The verdict
4.5/ 5City of Dreams is a rare case in Tanjung Tokong — completed in 2020, freehold, with a mature subsale market with steady turnover since its 2020 completion.
- Price
- RM700K–RM2.30M
- Tenure
- Freehold
- Land title
- Commercial HDA
- Completion
- 2020
Zac’s own rating, not an average of user reviews. It reflects one licensed agent’s assessment of this project against others he tracks in Penang.
Part of my Tanjung Tokong 2026 buyer's guide. For the full corridor read — every project, PSF band, foreign-buyer angle and honest catch — start there. This piece drills into one specific decision within it.
Freehold, finished in 2020, sitting inside Seri Tanjung Pinang — and then the catch: City of Dreams is on commercial title under HDA, and the building's own rules say no Airbnb. I lead with that because it is the one line that sends a certain kind of buyer straight back out the door, and better they hear it from me than from the management office after signing.
Key takeaways:
- Commercial HDA title with a standing no-short-stay rule — freehold, full Housing Development Act protection, but the Airbnb thesis is dead on arrival.
- Two blocks, 36 floors, 572 units, 1,000–2,370 sqft, completed in 2020 by Ewein Zenith — you are buying a building with six years of real resale history, not a render.
- From RM700,000, RM1,300–1,400 psf, and maintenance at roughly RM0.33 psf a month keeps the running cost honest for a tower with two facility decks.
- Remaining developer stock comes with SPA legal, SPA stamp duty and loan stamp duty absorbed; MOT stamp duty stays with the buyer.
- Best fit is own-stay families and long-let landlords; short-stay operators should stop reading here and look at Andaman @ Quayside instead.
Why the Title Trips People Up
Plenty of Penang buyers have learned a shortcut: commercial title equals short-stay flexibility. City of Dreams is where that shortcut fails. The land is classified commercial and the project sits under HDA, which gives you the same statutory buyer protections as any residential scheme — but the house rules here specifically prohibit Airbnb-style letting. So you get the paperwork quirks of commercial title without the one upside people usually chase it for.
If you are buying to live in, or to let on a twelve-month tenancy, none of that changes your daily experience — the freehold is just as permanent and the strata rules apply the same. Only the short-stay investor has a real problem here rather than a footnote.
What Six Years of Occupancy Tells You That a Showflat Cannot
Completion in 2020 means City of Dreams has been lived in long enough for the things that matter to show. You can stand in an actual unit rather than a mock-up, check how the common areas have been kept, and read real transacted prices rather than launch-day asking. Six years of resale turnover also means pricing has settled where the market wants it — no launch premium left to unwind. For a buyer who needs to move in or start collecting rent this year rather than in 2029, that is the entire argument; every active launch along this stretch asks you to wait out a build, and this one does not.
Inside the 572: Layouts, Ceilings and What Comes Fitted
The unit schedule leans heavily toward three-bedroom family stock:
| Type | Layout | Size |
|---|---|---|
| B1 | 3-bedroom | 1,097 sqft |
| B | 3-bedroom | 1,141 sqft |
| C | 3-bedroom | 1,185 sqft |
| E | Penthouse | 2,326 sqft |
| W | Penthouse | 2,370 sqft |
Ceilings run 3.3m, and units come fitted with Samsung kitchen appliances and a washer/dryer, Daikin air-conditioning and Panasonic ceiling fans — useful if you would rather not budget a full furnishing round on top of the purchase. The building splits its facilities across two decks, a sky level on 36 and a mid-level deck on 6, and adds 4 EV charging bays plus an automated car wash. The detail I would flag for a 572-unit tower is the lift arrangement: one lift serves each pair of units, which takes most of the sting out of peak-hour queues that large towers usually suffer. Sizes are from the confirmed unit schedule — check what is actually listed before you anchor on a type.
The Running Cost at RM0.33 a Foot
Maintenance of about RM0.33 psf per month works out to roughly RM362 a month on the 1,097 sqft three-bed and about RM768 a month on the 2,326 sqft penthouse. Against several branded or hotel-run towers on the Gurney side that is noticeably lighter, and it reflects what the building is: an own-stay and long-let tower, not a hospitality operation with a lobby staff bill to carry.
Straits Quay in Walking Distance, Schools Inside 4km
City of Dreams sits about 0.8km from Straits Quay's marina and retail, which for day-to-day living is the anchor. SK Tanjung Tokong is 1km away, Stonyhurst International School 1.5km, Penang Chinese Girls' High School 3.5km — a spread that makes the three-bed stock attractive to families planning around school runs. On the medical side, Mount Miriam Cancer Hospital is 2.5km out, Penang Adventist 4km and Gleneagles Penang 4.5km. I have written up the wider neighbourhood, including the newer launches competing for the same buyer, in the Tanjung Tokong area guide.
Andaman @ Quayside Is the Honest Alternative
If the no-Airbnb rule is the dealbreaker, the obvious next door to knock on is Andaman @ Quayside. Our data notes no STR restriction there, and it shares Quayside's resort-scale water park facilities. Both are completed Seri Tanjung Pinang stock, so choosing between them is really choosing what you intend to do with the unit. I have set the two side by side in the Andaman @ Quayside vs City of Dreams comparison.
On eligibility: foreign buyers face Penang Island's RM1,000,000 minimum plus the 3% state levy, and at RM1,300–1,400 psf a 1,097 sqft three-bed prices comfortably above that line, so the bulk of the stock qualifies — it is only the very cheapest units toward the RM700,000 entry that would fall under it. The true cost of buying guide lays out the full closing stack, and the RPGT calculator models the exit — 30% for foreigners in years 1–5, 10% from year 6. One more thing worth knowing before you shortlist: on remaining developer units, SPA legal fees, SPA stamp duty and loan stamp duty are absorbed; you still pay the MOT stamp duty. Current availability and the full spec sheet are on the City of Dreams project page.
Zac’s Take
Zac Ong
City of Dreams is a rare case in Tanjung Tokong — completed in 2020, freehold (commercial HDA title), with a mature subsale market and steady turnover since completion. That means you skip the typical 3-year construction risk and move in immediately. The catch: it's commercial title with HDA, which means no Airbnb. Buyers who care about short-stay yield should look elsewhere. Owner-occupiers and long-stay tenants are the right fit — at which point the commercial title is largely paperwork. The developer is offering full absorption of SPA legal, SPA stamp duty, and loan stamp duty on remaining stock. MOT stamp duty is the buyer's cost. If you want a balance-unit reservation, get the current price list directly — it changes as units clear.
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📲 Get current City of Dreams pricingSources: Project prices, PSF, sizes, unit counts, tenure, land title, developer and completion year from our tracked dataset, compiled from developer price lists, official project sites and public listings. Sub-sale asking verified from live portal listings using the median-anchored method, with bait listings and relisted units excluded. RPGT rates and the s.21B retention per the Real Property Gains Tax Act (LHDN). Stamp duty per the Stamp Act (LHDN) — a flat 8% for foreign buyers, tiered 1–4% for citizens. The foreign-buyer minimum purchase price, 3% island / 2% mainland state levy and state consent requirement per Penang state policy and s.433B of the National Land Code. Rental yields derived from our own tracked asking rents and prices — directional, not an official benchmark. Figures move with the market — confirm current details with the developer or your solicitor before committing.