Six states, thirteen projects, and one developer behind four of them

The thirteen

Ten of the thirteen are leasehold, including all five in Sabah. Two are freehold, and Qubaz Suites states no tenure at all — which is the first thing to ask about it. That mix is the reverse of Penang, where 57 of 61 are freehold, and it is worth recalibrating on before comparing prices between states.

Exsim built four of them, in three states

Residensi Bayu Damai and The Bedrock in Kota Kinabalu, Erinaz Suites in Kota Bharu and Qubaz Suites in Kuala Terengganu are all by Exsim. In four states where very little else new is being tracked, one Klang Valley developer is the common thread.

For a buyer that is useful in a specific way: the product is recognisable across all four. Compact serviced-suite layouts, a retail or podium base, and a price point that undercuts the local high-rise market — Erinaz Suites from RM384,100, Residensi Bayu Damai from RM484,310, The Bedrock from RM532,400.

It also means you can inspect the developer's work elsewhere. If you are buying in Kota Bharu or Kuala Terengganu and cannot find a comparable local building, look at what the same developer has finished in the Klang Valley or Penang instead.

Six are finished, which is the highest share on this site

Jesselton Twin Towers and Kingfisher Putatan in Sabah, Sun Sky Condominium in Miri, d'Millenia Residences and Uni Vision in Kota Samarahan, and Midas Residences in Sibu are all complete or delivered.

Jesselton Twin Towers is the one to see: two 56-storey towers rising about 192 metres in Kota Kinabalu's Golden Triangle, 819 homes at ten to a floor with five high-speed passenger lifts plus a service lift per tower, from 649 to 2,041 sq ft. A finished building of that height in that city is the only realistic benchmark for anything else being sold there.

Kota Kinabalu is the one place here with a real choice

Five projects, all leasehold, and they are genuinely different from each other. Kingfisher Putatan is 408 homes on 12 acres at Putatan, twelve kilometres south of the city, eight to a floor, three-bedroom layouts of 1,009 to 1,065 sq ft. Q Suites is the final waterside tower of the Jesselton Quay master plan, 420 homes on 1.3 acres at twenty to a floor. Residensi Bayu Damai is two towers on 10.2 acres, eleven and thirteen to a floor.

The Bedrock is the outlier: 1,080 homes inside the 35-acre Jesselton Docklands waterfront master plan, at 351 to 700 sq ft, with floor plates that run from eight to twenty-eight depending on the level. Ask which level your unit is on before you accept any density figure for that building.

Its completion is stated as 52 months from the SPA date, so the clock starts at your signature rather than at launch.

Two of the Sarawak projects sit next to a university

d'Millenia Residences stands directly beside Universiti Malaysia Sarawak and Uni Vision is opposite it, both in Kota Samarahan. d'Millenia is freehold and runs 280 to 1,491 sq ft, studio to three bedrooms; Uni Vision is leasehold at 635 to 1,494 sq ft.

Both are already delivered, which means the rental market is observable rather than projected. If the plan is to let, ask current owners or the management what a studio and a three-bedroom actually achieve now, and how occupancy moves between term and holidays.

Two unusual structures worth reading carefully

Lexis Hibiscus 2 at Port Dickson is a resort development of 1,710 units — 910 water villas and 800 pool suites — operated by Lexis Hotels & Resorts, on land held by the Menteri Besar Negeri Sembilan (Pemerintah), on a commercial title and leasehold. A resort-operated unit is not a home purchase: the returns, the occupancy arrangement and your own right to use it are all defined by the operating agreement, not by the sale and purchase agreement alone. Read both, with your own lawyer.

Tagbay Suites in Melaka states completion as 36 months after the APDL — the advertising and sale permit — rather than as a date or as a period from your signature. That is a third way of expressing a delivery date, and it means the clock depends on a document you should ask to see.

Before you book in any of these states

• Check what is already finished nearby first. In six of these thirteen cases the finished building is the project itself.
• Expect leasehold. Ten of thirteen are, and all five in Sabah. Ask for the remaining term in writing.
• Where completion is expressed as a period — from the SPA or from the APDL — find out what the starting event is and when it happened.
• On a resort-operated product, read the operating agreement alongside the sale and purchase agreement.
• Where the local market gives you nothing to compare against, look at what the same developer has finished in another state.