Most buyers who settle on Batu Ferringhi end up weighing these two against each other. Moonlight Bay sits roughly 5-8 minutes' walk from the sand, boutique scale, slightly higher ticket. By The Sea sits directly on the beach, mid-scale, lower entry. Both freehold, both residential title, same area, same clean legal setup. The decision between them is about how you'll use the beach and how much daily building density you can live with.
The short version
- Buy Moonlight Bay if: you value boutique daily building character (90 units versus 138), you're comfortable with a 5-8 minute walk to the sand rather than direct access, and the RM1.49M+ ticket fits your plan.
- Buy By The Sea if: actual toes-in-sand beachfront is the reason you're moving to Batu Ferringhi, you'll walk the beach as part of daily routine, and the RM950K+ entry is a feature of the fit (foreign buyers filter to RM1M+ for eligibility).
- Both wrong if: you want landed title (Pearl Residences @ BF, Ferringhi Pearl, La Ferringhi, open to Malaysians and to foreign buyers on MM2H, who can buy landed from RM500,000; other foreign buyers need RM3M+) or you don't actually care about beach proximity (Ferringhi Residence 2 inland for school families).
Side by side
| Factor | Moonlight Bay | By The Sea |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | Ivory Properties Group Berhad | Crescent Consortium (SDB Properties) |
| Tenure | Freehold | Freehold |
| Land title | Residential | Residential |
| Total units | 90 | 138 |
| Beach access | 5-8 min walk | Direct beachfront |
| Current asking (entry) | RM1,490,000 | RM950,000 |
| Foreign-eligible | Yes, all units | Above RM1M only |
| Density character | Boutique | Mid-scale |
| Zac's rating | 4.5/5 | 4.2/5 |
The beachfront question is the whole decision
Both buildings are on Batu Ferringhi. Both deliver the broader beach-area lifestyle. What differs is whether the beach is right outside your door or 5-8 minutes' walk away.
For some buyers that distinction is meaningless. 5-8 minutes is a short walk; the beach is still your beach; the lifestyle is still what you came for. These buyers settle happily at Moonlight Bay and treat the walk as part of the morning routine.
For other buyers that distinction is the whole point. Early morning swim before coffee, dog walk at dawn, sand under feet daily — these habits work from a beachfront ground-floor unit at By The Sea in a way they don't work from a 5-minute-walk-to-beach position. The friction compounds over daily use.
Honest filter: ask yourself how often you'll actually walk down to the beach in your first year of ownership. If the answer is "most days or every day," By The Sea's direct access is a real feature you'll use. If the answer is "a few times a week," Moonlight Bay's walk-adjacent position doesn't cost you much and you get boutique daily building character in return.
Why Moonlight Bay commands the premium despite the walk
Three features Moonlight Bay delivers that By The Sea doesn't.
90-unit boutique scale. Shared pool, gym, common areas calibrated for 90 households rather than 138. Lift waits shorter, pool deck quieter on weekends, resident base more cohesive. For buyers moving from a boutique urban environment or from a landed home, Moonlight Bay's daily character feels more like a quiet residential community than a vacation condo.
Larger average unit sizes. Moonlight Bay layouts generally run larger than By The Sea's compact-tier stacks. Family-scale apartments without the compact investor unit mix. The 90-unit resident profile skews toward longer-stay owner-occupiers rather than seasonal use.
Resident mix differentiation. Both buildings have mixed resident profiles, but Moonlight Bay's higher entry ticket + boutique scale + larger units concentrates toward long-stay owner-occupiers and committed second-home buyers. By The Sea's lower entry + mid-scale + direct beachfront attracts a broader mix including compact-unit short-let and holiday-use owners. Neither is right or wrong — different daily feel.
Why By The Sea's beachfront earns its own buyer
Toes-in-sand ground-floor units. The specific product By The Sea offers that no other active Batu Ferringhi condo offers: step out of your ground-floor lift lobby onto the sand. For a specific buyer profile — morning-swim retirees, families with young children who use the beach daily, buyers whose entire reason for Batu Ferringhi is water access — this product has no substitute.
Sea view from higher floors is unobstructed. Because By The Sea sits directly on the water, higher-floor units face uninterrupted horizon. Moonlight Bay's position inland means its sea views (where present) are at acute angles between buildings. If view axis matters, By The Sea delivers it more cleanly.
