Kota Kinabalu property hotspots

Where are the top addresses in Kota Kinabalu (KK)?

On the top of the list of KK-based IQI Realty real estate agent Abby Tan, an EdgeProp.my PRO agent, are Luyang and Likas, chosen for their proximity to the city centre.

Read also
What’s next for Kota Kinabalu housing market?
Popular locations in Kota Kinabalu
Eat and play Kota Kinabalu

Luyang houses some of the oldest and most well-established neighbourhoods in KK. It is also highly accessible to Greater KK of Penampang, a growing development which is also becoming a popular location for homeseekers.

Likas, although situated on the outskirts of the city centre, is highly accessible to the city centre via the coastal road of Jalan Tun Fuad Stephen. This sub-district of KK is home to some of the state’s administrative offices as well as the chief minister’s office.

Interestingly, Likas has also evolved into an education hub, populated by institutions like Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Universiti Teknologi MARA KK, Politeknik KK and Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

While landed properties remain a favourite in KK, increasing land scarcity and population growth in the city centre is driving more interest in the more affordably-priced high-rise homes.

C H Williams Talhar & Wong (Sabah) director Cornelius Koh says high-rise homes offering modern lifestyles have been gaining more acceptance in the last 10 to 15 years.

Other push factors towards this trend are the rising prices of landed homes and poor public transportation within districts. Moreover, high-rise gated-and-guarded homes also offer enhanced security and safety features.

Challenges and opportunities

For cost reasons, new landed developments are moving farther away from the KK city centre, opening up more opportunities in areas bordering KK.

“Penampang and Putatan have seen a surge in residential developments in recent years with prices going up. However, preference seems to still favour KK, especially in the Luyang and Likas areas,” says Koh.

Knight Frank’s Chen says developments beyond KK are challenging for developers due to its lack of basic infrastructure developments. So, Chen says, property buyers tend to head either south to Papar or north to Tuaran as they offer better infrastructure development and accessibility to KK.

Among some of the new launches in recent months are the affordable housing project of City Residence at Alam Mesra; Sky Million Residence and Eco Peak Residence in Donggongon, KK328 in Kelombong and Plaza Legasi @ Sulaman in the KK city centre.

This story first appeared in the EdgeProp.my E-weekly on April 23, 2021. You can access back issues here.

Get the latest news @ www.EdgeProp.my

Subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest stories and updates 

Click here for more property stories