The Asteriaz @ Kebun Teh

No. Johor will not approve a strata transfer to a non-citizen at a purchase price below RM1,000,000, and every price that has circulated for this project since launch sits far below that — the entry layout has been advertised in the mid-RM400,000s and the largest unit in the building is 915 sq ft. There is no exemption, no MM2H workaround and no structure a lawyer can build around it. If EXSIM has released any unit above RM1 million I have not seen it, and I would want that in writing from the developer before telling a foreign client otherwise.

This is not a defect in the project. It is a statement about who it was designed for: Malaysian owner-occupiers and Malaysian investors, including the large and growing group of Malaysians who earn in Singapore dollars and live on this side. That group is real, and it is the group that will buy your unit from you later.

If you are a non-citizen and Johor Bahru is where you want to be, you need to look at the projects that clear RM1 million — Arden at One Bukit Senyum and the resale market at The Astaka both do. Message me and I will send you the shortlist that you are actually allowed to buy from.

Measured in a straight line from the site: the Johor-Singapore checkpoint is about 3.2 km and the Bukit Chagar RTS Link station is about 2.9 km. The marketing figure of ten minutes by car is fair on a clear road and optimistic at 7am on a weekday.

You will also see this project described as being in Johor Bahru city centre. Its registered postal address is Jalan Abad, Jalan Kebun Teh, Larkin, 80350. Kebun Teh is its own neighbourhood on the western side of the city; Larkin Sentral is about 1.8 km away and JB Sentral is not walkable. Neither description is a lie, but they set very different expectations, so I would rather give you the measurement than the adjective.

The real proximity story here is retail, not the border: KSL City Mall is about 630 metres away. If your reason for buying is a car-free daily crossing into Singapore, this is not the address for it — buildings beside the CIQ are, and I will happily point you at them instead.

It is leasehold, on land categorised for commercial use. Two separate things, with two separate consequences.

On the lease: EXSIM has not published the expiry year anywhere I can find, and that is the one number I would insist on before paying a booking fee. Remaining lease term drives bank valuation and financing — most lenders tighten sharply once a lease drops under about 60 years remaining, and the state extension premium falls on whoever owns the unit at that point. A conveyancing lawyer can pull the title search in a day. Do not take a verbal answer on this.

On the commercial title: expect assessment and quit rent at commercial rates and commercial utility tariffs, and expect a lower margin of finance than a residential-titled property. The offsetting point, and it is a real one, is that this project is sold under the Housing Development Act — so you get progressive payments tied to certified construction stages, the statutory housing development account and a defect liability period. Plenty of commercial-title serviced apartments in Johor do not carry that protection. Confirm your S&P is on the HDA schedule.

848 units in one 42-storey tower, and only two floor areas in the entire building: Type A at 560 sq ft (one bedroom plus one study, one bathroom) and Type B at 915 sq ft (three bedrooms, two bathrooms). Type B comes in two variants, one with a balcony and one without, at the same floor area.

That is an unusually narrow range for a building of this size, and it has a practical effect on you. Because hundreds of units are identical, there will be a deep set of price comparables — nobody will be able to tell you your unit is unique and charge a premium for it. The flip side is that when you sell, you are likely to be competing against a large number of units that are exactly the same as yours, and your only differentiators will be floor level, orientation and price.

So ask for the stack number, not just the size. Two 915 sq ft units on the same page can be a balcony unit facing the morning sun and a non-balcony unit facing a neighbouring block.

EXSIM has not published a price list, a maintenance rate or a completion date on the official project site, and the third-party figures contradict each other in a way that is worth showing you rather than hiding. On completion alone I have seen Q1 2029, Q2 2029 and 30 March 2030 quoted for the same project. Those are not small differences — a fourteen-month spread changes your loan drawdown, your holding cost and your rental start date.

The date that binds anybody is the one written into your sale and purchase agreement, and under the HDA that clock starts from the date the S&P is signed. Everything else is a marketing estimate.

