Subang Jaya has had its fair share of flak over the years – where the two main grouses are “It’s so far from everything else” and “Omg, the traffic jam!”. But are these even relevant anymore? Let’s take a closer look at this popular neighbourhood.

Once touted for being remote and hard to access, Subang Jaya has come a long way in the last couple of decades. The township actually started off with a cluster of houses built in between Federal Highway and Shah Alam Expressway (KESAS) in the late 1970s. Meanwhile, the official development of Subang Jaya first begun in the early 1990s with the development of UEP Subang Jaya (USJ), a more affluent residential area consisting of various precincts, located in the southern part.
More on Subang Jaya’s history here (Resident’s Insight): Subang Jaya still a homebuyer’s hub
Sure, like all townships, Subang Jaya is hardly perfect but it has persevered and eventually, it has thrived. The proof is in the numbers – Subang appeared as the Top 10 most searched for neighbourhood in Malaysia among iProperty.com.my visitors in 2019!
At a glance, Subang Jaya’s residential landscape does provide a sheer variety of properties to people with diverse requirements and from all walks of life. For example, if you are looking for a small and stylish pad to carve a space for yourself – serviced residences like The Square @ One City can offer you a 500-550 sq ft studio for under RM350,000. Young working professionals with a limited budget will appreciate having such an option.
On the flipside, if you are looking for a larger place without having to rob a bank to afford it, this super spacious 1,800 sq ft home boasting 3+1 bedrooms comes with an attractive price tag of RM675,000!
If you prefer newer developments, there are still a few being built at the fringes of Subang with starting prices hovering at the RM318,000 mark, including Residences (South) @ Tropicana Metropark, Edumetro@Subang Jaya and Subang Jaya City Centre (SJCC): Tropika Paradise. And if you are someone who prefers the charm of an older neighbourhood, Subang has that too. For instance, a spacious 3+2 bedroom, double-storey terrace house within the central area of SS15 can be yours for under RM1 million.
Properties aside, we thought it would be a great idea to revisit some common criticisms that have been directed at Subang over the years and do a bit of ‘myth-busting’ to show that perhaps it has outgrown and overcome many of them.
1. The only thing to do in Subang Jaya is to go to a mall
The one thing that has always stood out about Subang is the number of malls within its township. From Subang Parade, touted as the longest mall in South East Asia when it opened its doors in 1988, to Sunway Pyramid, Summit USJ and Empire Shopping Gallery, there is an extraordinary amount of malls situated within the Subang enclave – 11 to date, in fact.

But is there really anything else to do in Subang aside from going to a mall? As it turns out, yes. Subang does offer a diverse buffet of things-to-do and places to visit that is beyond just hitting a mall.
Cat cafés? Meh. It’s cute and all but not everyone’s a cat person. Perhaps what you need is a board games café.
Yes, Meeples Café offers you a chance to play many popular board games (for a fee of course) while having a cuppa. Imagine tucking into a hilarious game of Dixit while stuffing your face with nachos. Heaven.
If hanging indoors is not your thing, then why not head to EnerZ Extreme Park and jump on a trampoline until you’re wiped out? And here’s a tip – the 8,000 sq ft park is extremely useful if you have an energetic kid to tire out.
If neither are your thing and you’re just a classist that loves to collect stuff that not many people want like vinyl records (run, Marie Kondo is just around the corner!), then Teenage Head Records is a place you definitely need to hit. It’s arguably one of the most well-stocked record stores in town and it’s sitting quietly in SS14 Subang.
2. Accessibility is poor
The adage that there is ‘only one road into Subang and out’ is really no longer true. While most people still equate the exit into the federal highway (once dubbed the ‘Kentucky road’ by residents because of a KFC situated there a long time ago) as the main exit out of Subang Jaya, the truth is, there are currently multiple carriageways that can take you out and in.

