Penang offers a combination of the charm of the old world with the capitalism of these days. In one area of the city you will find old buildings that are preserved, shops and local street food that is delicious. In the other area you will find all the symbols of progress, the skyscrapers and the shopping malls. Penang is a city that is expanding and the value of the local real estate is going up at the same time. The fact that it has those traditional places makes it even more valuable and George Town (the old part of the town) is actually a World Cultural Heritage site of UNESCO since 2008. This only serves to make Penang even more of a destination for tourists, which come and stay in hotels in the modern part of town, driving the prices of properties even higher as a result.

Penang real estate values aren’t based only on tourism. Its economy is booming and there are electronics plants in Penang’s southern region, producing high tech merchandise. There are two kinds of investors coming to Penang these days. On one hand you have Malaysians that are looking to get a second house in their country and on the other hand you have foreign inve.stors that are looking to make money in the long run by getting properties while they’re still cheap. If you’re in either of these categories, you might want to take a look at the northern and eastern coasts of the island, where there are many villas and luxury condominiums being built, many of them offering superb views with the Andaman Sea in the background.

Thanks to the fact that Penang is an island, the value of the land continues to grow, since it’s scarce and the demand keeps increasing. One other reason is because you can’t build properties on hills or on areas that are too high above the level of the sea, for safety reason. That’s why the land that can be built on grows in price quickly.