Honestly speaking, lower floor should be more expensive than higher floor especially those that starts at 10 floor with facility and parking just right below. Obviously those low class apartment start with 1st floor would suck but those high class condo normally have 10 floor of parking/retail before residential unit hence the "lower" units is high enough while at the same time have more practical benefits which I will discuss below.

Sure highest floor has benefit of having nice view but that's it.

Practically speaking 10-15 floor seems to be the most ideal floors :

1) Higher floor normally suffer heat from sunlight (>20 floor onwards, the higher you go the more you suffer on heat and direct sunlight)
2) Higher floor water pressure is weaker than lower floor. In the event of low water pressure, these units >15 floors will kena gao gao... in the event of water rationing, the top floor die first cause they will be the first to loose water and last to get water. On top of that they will take longer time for pressure to build up compared to lower floors
3) In the event of a fire, lower floor can just go down to parking lot or facility area relatively quick compared to higher floor.
4) Possibility of aircraft knocking your building, the top floor will perish first (obviously it's not something that always happen but hey, it's not something that will never happen either)
5) Air pressure and fresh air. Not very significantly felt but the pressure is there especially for floor >25. Lower units especially 10-15 would be just nice to receive fresh air from trees or from your facility area or if your area has a lot of plants & trees.
6) You get to your apartment faster. (sure they have high speed lifts for high class condo but if there are people leaving between floors, it does feel a little annoying overtime especially if your condo is very dense). I don't know about you guys but I envy people from lower floor in my work place cause they don't need to wait for people stopping at every floor till they reach the top.

Bottom line, living in lower floor especially those 10-15 floor seems much better and more practical than living in higher floor just for some view that you will get bored of after a few days.

u compare to normal aprtment?

1. higher the floor more windy except for highest floor because of roof. but highest floor usually penthouse so definitely installing and running few air condition is not a problem.

2. they have few level for water tank and pump house. let say total 30 floor so there is 1 water pump room at level 10, 20 and 30. im not sure about others condo but my last service apartment is like this.

3. never buy high rise if take fire in to consideration

4. lol

5. nothing feel different even at level 40

6. only at peak hours but i think waiting time is not more than 5 minutes as condo usually have 3 lifts. luxury and expensive condo have low density so this is not a problem

High floors are not only with nice view as some high floor units will not face nice view. View from high floors is a bonus but it's not the main thing. What I think the advantages are with high floors are cooler and cleaner air, and certainly strong winds and breeze depending on the direction of the wind and the windows or sliding doors that are facing the wind direction. IT makes a big difference when you are at the high floors as the winds can be very strong depending on the direction that your unit is facing. If your unit is not facing the wind direction then it may not make much difference even though your unit is at the high floors.

Due to the strong winds and cooler air at at the high floors, one may not need to switch on the fan or even the air-cond at night when sleeping. The strong winds from the outside will just blow continuously and it's fresh and cool air from the outside which feels more like air-cond at 25 or 26 degrees C at a higher fan speed that the air-cond can manage. The downside is if it's raining you would have to close the windows and doors or else there would be flood water inside your unit.

Also, air is cleaner when your unit is higher especially 30 floors up. I'm not sure about the lower units at L10 to 15 but if it's lower to the ground it will gather dust fairly quickly. With higher floors there is surely less dust and you don't need to clean your house frequently. With high floors even after 1 week with the doors and windows open, the unit will gather very little dust and you will only need to do some light cleaning or mopping of the floor once in a week, or even once in every fortnight. With landed properties you would need to clean the floor say 2 to 3 times(or more) in a week.

Not sure about the air pressure than you mentioned with high floors. Heat from sunlight I think it's the same with all units low or high. That can be controlled by installing curtains and tints on windows which are usually common with most if not all units in apartments. Other things that you mentioned such as water rationing or fire or aircraft crashing onto buildings, no comment on that one but you certainly wouldn't want something like that to happen because those living at the lower levels will also be affected. Also, bearing in mind some owners living at higher floors may argue that the aircraft may also crash at the lower levels of the apartment rather than at the higher floors etc. This factor actually shouldn't be used as an argument to discuss on the merits or differences between lower and higher floor units as it's not relevant.

