This article first appeared in City & Country, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on April 6, 2026 - April 12, 2026

Boutique developer Amalan Setar (M) Sdn Bhd is scheduled to unveil a double-storey house development called Ixora Garden in its Sari ­Alamanda master plan in Rawang, Selangor, on April 25.

Ixora Garden is sub-phase 2 of Phase 4 of the larger 150-acre Sari Alamanda master plan, which was introduced to the market as Alamanda Parkland in 2017. It was rebranded as Sari Alamanda a few years later when the developer acquired an additional five land parcels.

“When we first introduced the project, it was a 67-acre development with a total of 913 landed houses and 24 retail lots. The market response was overwhelming, prompting us to acquire an additional five parcels nearby to further extend the master plan to 150 acres with a combined GDV (gross development value) of RM1.095 billion. Later, we decided to rebrand the whole master plan as Sari Alamanda,” Amalan Setar director Datuk Adrian Soon tells City & Country in an interview.

The master plan is being developed in six phases, with Phases 1 and 2, as well as some sub-phases of Phases 3 and 4, launched over the last nine years.

Meanwhile, the 24 retail shops were handed over with Phase 1, and are now fully occupied. These house a mini-mart, F&B outlets and other services that cater to the community.

“We deliberately limited the number of shops. In fact, these 24 shops are the only commercial units we have for the 100-acre developed area in this master plan. We wanted the area to remain primarily residential but also wanted to provide conveniences to the community. [If we have] too many shops but they are vacant, it will affect the image of the master plan. All our shops are fully occupied, well supported by the community and the workforce from the Perodua manufacturing plant right across the road,” Soon says.

The ongoing Phase 4 of Sari Alamanda, which covers 38.6 acres and has a GDV of RM405 million, is being developed in four sub-phases. The 16-acre sub-phase 1 and 4.5-acre sub-phase 3 were launched in 2023 and 2025 respectively, and have a combined GDV of RM191 million.

In the second quarter of last year, the developer handed over all of the 224 double-storey houses in sub-phase 1 two months ahead of schedule. Sub-phase 3, which consists of 87 double-storey houses, is slated for completion in 3Q2026.

“Sub-phase 1 is fully sold, and the current occupancy rate is 90% as most of our buyers are buying for self-occupancy. It is why you rarely see empty houses or houses for sale or rent here. The buyers are mostly from this area, with 10% to 20% from other areas such as Petaling Jaya or Kuala Lumpur,” says head of sales and marketing Michelle Ngu.

The nine-acre Ixora Garden, which comprises 130 double-storey terraced houses, has a GDV of RM86 million. The freehold, individual-titled houses have land sizes of 20ft by 60ft, 20ft by 65ft and 20ft by 70ft, and built-ups of 1,718 to 1,810 sq ft. Each unit offers four bedrooms and three bathrooms, and has a fully extended, spacious and practical layout. The selling price starts at RM679,800.

“Double-storey houses are our bread and butter, and they are our bestsellers. Our target buyers want something that is a practical, value-for-money product, hence the individual titles. We don’t want to chase the numbers and build something that our target buyers do not want,” says Soon.

He adds that the stable and rising demand for practical, good-quality landed houses in the area is the main reason for the consistent launches and master plan extension in the past few years.

“When we first entered this part of Rawang a mere 10 years ago, this place had had no new launches for many years. The existing houses were mostly old and tired. The second generation had to go further to search for an affordable new house,” Soon notes.

Moving forward, he does not rule out the possibility of developing stratified landed houses in the two remaining development phases of Sari Alamanda.

“According to our market study, the acceptance level for stratified landed house projects here is not high because most of the locals prefer having the flexibility of renovating their house as they like, and are not keen on paying more maintenance fees for common facilities,” Soon says. “But we also see growing interest from buyers outside of this area and some of them are searching for gated and guarded landed houses here. So, we are considering launching such a product in our smaller Phase 5 to test the market.”

While plans for Phase 5 are still on the drawing board, he highlights that the new product’s price point will be crucial in this market. “Instead of double-storey houses, we may have townhouses for Phase 5 to keep the selling price accessible to the local market. The local market is still our main target market.”

Apart from Ixora Garden, there are 42.2 acres of undeveloped land bank with an estimated GDV of RM404.6 million in Sari Alamanda. This will keep the developer busy for the next two to three years, depending on housing market demand.

“We may or may not continue to extend the master plan. It depends on the land price and market demand moving forward. We are in talks for some land development proposals because we have been one of the key developers here in the past decade. But nothing is concrete yet,” Soon says.

Nevertheless, he remains confident in the prospects of the local housing market, as a new large-scale township development located just a five to 10 minute drive from Sari Alamanda has recently commenced construction and is expected to inject a renewed sense of vibrancy into the area.

“It is a master-planned township featuring commercial, retail, residential and recreational components, designed to cater to a diverse range of buyers. We anticipate a spillover effect from the development of this new township, bringing enhanced lifestyle offerings to surrounding communities while supporting property prices and strengthening demand,” Soon shares, adding that the upcoming East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) Bandar Serendah station is also expected to make this part of Rawang more vibrant.

Sari Alamanda is accessible via the North-South Expressway, Rawang Bypass and Kuala Lumpur-Kuala Selangor Expressway. The existing Serendah KTM station and upcoming ECRL Bandar Serendah station are 10km from the project site. The area is also surrounded by amenities such as public primary and secondary schools, commercial hubs that offer food and beverage, daily conveniences and services, hypermarkets and neighbourhood malls, a medical centre and hospital, as well as recreational facilities such as Serendah Golf Resort and Bukit Beruntung Golf and Country Resort.

Amalan Setar also owns land in Petaling Jaya, Kajang and Semenyih with a combined land size of about 99.25 acres.

By the end of this year, the developer plans to launch a serviced apartment development at Mutiara Damansara, Petaling Jaya. The three-acre project will be a low-density, mid- to high-end development aimed at a different target market from Sari Alamanda.

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