City Residence Review 2026 — 202 Units, 460–5,600 sqft

New to the area? My Tanjung Tokong 2026 buyer's guide covers every building nearby, with prices and the downsides as well as the upsides. This post zooms in on one decision.

202 units, 460 sqft at the bottom, 5,600 sqft at the top. That spread is the first thing to understand about City Residence, because almost every headline figure you will read about the building — the RM700,000 entry, the RM850–980 psf — only makes sense once you know which end of it a given listing sits at. Ivory Properties finished this freehold mixed-use address in Tanjung Tokong in 2017, and nine years on it behaves like two or three different products sharing one lobby.

Key takeaways:

• Freehold, 202 units, Ivory Properties, completed 2017 — settled resale stock, not a launch.
• Smaller homes start around RM700,000; a typical 1,250 sq ft three-bedroom lists at about RM1.15M (around RM920 per sq ft).
• 460 to 5,600 sqft in one building — studio-scale at one end, near-landed scale at the other.
• Residential above, commercial below — convenience on the doorstep, with the footfall that comes with it.
• Foreign buyers should shortlist the larger 3-beds; anything priced near the entry would not clear the RM1,000,000 island minimum.

One Address, Three Different Products

A 460 sqft studio and a 5,600 sqft unit do not share a buyer, a tenant or a psf, even when they share a lift lobby. At the small end City Residence is a compact-price play — a single occupant or a landlord looking for the cheapest ticket into Tanjung Tokong. In the middle sit the 3-bedroom family units, which is where nearly all of the confirmed live listings cluster. At the top, the largest layouts approach landed-house floor area on a strata title, and they attract a buyer who wants space more than a view or a brand.

The practical consequence: never take a quoted psf at face value here. Ask the size first, then decide whether RM850–980 psf is cheap or expensive for what is actually on offer.

What it costs

Listings in September 2026 started at about RM700,000 for the smaller homes. A typical 1,250 sq ft three-bedroom was listed at around RM1.15M, roughly RM920 per sq ft, and at the very top a duplex penthouse of almost 8,000 sq ft with its own pool was listed at about RM5.3M. You may see older portal guides quote studios from RM600,000; I couldn't find a current listing at that price, so treat RM700,000 as the realistic starting point.

Nine Years Old, and Why That Helps

Completed in 2017, City Residence has had the better part of a decade for its defects, its management and its resale values to show themselves. That is a quieter advantage than a glossy new launch, but it is a real one: you can see the building's condition, ask how the commercial floors have been tenanted, and look at what units have actually changed hands for rather than what a developer hoped they would. For a buyer who dislikes construction risk, settled stock at RM850–980 psf in this area is a rational place to be.

Shops Downstairs: The Trade-Off in Plain Terms

City Residence is a mixed residential-commercial development, and the lower floors carry retail and F&B. Day to day that means coffee, food and errands without getting in the car — useful for an own-stay buyer. The flip side is more foot traffic and more activity at ground level than a purely residential tower, and some buyers simply do not want that under their home. Neither view is wrong; you just need to know which camp you are in before you view a unit, because the mixed-use character is baked in and will not change.

Where It Sits in Tanjung Tokong

Sekolah Kebangsaan Tanjung Tokong is 0.8km away and Tenby International School Penang 3km, with Straits Quay 1.5km for the marina-and-retail side of life. Gleneagles Penang is 4.8km and Adventist Hospital Penang 5km. This is Tanjung Tokong proper rather than the Seri Tanjung Pinang seafront, which is part of why the psf sits where it does. My area guide for Tanjung Tokong walks through how the area's older freehold stock and the newer launches price against each other.

What it rents for

Asking rents at City Residence in the listings I tracked in September–October 2026 ran from about RM2,500 to RM7,500 a month, from studios and one-bedroom units to 1,800 sq ft three-plus-one bedroom homes. Furnishing, floor and view move the number a lot, so treat this as a range to test against the specific unit, not a promise.

Who Buys Here, and Who Walks On to The Landmark

For a foreigner, the RM1,000,000 island floor and the 1.5–3% levy do the filtering: a typical 1,250 sq ft three-bedroom at around RM1.15M clears the line, while the smaller homes near RM700,000 would not, so a foreign buyer is effectively shopping the upper-middle of the size range. I have broken down what a foreigner actually pays at closing separately, and you can run your intended hold through the RPGT calculator — a foreigner's exit is taxed at 30% inside the first five years and 10% thereafter.

City Residence makes most sense for three people: the buyer who wants the cheapest workable way into a freehold Tanjung Tokong address, the buyer hunting the large-format end up to 5,600 sqft, and the own-stay buyer who values having retail downstairs. It makes least sense for someone who wants a purely residential building — there are standard condominium towers nearby that deliver that — and buyers cross-shopping the area's entry level will usually also look at The Landmark (from RM750,000) before deciding. Listings and the current unit schedule are on the City Residence project page.

Sources: Zac Ong, REN 64593, verified this project's spec and current subsale pricing against developer materials and live listings. Foreign-buyer costs per Budget 2026 + Penang state policy. Reconfirm with your lawyer before signing. Asking rents from listings I track (September–October 2026).