Despite being smaller than the average Malaysian state, with an area of 7,931 km2, Selangor is Malaysia’s most populous and productive state. The total number of people living within Selangor’s borders is projected to reach 6.53 million in 2020 (followed at some distance by Sabah’s 3.9 million residents), and the combined value of Selangor’s annual exports constitutes the highest percentage of the nation’s wealth – around 23.6 percent of Malaysia’s total GDP in 2019.

Selangor’s trajectory of development has echoed that of Kuala Lumpur (KL), with the state simultaneously contributing to, and benefiting from, the combined economic output of the nation’s federal administrative centres.

Selangor encapsulates KL, and further to the south, Putrajaya and the Kuala Lumpur International...

Despite being smaller than the average Malaysian state, with an area of 7,931 km2, Selangor is Malaysia’s most populous and productive state. The total number of people living within Selangor’s borders is projected to reach 6.53 million in 2020 (followed at some distance by Sabah’s 3.9 million residents), and the combined value of Selangor’s annual exports constitutes the highest percentage of the nation’s wealth – around 23.6 percent of Malaysia’s total GDP in 2019.

Selangor’s trajectory of development has echoed that of Kuala Lumpur (KL), with the state simultaneously contributing to, and benefiting from, the combined economic output of the nation’s federal administrative centres.

Selangor encapsulates KL, and further to the south, Putrajaya and the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), with the Titiwangsa Range forming a backdrop of granite, limestone, and highland jungle. The urban landscape surrounding KL radiates outwards, skirting around watersheds, hills, and wetlands, and spreading as far as Port Klang in the west. 

While the nation’s densely populated administrative capital is distinguishable from afar by skyscrapers and other hallmarks of a city largely engaged in the service sector, Selangor has considerably more space to spare for manufacturing and agricultural activity – but despite being known as the peninsula’s hub of industry and transportation, almost a third (32%) of Selangor’s total land area is designated as permanent reserve for forests. 

Bordering Perak to the north (from the Bernam River to near Fraser’s Hill), Pahang to the east (near Genting Highlands), Negeri Sembilan to the south (from Semenyih to Sepang), and encompassing fertile river deltas and mangrove forests along the Straits of Malacca to the west, Selangor comprises a varied landscape of hills, jungle, and coastline.

Settled since the Bronze Age, visited by Ming dynasty mariners, and fought over by warring sultanates, the state of Selangor entered the global consciousness at about the time tin-plated steel was first used to enable the kind of food preservation that sustained naval empires.

The initial wave of development in Selangor followed miners as they arrived by sea at Port Klang and continued upstream the Klang River to KL. Approximately 18 km up the Klang River, about 8km inland from where the river flows into the Straits of Malacca, the Gedung Raja Abdullah (a warehouse built by the pioneer of the same name to store tin for export) marks the height of the tin trade in the late 19th century.

As interest in mining increasingly shifted to plantations, development followed the Klang River, giving rise to Puchong and Subang Jaya. Similarly filled were the coveted real estate between the outer limits of KL and the tributary systems that converge in the foothills of the Titiwangsa Range, resulting in suburbs such as Selayang, Ampang, and Cheras.

Selangor’s next boom began when Klang became Malaysia’s primary port with Singapore’s separation in 1965. The Federal Highway enabled rapid transportation between Port Klang and the nation’s capital, while simultaneously facilitating the rapid urbanisation of wide stretches between Klang and KL, and feeding vast industrial zones such as Hicom-Glenmarie, Temasya, and Petaling Jaya’s Section 13. 

Following the construction of the Federal Highway and a series of annexations of surrounding constituencies, the current state capital of Shah Alam has grown to become one of Selangor’s most populated cities. As a result, the prices psf of properties within Shah Alam’s centre in Seksyen 1 have reached a height of RM600 psf, while homes in the outskirts, such as Seksyen 7, can still be found at around RM300 psf. 

The prices of properties in suburbs situated further away from the urban centres, such as Rawang and Dengkil, can reach as low as RM150 psf, but closer to the outer limits of KL, such as in the township of Bandar Utama, just one street away from a KL postal code, the prices of properties can reach as high as RM800 psf.

As the Federal Highway has done for the landscape between Klang and KL, the upcoming High-Speed Rail (HSR) connection with Singapore is expected to drastically increase the rate of development between KL and Seremban – with the southern half of Selangor projected to benefit the most, given the planned terminus of the HSR being located within KL and an additional stop located in Sepang.