RM540K lower entry at RM950K. For Malaysian buyers, the sub-RM1M entry at By The Sea opens the area at a noticeably lower ticket than Moonlight Bay. For foreign buyers who need to clear the RM1M floor, the entry units don't qualify but larger 3-bedroom units at RM1M-1.5M do, still at a meaningful discount to Moonlight Bay.
Who tends to buy which
Moonlight Bay buyers:
- Retirees from Singapore, Hong Kong, UK or Australia who value boutique daily feel and quieter common areas
- MM2H families whose Penang stay is 6-12 weeks a year and who want proven boutique character
- Local Malaysian family upgraders moving from Tanjung Tokong strata to a BF address with similar resident-base profile
- Buyers who were coming from a Pulau Tikus condo background and want the beach without the resort-condo density
By The Sea buyers:
- Buyers whose entire reason for the move is beach access and who'll use it daily
- Families with young children who make the beach a daily feature
- Malaysian buyers at the RM950K-1.2M band who want the Batu Ferringhi address at accessible ticket
- Investors (where current STR by-law permits) targeting holiday short-let demand
Very few buyers land at both after a serious viewing. The product difference is clear enough that walking through on a Saturday afternoon usually resolves the question.
Before you commit
By The Sea's sub-RM1M foreign-buyer trap. If you're a foreign buyer, the entry units you'll see on portals at RM950K are not available to you. Specifically filter to RM1M+ listings before you fall for a unit you can't actually buy. Several buyers have gone through viewings only to discover their favoured unit is Malaysian/PR only.
Moonlight Bay's thinner listing frequency. 90 units means fewer active listings — expect 1-3 at any point. If you have a defined move-in timeline, you may wait for the right specific unit. By The Sea's 138 units has broader inventory to shop.
Beach erosion and salt exposure. By The Sea's beachfront position means stronger salt-air exposure on façade and plant. Maintenance cycles may run shorter than at Moonlight Bay's inland position. Ask the JMC at both for recent maintenance history to compare.
Short-term rental economics changed August 2026. If your purchase relies on nightly rental income, confirm current JMC by-law compliance with the building management. The post-August 2026 STR framework changed yield modelling. Yield based on pre-August rates is stale.
What I'd do
If I were sitting across from you with the decision in front of us, the first question would be: how often will you actually walk to the beach? If the honest answer is "every morning or most days," By The Sea's direct access earns its own value and the RM540K saved deploys well. If the honest answer is "a few times a week when I remember to," Moonlight Bay's boutique character compounds over 10-year hold in ways the beach-adjacency doesn't.
For foreign buyers, the RM1M+ layout at either works. The RM540K entry gap narrows noticeably at the 3-bedroom family tier.
Zac’s Take
Zac Ong
Moonlight Bay and By The Sea are Batu Ferringhi's two leading freehold condos. Both residential title, both proven operational track records, both legitimate long-hold products. The decision is about beach proximity versus daily building character. Moonlight Bay's 90-unit boutique scale at RM1.49M+ earns its premium for buyers who prioritise quieter building feel and larger average units; By The Sea's 138-unit mid-scale at RM950K entry earns its position for buyers whose actual reason for Batu Ferringhi is direct beach access. Honest filter: how often will you actually walk the beach? Daily = By The Sea; a few times a week = Moonlight Bay. Both wrong if you want landed (Pearl Residences @ BF, Ferringhi Pearl) or if you don't actually care about beach proximity (Ferringhi Residence 2 for school families).
Next steps
Tell me on WhatsApp your citizenship (filters foreign-eligibility at By The Sea), your budget band, and how you'd use the beach — daily walker, weekend swimmer, or occasional visitor. Those three inputs usually settle the decision in one conversation.
Full reads: Moonlight Bay review 2026, By The Sea review 2026, Best condos in Batu Ferringhi 2026 for the full area shortlist. For foreign-buyer costs, see the foreign buyer guide.
Sources: Both projects' specs, tenure, land title, unit counts and current asking checked against developer materials and portal listings September-October 2026. Treat these figures as a guide and check the current price of any unit you're serious about.