I get the current price list, the S&P delivery period and the projected maintenance rate direct from the developer, in writing. Tell me which layout you are looking at and I will send you the sheet that is accurate today rather than a screenshot from a listing site from last year.

EXSIM publishes a facilities plan, which is more than many developers do, so this answer is taken straight from it. The bulk sits on Level 10: Luna Pool with Luna Bay and a separate Cosmic Kids Pool, Moon Bath, Galaxy Pavilion, a hoop court, the Galaxy Venue pickleball and badminton court, Galactic Playground, Cosmic Playhouse, Cosmic Library, Orbit Fit, a reflex path, and the Moon Lounge and Cosmic Lounge.

Level 11 holds one thing, the Nova Gym. Level 43 is the rooftop: Moon Deck, a herbs garden, Starlit Grill and Eclipse Dining. Ground and lower ground carry the drop-off, the Starlight Lobby and the Cosmic Arrival entry, with retail at street level.

Two things I would check in writing. First, an indoor pickleball and badminton court is genuinely unusual in this price bracket and is the facility most likely to be value-engineered out — get it confirmed as contractual. Second, the facilities plan names a Level 43 deck while the tower is described as 42 storeys; that is almost certainly a residential-versus-structural floor count, but confirm it before you pick a level.

They are two towers by the same developer on the same Kebun Teh land, and the sensible answer depends on one question: do you need a two-bedroom?

The Asteriaz is 42 storeys and 848 units with only two floor areas — 560 sq ft and 915 sq ft. There is nothing in between. It is further along: construction is visibly under way and EXSIM has published site photographs for three consecutive quarters, so you can see what you are buying into and you will take keys earlier.

The Celestz is the later phase, described as 44 storeys, with four layout codes and a 581 sq ft one-bed-plus-study, a 753 sq ft two-bedroom with three bathrooms, and 915 sq ft three-bedrooms. That 753 sq ft plan is the real difference — it is the layout The Asteriaz does not have, and for a couple or a small family it is often the right size. The trade-off is documentation: as I write this, The Celestz’s own site still shows Coming Soon for its facilities plan, its location map and its site progress.

Put simply: Asteriaz if you want the more advanced build and the deepest set of price comparables; Celestz if the 753 sq ft two-bedroom is what you actually need and you are willing to buy earlier in the information cycle. Ask me for both price lists and compare them line by line.

Yes, if you are a Malaysian citizen or permanent resident — which, given the price point, is who this project is for. Two features of this particular title will affect your terms rather than your eligibility.

First, the land is commercial category. Banks commonly apply a lower margin of finance to commercial-titled serviced apartments than to residential-titled homes, so budget for a larger deposit than the headline 90% figure you see quoted for first-time buyers of residential property.

Second, it is leasehold, and the remaining term matters to the valuer. The shorter the residual lease at the time of your application — and, more importantly, at the time of your eventual buyer’s application — the more conservative the valuation tends to be. This is the practical reason the unpublished expiry year matters. Get the title search first, then approach the bank, in that order.

It is a real risk and it applies squarely to this product category, so I am not going to soften it. In NAPIC’s first-quarter 2026 figures the national serviced apartment overhang stood at 19,263 units, and Johor alone accounted for 9,972 of them — the heaviest of any state. The Asteriaz is a serviced apartment. Its 848 units will complete into that same category around 2029, and The Celestz is queued behind it on the same land.

What that means in practice is that supply, not demand, will set your resale price for the first several years after handover. The units most exposed are the ones with nothing to distinguish them: a mid-floor unit with an ordinary outlook, in a building where hundreds of units share your exact floor area.

So buy the things that supply cannot dilute. A high floor with a clear outlook, a corner or end stack, the balcony variant if the price gap is small, and a size that has genuine scarcity locally. And be realistic about timeline: this is not a two-year flip market. If you cannot comfortably hold through completion and a soft first leasing cycle, this is the wrong purchase, and I would rather say so now than after you have signed.