If you need to head to Puchong, Cyberjaya, Putrajaya or KLIA, there is an exit at the end of USJ that opens up to the ELITE Expressway, providing access to these areas. Granted, traffic can be a little heavy on those roads at peak times.
Then, of course, there is access the North Klang Valley Expressway (NKVE) through the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport Road (once called Subang Airport Road) which connects to other townships such as Ara Damansara, Damansara Utama, Bandar Utama, and Kota Damansara.
3. Traffic in Subang Jaya is bad
Okay, let us clarify. Traffic to and from Subang is not always great. That is true. But then again anywhere worth staying in Klang Valley is going to have its share of traffic congestion. The reason why Subang has had a reputation for bad traffic jams is that it was once quite ahead in those stakes compared to its neighbours and these other townships have caught up now and to still lambaste Subang especially for bad traffic is perhaps a bit of an overgeneralization.

There is one huge upside for Subang Jaya residents though, the new Kelana Jaya LRT extension which was launched in 2017 added an astounding 10 new LRT stations to the township! These transit nodes run through popular suburbs including SS15, Taipan, Wawasan and USJ7.
Even if Subang’s traffic is still challenging, the great thing is that it’s such a self-sustaining neighbourhood that you probably don’t need to head out to do most things. From banks to hospitals and colleges, Subang offers plenty of crucial amenities for most of its resident’s needs. For instance, you can do it all at USJ 10 (Taipan) – eat, buy groceries and drop by the bank.
And if you really need to do about shopping, well as we’ve mentioned, you can take a pick from the various neighbourhood malls such as Damen, Main Place and Courtyard SS15. Admittedly, some of the smaller malls such as 19 USJ City Mall and One Avenue have a less than stellar tenant mix but, Sunway Pyramid with its huge variety of shopping and dining outlets is just around the corner in Bandar Sunway.
Not forgetting, food!
Subang has grown to become a bit of a food paradise, with a well-stocked gallery of cafés where you can enjoy a nice cuppa on a weekend and plenty of restaurants from a diverse range of cuisines. Two popular “foodie” areas are SS14 and SS15.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz9dR93_oZw
For instance, Well Cook Gourmet in SS14 whips up a mean plate of ‘Fried Asam Laksa’. Yup, you heard that right. And everything fried is usually at least 20% better (don’t tell your doctor we said that).
Got a hankering for something more orthodox? Head on next door to Gold Chili in SS15 for their creamy to-die-for Butter Milk Chicken. And if you need to get a hit of something that’s not Asian, why not try Burgertory? Their burgers are not for the faint-hearted!
Another food mecca worth mentioning is USJ Taipan – the wide variety of eateries ranging from Chinese to Western food and even Thai food will satisfy even the pickiest eater.
MORE: What is a Strata Title and Why is it important for homeowners?
4. It’s just full of students
It is true that Subang Jaya is littered with quite a few higher-learning institutions such as Taylor’s, Monash, INTI and Sunway University. Some areas, especially SS15 is considered to be a ‘student accommodation’ area – Considering you can get an albeit older, 3 bedroom apartment for as low as RM1,500 a month, or a brand-new room located nearby Main Place from RM550, it’s no wonder why out-of-town and foreign students choose to stay within the neighbourhood.

Nevertheless, numerous other surrounding precincts are much more family-friendly – popular residential areas include SS19, USJ 6 and the gated and guarded enclaves of USJ 3.
Putra Heights, a small residential area situated on the southern tip of Subang Jaya is also an up-and-coming homebuyer hub. According to latest transaction data gleaned from brickz.my, this township recorded the highest number of residential property sales between Dec 2017 and Nov 2018.
Subang Jaya’s livability is further enhanced by recreational hotspots such as the Subang Lake which offers you a fantastic setting for an evening out with the kids while the MPSJ Stadium has free public running track and community taichi sessions.
Also, with the aforementioned upgraded LRT line, it no longer is a challenge for city-bound office workers to commute daily. Yay!
Why don’t you give it a shot yourself and go through the available homes in Subang Jaya for sale and rent?
Edited by Reena Kaur Bhatt