The only advantage of living at lower floors, the way I see it is waiting time for the lifts. Other than that, in my opinion there are many advantages with high floor units as described above that make them more desirable for some (or most people). The only thing as you have mentioned is the price as the prices usually increase when you go up higher. I was told that for some apartments there is an increase of RM2k if you go up higher the floors. Some developers will charge higher, and there is usually a reason for this practice. You usually won't see the pricing of the units go lower when you go up the floors. It's usually the other round. Otherwise all the higher floors will be taken and all the lower floors will be empty. However, although the higher floors are usually more expensive than the lower floors, you would still see some people who will choose the higher floors because of some of the desirable traits or factors as mentioned above. It's mainly the cooler and stronger winds at the higher floors apart from the nice view. Other considerations would be cleaner air and perhaps to a lesser extent noise (higher floors may be less noisier than the lower floors, especially noise from traffic and screaming kids at the swimming pool (if available).

Simple reason.

Demand for higher floor is greater than lower floor, hence it is priced higher.

If everyone dislike higher floor, then we will see the inverse pricing, aka price become cheaper when it is getting higher.

1) Sunlight can be luxury sometimes, if one lived in dense residential area whereby lot of adjacent building around, typically like in HK, one will appreciate there is sunlight.

2) Higher/highest floor has better water pressure, because it has its own booster pump compared to other lower unit delivered via gravity.

3) Yes higher floor may pose problem for escaping, but if 2nd floor on fire, the adjacent 2nd floor and 3rd floor poses the most risk, not on 30th floor.

4) LOL, when aircraft crashed into building, the whole building collapse. Well you don't worry about this when buying a property. Might as well choose a bunker to live. Joking only.

5) If lot of plant and tree, lower floor will suffer lot of insects, debris from the rotten leaves etc.

6) Yes, higher floor, lift waiting time is longer, no doubt, this is the major disadvantage.

Mainly, people feel not so "cramp", potential lesser noise and more privacy in higher floor generally that lead to higher demand for higher floor.

Actually it is more about personal preference, there is always advantages and disadvantages in between.

Yes, it is true that at higher floors (>30 levels), the air is cooler and winds stronger, depending on the direction of the wind or the apartment block. At night I usually don't use the air-cond to sleep due to the cool air, with the windows open. The air from outside is colder than the air inside, almost like air-cond set at 26 degrees C. Even if I switch on the air-cond at night during hotter days, it will be only for 1 hour with automatic timing turn-off after 1 hour.

Other advantages are no cockroaches, no ants and no big flies (there are still small flies) As for mosquito, there are very few mosquitoes (even though there are 1 or 2 mosquito it is usually not the active type).

I would say the advantages with high floor units outweigh the minor disadvantages. I would surely recommend to pick the higher floor units if within budget, but pick one with good direction against the sun and wind, if possible within your preference. Some may not like too much wind to blow inside the unit so it's a matter of preference. Mine is not facing the wind direction but depending on where the wind blows. strong winds and cool air will flow into the unit on certain days and it's very nice to have natural (and free) air-cond inside your unit.

1) We live in Malaysia not HK ... I understood why western countries cause for example in UK, sunlight is a privilege cause the country is generally cold and gloomy. But in Malaysia it is hot 365days. In new york for example, top floor is considered most desirable because they avoid all the noise and heavy foot traffic. In Malaysia, most serviced apartment starts at 10th floor so you are pretty much quite high up already staying at the lowest floor.

2) Own booster pump? Most serviced apartment I know has a pump on the ground floor which works to deliver the water up to the tank on the roof and the gravity will then act as pressure to deliver water to each unit. Mind sharing which project actually has pump on the top floor cause it doesn't sound logical since water comes from the ground up.... pump the water down from the top floor??

