are employed by the contractors themselves which is a common thing when the contractors are big companies like IJM, Gamuda, etc

2) Inferior quality concrete - cement content at batching plant is reduced but Client is charged for full grade concrete

3) Inferior quality steel reinforcement - market is being flooded by cheaper, inferior steel from Taiwan and China which do not come with quality controlled mill certs. Most contractors in Malaysia send approved rebar samples with mill certs to the Client for quality control inspection but during construction itself, they use the non approved ones

There is an easy explanation for all this.

Its CORRUPTION and its a cancer that affects everybody and even causes severe loss of life.

SWO in Malaysia usually mean:

1) Which small subcontractor shall we blame for this
2) How do we do damage control for the main contractor / Client reputation
3) Who and how much do we need to pay to make this matter go away fast

Everybody in the construction industry knows this is the norm. Nothing new.

Join white man MNC contractors. Good money.

TY Lin and many of the bigger consultants sometimes 'subcontract' work to smaller companies. The same way big construction companies sub sub contract to smaller RM2 companies.

Subcontracts are to balance risk exposure vs workload vs available resources while still maintaining profit margins.