George Town Heritage Buildings

When UNESCO accepted George Town as a World Heritage Site together with Malacca in 2008, many people expected that place to remain solemn just like many other heritage sites in the world. However, we see a revival of the area, with a lot of refurbishing of old pre-war houses, restoring them to the way they should have been when they were first built.

This caused the prices of heritage buildings to rise, and selling price of these heritage buildings do not yet include the restoration works. Some very old buildings were termite infested but sold at high prices because of its heritage value, hence most of these homes are now being bought over by corporations to develop them into boutique houses, themed restaurants and other businesses.

Part of the growth of the heritage area includes collaborations with the tourism department, which not only promoted the area as a must-see place, but also allowed the development of the area for fun sight-seeing with trishaws, usually conducted by travel and tours companies. The travels and tours companies would hire the trishaws and bring in bulk of tourists to tour the area which may span from E&O Hotel to Ford Cornwallis and then over to smaller routes such as Little India. It is no surprise then that the heritage buildings which were once homes were converted to retail outlets, probably as merchants carry with them the hope of excellent business around the area with both the local and tourist market.

To see how much prices have hiked for the heritage buildings in Georgetown, we may look at the average prices of properties at other locations. A primary double storey terrace home in most areas cost an average of RM500,000 onwards. A restored heritage house for sale on Love Lane asked for RM3 million! Pre-war shophouses, without restoration, carries an average sale price of RM2.2 million on average. Rental for a 1.5 storey shopoffice carries an average of RM6,000 per month rental.

No doubt the state government will continue to create opportunities to let the island grow, without neglecting the mainland either. Penang has recently been identified as the number one state in attracting total capital investments for manufacturing projects in 2010, and it is believed that this effort will continue. The total capital investment comes up to RM12,238 million, up nearly five times compared to its previous amount of RM2,165 million just a year ago in 2009.

Thanks to Fullhouse.com.my