Dual Key Apartments - new breed of condominiums in Malaysia
Dual Key Apartments are units which comes with a bigger unit and a small unit which are fused together. Basically it is like you are buying 2 units of the condominium. You are actually buying into 1 big unit and a smaller unit that is side-by-side. Chinese say buy big free 1 small. Just take note that it is usually big unit with smaller unit. I have yet to see dual key units with 1 big and 1 big. The reason such units are called dual key is because you will be given 2 different set of keys. 1 will be used to enter the bigger unit while the other will be used to enter the smaller unit.
In very developed markets like Australia and Singapore, these types of units are very common. In Malaysia I encountered this recently in a project called Ara Greens situated in the Ara Damansara neighborhood.
Readers probably will ask why have dual key units ? Reasons are
Usage :
> The bigger unit is used by the main family while the smaller unit is used by the family's elderly. The close proximity of the units serve as a win-win situation to both parties. On one hand the main family gets their own privacy while enabling the main family to take care of the elderly.
> The bigger unit is used by the main family while the smaller unit is used as an investment tool. The smaller unit is rented out to another person to generate income. The close proximity of the units enables easy tenant management. Obviously this will only work if the condomonium unit is situated right in areas where there is very high demand for housing.
Now obviously for readers who are very aware, Ara Green falls into the the former. Ara Greens is used more for multigenerational families.
I currently am not invested in any dual key units as at the moment most of them are cated to the first reason and are in the high end of price range so it will not be an easy investment vehicle.
For overseas readers, in Malaysia, we refer to our apartment as condominiums as apartments are more deemed to be a lower class condominium.
