Aethera Residences

UOA states an estimated 400-metre walk to the RTS Link station, with a direct covered walkway. The word estimated is the developer’s own, and I have not replaced it with a precise number I cannot verify against a survey.

The developer also publishes a six-minute RTS ride between Johor Bahru and Woodlands North, about forty minutes to Orchard Road, and a ten-minute train frequency. Bear in mind the railway is not carrying passengers yet — passenger service at Bukit Chagar is targeted for early 2027. Anything written about journey times today is a design assumption, not a published timetable.

786 units in one 52-storey tower. Both figures come from the statutory advertising disclosure printed on UOA’s own project website, alongside the building plan approval reference MBJB/U/2025/14/BGN/101/KOM(0) issued by Majlis Bandaraya Johor Bahru.

786 is a number worth pausing on. The two largest schemes near the crossing carry 3,692 and 4,385 units. When you come to sell or let, the size of the queue of identical units behind you is what decides whether you can hold your price. A smaller scheme is not automatically a better investment — but it does change who sets the price.

Seven layouts carry a published area: Type A 650 sq ft (2 bed 1 bath), Type B 693 sq ft (2 bed 2 bath), Type C 904 sq ft (3 bed 2 bath), Type D 1,033 sq ft (3 bed 2 bath, dual key), Type E 1,315 sq ft (3 bed 2 bath), Type F 2,411 sq ft duplex (4 bed 4 bath) and Type G 2,594 sq ft duplex (4 bed 4 bath).

UOA also publishes drawings for A1, A2 and D1 without stating their areas, so I show two of those plans without a square-foot figure rather than inventing one.

There is one contradiction you should know about, and it is UOA’s own: the group website gives the size range as 650 to 2,547 sq ft, while the project website’s registration form lists Type G at 2,594 sq ft. Same developer, two different top-end numbers. I use the project site’s figure on this page and I ask UOA to confirm in writing before anyone signs.

Yes on the tenure — the advertising disclosure states Pegangan Kekal, freehold, with no land encumbrance recorded.

On foreign buyers, read this carefully, because the arithmetic is unusually tight here. UOA’s own disclosure gives a minimum price of RM996,200. Johor’s minimum purchase price for a non-citizen buying strata property is RM1,000,000. That means the cheapest units in this project sit roughly RM3,800 below the threshold — so not every unit in the tower is available to a foreign buyer, even though the project as a whole is. The disclosure also records a restriction in interest: parcels here cannot be sold or transferred to a non-citizen or a foreign company without State Authority consent.

Budget as well for the Johor foreign buyer levy — 3% of the price or RM30,000, whichever is higher, since 1 July 2025. That minimum has two tiers and this project sits on the seam: RM30,000 in general, but RM50,000 where the property is a serviced residence transacted below RM1 million. Aethera is a serviced apartment whose cheapest published layout is RM996,200 — under the line — while the rest of the band is above it, so the tier turns on the price of the specific unit. Above RM1,000,000 the 3% exceeds either minimum anyway. Then add the flat 8% stamp duty that has applied to non-citizens since 1 January 2026. On a RM1.1 million unit that is roughly RM33,000 of levy and RM88,000 of stamp duty on top of the price. Tell me your passport and your budget and I will tell you which specific unit numbers you are actually allowed to buy.

Unlike most Johor launches, UOA does publish a price band in its statutory disclosure: RM996,200 to RM4,288,000, with a 5% Bumiputera discount. The stated expected completion date is June 2030.

What UOA has not published is a unit-by-unit price list, a maintenance rate per square foot, or the car park allocation per layout. Those three numbers decide your actual monthly cost, and I am not going to fill them in with figures from listing portals that contradict one another.

I get the current price list, the maintenance rate and the SPA payment schedule direct from the developer. Message me with the layout you are interested in and I will send you what is accurate today — pricing inside a 52-storey tower varies a lot by floor and by facing.

Yes, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling. NAPIC’s data for Q3 2025 put Johor’s completed unsold serviced apartments at roughly 9,000 units — the highest of any state, and more than half the national total at the time. By Q1 2026 the national figure for completed unsold serviced apartments had risen to around 19,000 units, worth roughly RM16.5 billion. Most of that is the hangover from the Iskandar building boom, when supply ran ahead of the demand that was supposed to arrive.

Three practical consequences, in the order you will feel them. Resale liquidity: when you want to exit, your buyer has thousands of alternatives, many of them from developers still holding unsold stock and able to undercut you with rebates you cannot match. Rent: a large standing supply caps what you can ask, and a vacant month costs more than a slightly lower rent. Bank valuation: valuers work off recent transactions in comparable schemes — in an oversupplied district, weak comparables can produce a valuation below your purchase price, and the shortfall comes out of your own pocket at drawdown.

Where Aethera differs from the average overhang unit: it is a 786-unit scheme rather than a four-thousand-unit one, it is freehold, and it is a walk from a station that will be operating years before completion. None of that makes it immune. It changes the odds, it does not remove the risk. Check the latest NAPIC quarterly release yourself before you commit — the numbers move.

The development type in the disclosure is Pangsapuri Perkhidmatan — serviced apartment — and the MBJB building plan reference carries the KOM (commercial) classification. In Malaysia that combination normally means three things in daily life, and you should confirm each of them in writing with the developer and your lawyer before you sign.

First, utilities and assessment: electricity, water and the local council assessment are commonly charged at commercial rates rather than residential ones, which is a real difference on a monthly bill. Second, financing: some banks apply a lower margin of finance to serviced apartments than to residential-titled condominiums, so do not assume the loan-to-value you were quoted for a condo. Third, quit rent and later resale: your buyer years from now inherits the same cost structure, so it feeds back into resale pricing.

I flag this on every serviced apartment page because buyers routinely find out after signing. It is not a reason to walk away — most of the JB city-centre stock is on this basis — but it is a reason to price it in.

Usually yes, but at a lower margin than a Malaysian citizen gets. Non-citizens are typically looking at around 60% to 70% loan-to-value, against up to 90% for a citizen, and the exact figure depends on the bank, your income documentation and where that income is earned.

Two things specific to this project. It is a serviced apartment, so some banks apply their commercial-property margin rather than their residential one — see the previous answer. And completion is stated as June 2030, so your loan is a progressive-release facility drawn down against certified construction stages, not a lump sum at signing.

Before you commit, get an indicative offer in principle from at least two banks rather than one, and make sure the valuation basis is discussed up front. In an oversupplied district that valuation is the number most likely to surprise you.

UOA Group, a Kuala Lumpur developer of nearly four decades. Its best-known work is Bangsar South, a 60-acre integrated district it master-planned and continues to operate, along with UOA Business Park in Shah Alam, Menara UOA Bangsar, and a hotel and conference portfolio. It has been listed among The Edge Malaysia’s top property developers for eight consecutive years since 2018.

For Johor buyers the relevant point is that this is UOA’s entry into the Johor Bahru market rather than a repeat performance in a township it already runs — so the local delivery record you would normally inspect does not exist here yet. What you can inspect instead is the Klang Valley portfolio, which is large, occupied and easy to visit.

The licence trail is public: developer licence 31157/09-2030/0213(A), advertising and sales permit 31157-1/12-2028/1033(N)-(S), building plan MBJB/U/2025/14/BGN/101/KOM(0). Ask for all three in writing and have your lawyer match them against the SPA.