Initially I would say no due to it’s commercial land and serviced apartment status. However, the developer itself, Belleview Group has mentioned that in the Deeds of Mutual Covenant has included a clause that home stay/ AirBnb business is not allowed. Therefore, Gem Residential will be fully residential use. (please don’t come and kacau say “sure got people do” and I assure you, guarantee you, confirm with you 1000% other residential condo also have people doing home stay even the luxury condo like The Light City & Quayside also have people operate illegally.) (What can you do if you found your neighbour operate home stay/ AirBnb? Report him to management lo)

ok back to our discussion, if you wanna have a walking distance to shopping mall, amenities & etc, you should definitely consider Gem Residences unless you can afford property and projects located at Gurney Drive, Queensbay Mall and the upcoming the Light PWCC. 

Electricity bill /rate wise you don’t have to be worried, residential rate shall not be a problem.

Initially I was a little bit resisting the project too however when I have a detailed review I’ve found out that the layout of the Gem Residences are not bad too. There’s closed kitchen concept whereby nowadays condominium / new project where most of them come with open concept kitchen.

If you ask me whether if Gem Residences suitable for investment? My answer is Yes and No and it depends. Because if I say yes there’ll be people say no while I say no there’ll be people say yes. So I will just share what I know to help you make a better decision.

If Gem Residences total unit is only 400+/- I will say a big YES, Gem Residences is a good investment. 

Nothing is perfect, this is an integrated development with hotel, shopping mall. Therefore, developer is not constructing so little units otherwise where is the profit?

By looking at the total unit of 978 units yes undeniably it is high density. In fact it is not a high density project compared to other projects like PR1MA @ Permatang Pauh with 1,017 units in total and smaller land size compared to Gem Residences which is 5.34 acres with 4 towers / block here.

There’s no direct comparable projects against Gem Residences. And I am 100% sure, confirm and guarantee again the sale agent will tell you must buy, good investment! Don’t miss the opportunity like Queensbay and Gurney! Well, somehow they are right. But the future still hard to predict, if I can know which property will boom I already buy lo what for I still ask you to buy? Just like a stock / shares market, niamak if I know which shares can boom/ increase I buy myself what for I still come out open course and teach you how to buy stock / property.

Current rental return of residential property at Penang mainland in terms of rental return shall be around 3%. In another words, if you can accept a minimum rental return of Rm 1,000 you’re safe to proceed to pick up a unit at Gem Residences.

Take a look at the examples of Queens Residences located Bayan Indah, Bayan Lepas, Penang just opposite Queensbay Mall. When agents sell Queens Residence they told the investors and purchasers that the rental rate shall be around RM 4,000 to RM 5,000. The same case when selling City of Dreams the owners were told rental rate around RM 5,000 to RM 6,000 while some corner units even want to rent out at RM 8,000 to RM 10,000.

What happened in the end? Queens Residences average rental rate after VP (Vacant possession) is renting at RM 3,000 averagely while City of Dreams located at Tanjung Tokong also rented out at RM 3,000 averagely. Of course Covid-19 is the main reason but let’s take a look further. Queens Residences Q1 & Q2 added around 950 units to the area while City of Dreams added around 600 units to the area. Important Questions, what makes you think that you can rent it out at market rental rate as soon as you get your keys/ VP.

You can do that, give 2 months commission to agents lo. Confirm they will help you push. That means to say once the project is VP (keys obtained) there will be fresh units being “injected” to the market. Within the short period of time rental market will be supply more than demand. Not to say that Gem Residences will be having 900 units here.

See? I also talk about bad things geh, I don’t hard push you any project. There’s only the most suitable project, there’s no such things as perfect project. Human beings are not perfect, not to mention that the creations / inventions by humans. Hence, if you can accept a minimum rental or RM 1,000 then you’re safe (I’m just being conservative) 

Hmmmm, this is a hard question, if we’re using the current economy and government, my answer is NO, you will having some hard time to sell your future Gem Residences unit at profit. 

Again, I’m not saying Gem Residences is a bad project ya. The worst outcome is Gem Residences didn’t get a good capital appreciation and that’s it, it is still a very good location and pretty convenient. While the BEST outcome is Gem Residences might be another Queensbay Mall area.

I like the concept to be honest, if it is around 400 units+ I will tell my purchasers just close your eyes and buy. 

So in short if you’re buying for own stay, no problem (personal opinion), if you’re expecting a great profit, I don’t know, my accounting background don’t allow me to be over-optimistic and over-promising.