3) If 2nd floor on fire, everyone in the building will have to evacuate, that is standard fire procedure. I've actually experienced once in my office where our 6th floor caught minor fire, everyone still needs to follow the fire drill procedure and gather on ground floor. Had to walk 30 flight of stairs ...

4) Murphy law "whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.". Probability is low but if it is not a hazard, no one would buy aircraft damage peril on their insurance policy . The probability of aircraft hitting the top floor is higher, believe it or not, there are some crazy people actually insure certain floors for aircraft damage just to save premium. If they hit the top, building won't collapse they aren't made to collapse like how it looks on 9/11 (which is why there are a lot of conspiracy that it is a controlled demolition done via inside job). I know this is not really a factor on anyone's decision making when buying a property but it is a possibility and might as well throw it in for consideration.

5) Unless you live on ground or 1st floor though


A few solid points for top floor is definitely lesser noise and better view. Other than that, I sometimes wonder is it because of overseas influence cause if you live in a tropical country with 365 days being hot as hell, top floor is not practical.

Your point on the pricing part I believe could be due to foreign investor perhaps? or also because of the mind set that has already been influenced over the property market buyer.


Just to add, almost every article on the web says the higher the floor the higher the temperature so I'm not sure why people here say otherwise. Like I said, cold countries is super beneficial on this point but I don't think Malaysians would want anymore heat in their lives

http://thewgo.org/website/eng/news/rooftop-temperature/
https://www.warmup.co.uk/blog/guide-to-unde...ing-heat-output

This post has been edited by holypredator: Jul 27 2018, 08:41 PM

2) Yes, I worked in apartment management committee and worked with some building management issue hand on before, I knew most condo top floor has its own booster pump and water pressure tank, if not top few floor will suffer extreme low pressure.
Water pressure is based on height of the water tank.
At top floor, water tank is only one floor above it, roughly 3 m height, if delivered via gravity, it only can deliver 0.3 bar, which is not enough, that's why top and second or third to top floor, it needs a booster pump, while the rest lower floor deliver via gravity.

Normally, those booster pump and tank won't be seen by public.

Fyi, 10 M height will give you 1 bar of pressure, if delivered via gravity.

For sure, higher floor indeed more windy.
Windy - you feel less heat with the same temperature.

As said before, we can list of tons of disadvantage of top floor, but if top floor indeed has higher demand than lower floor (people simply love to have higher floor), then the skewed pricing will stay, whether we like it or not.
Market pricing is always based on demand and supply.

As far as I know ventilation is the key factor. When you move to higher floors, the amount of airflow and ventilation is much more compared to lower floor homes. This has been the major factor for price increase in higher floors. I am an owner of Bodrum property, have an apartment on 5th floor. And the reason in price between 1st and 7th floor is pretty big.

This post has been edited by MaxyPower: Aug 4 2018, 12:07 AM

Since lower floor have so many "advantages" according to you, you should be happy because you can buy something good with cheaper price.

Just a discussion on this issue... nothing to do with my purchasing decision

Because you live nearer to god hence the price is more premium. 高高在上you understand ?

Main reason right there.

No one wants to live on the highest floor... it is normally the last units to be sold

Buddy, you are contradicting yourself with your remark there.if the highest floor units are the last one to sold, they will still be sold isn't it? If the units are already sold, the owners would have lived in the units which is against your "no one wants to live on the highest floor".

Take note that although you or someone else do not want to take the highest floor, there will always be someone or several people who prefer to take the highest floor. The highest floors are always preferable to the lowest floors and the demand is reflected in the pricing of units. If the price is the same with all floors, you would see more empty units at the lower floors.

huhu, obviously u never stay at top floor before.

basement more suit u

The best floor is the one facing a swimming pool with view of half naked people.

So dynamic.