You Can Buy A Water Villa From Just $200,000

Source : The New Paper, October 01, 2007

FANCY LIVING ON ARTIFICIAL M'SIAN ISLAND?

















ISLANDS are hot. And island homes are hotter.

Just look at the number of people who were attracted to own a place on Sentosa island.

There seems to be a pent-up demand for such homes the world over.

With Dubai's Palm Islands setting the trend in mass marketing of island homes, other countries are catching on.

Almost all the oil-rich countries in the Middle East have some island project going on.

















Dubai's Palm Jumeirah development.

One such project is sprouting up in neighbouring Malaysia too.

And not to be left behind, Russia - which has been seeing a big growth in millionaires - is developing a resort island on the Black Sea.

The Malaysian resort island is somewhat similar to the Dubai island and is called Golden Palm Villas. It is just a five-hour drive from Singapore.













A tale of two palms: Artist's impressions of Malaysia's Golden Palm Villas

Piling work has already begun on Golden Palm Villas, which features 366 homes strung out at sea for more than 1km in the shape of a palm tree.

This is part of Phase1 of the RM3billion Sepang GoldCoast tourism project, which covers 1,850ha of sea and shore estates by the Strait of Malacca and 17km along a mangrove river.

Construction is due for completion only in mid-2009, but show units are expected to be ready by the middle of next year.

While the Golden Palm may seem like a copycat of the Palm Jumeirah, not many would complain about the price - a point that Sepang GoldCoast chairman Yanki Regan was happy to stress.

He told reporters in May: 'If you buy a Palms unit in Dubai, you would be paying much more. Our prices start from only RM465,600 ($202,344).'

The 'cheapest' unit at Palm Jumeirah when it was launched in 2002 was $1m. Today, prices have tripled for some homes.

The Russian island is being planned on a massive scale to coincide with the 2014 Winter Olympics.
















Patriotic design: The planned Russian island off the coast of the Black Sea will be in the shape of Russia.

Plans have been announced for the construction of a breathtakingly ambitious artificial island off the Black Sea resort city of Sochi.

Seven main islands and several smaller ones will make up 'Federation Island', a miniature archipelago which will be built in the shape of the map of Russia and offer luxury housing, shopping and relaxation for up to 30,000 people.