The short version
Country Heights is a gated estate of large bungalows and townhouses on 480 acres of former rubber plantation, launched in 1987 by developer Lee Kim Yew and marketed at the time as the “Beverly Hills of Malaysia” and Malaysia’s first gated and guarded country-living community. It suits a buyer with a large budget who wants land, privacy and a car. It does not suit anyone counting on rail access, walkable errands or a modest rent.
Getting around
Country Heights has no rail stop of its own. KTMB tracks run along the estate’s eastern boundary, but there is no station there; the nearest stops are Kajang MRT station and Serdang KTM Komuter station, both reached by road rather than on foot. Car access is by PLUS Exit 210 on the North-South Expressway, with the SILK and LEKAS (Kajang-Seremban) expressways also close by. StarProperty’s own listing for the area estimates about 30 minutes to central Kuala Lumpur, 15 minutes to Putrajaya and Cyberjaya, and 30 minutes to KLIA, figures worth treating as the portal’s own drive-time estimate rather than a timed commute. Inside the gates, low traffic and generous setbacks make walking pleasant; getting anywhere outside them means a car.
What it costs to live here
The spread here is wide because the housing stock ranges from compact townhouses to ten-bedroom bungalows on multi-acre lots. Listings across portals put rent for the estate as a whole between roughly RM1,500 and RM35,000 a month. At the smaller end, semi-detached and townhouse units have rented for around RM1,600 to RM1,900 a month; a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom, 1,450 sq ft townhouse in the Country Villa precinct carries a maintenance fee of RM300 a month, on a leasehold expiring in 2091. Larger bungalows rent for far more: a 7-bedroom, 7-bathroom house on 8,826 sq ft of land has listed at RM8,000 a month, a 6-bedroom, 6-bathroom house with a 9,000 sq ft floor plate and 9,500 sq ft of land at RM15,000, and the largest 7 to 10-bedroom bungalows up to RM25,000. Sale prices give a sense of what that buys outright: a 14,000 sq ft built-up, 9-bedroom, 7-bathroom bungalow on 19,978 sq ft of land sold for RM11 million in August 2016, and a smaller unit on 9,741 sq ft sold for RM3.9 million in October 2016. Buyers and renters both need to budget for a car, since nothing here is a walk from a train.
Who lives here
This is a low-density enclave by design: 480 acres carrying far fewer homes than an equivalent stretch of Kajang or Sungai Chua outside the gates, with large lots and mature landscaping prioritised over unit count. According to Wikipedia’s entry on the estate, residents have included two former prime ministers, Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim, alongside other prominent Malaysians, a reflection of the price point rather than any special local amenity. That profile has held even as the estate’s own history has become more complicated: founder Lee Kim Yew, who built his reputation transforming this rubber estate and later the former Mines tin mine into Mines Resort City, was declared bankrupt in early 2023 and stepped down as chairman of Country Heights Holdings Berhad. The residential enclave itself continues to function as a private, individually owned gated community, separate from the holding company’s later troubles.
Families and schools
Global Modern International School (GMiS) sits inside the estate itself, at No.1, Jalan Sinar Pagi, Country Heights. Founded in 2016, it follows a British curriculum through IGCSE, up to Year 11, with annual fees quoted between RM9,000 and RM15,000 depending on year group. Having a school inside the gates matters here precisely because nothing outside them is walkable: the daily run to any school, GMiS included, is a short drive rather than a walk, and families relying on public transport for a school run elsewhere in Kajang or Bangi will find the estate’s distance from any rail stop a hard constraint on that choice.
What people get wrong about it
The name still carries its 1987 marketing, and newcomers sometimes assume “Country Heights” describes one glamorous, actively managed development still riding high on its original prestige. The reality is more layered: the estate is decades old, its founding company’s fortunes have declined sharply since Lee Kim Yew’s 2023 bankruptcy, and what functions today is a collection of individually owned homes behind shared gates and security rather than a single polished product. The other assumption worth correcting is “country living” itself: this is greenery and low density, not a rural setting, and every resident still drives to Kajang, Bangi or the expressway for anything beyond the school and the gatehouse.
Would I live here?
If land, privacy and a large budget matter more than a train platform, Country Heights delivers on its own terms, and the presence of a school inside the gates makes it workable for a family that can absorb the driving. Anyone weighing rail access, walkability or a rent under four figures should look elsewhere in the Kajang extension; this is one of the most expensive, lowest-density corners of the whole map, and it was built to be exactly that.