Kudat tip-of-Borneo house

Kudat sits at the northern extremity of Sabah, where the South China Sea meets the Sulu Sea at Tanjung Simpang Mengayau — the Tip of Borneo. The peninsula around it holds a string of quiet white-sand bays such as Kalampunian, Bak Bak and Tajau Laut, backed by coconut plantations and the villages of the Rungus people, who still keep longhouses and a strong weaving and honey-gathering tradition.

The property is a hundred and twenty square metre single-storey house on a generous plot three hundred metres from the sand. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, an open living-dining space, a separate wet kitchen in the Malaysian fashion, ceiling fans and air conditioning in the bedrooms, a covered car porch and a fenced garden. Block-built with a metal roof, mains power and water plus a storage tank.

Kudat town, twenty minutes away, has a hospital, banks, supermarkets, a busy fish market and a small marina. It is a genuinely multicultural little place — Rungus, Chinese, Bajau and Malay — with excellent cheap seafood and a Sunday market worth planning around.

Sabah's appeal is the sheer amount of nature within reach. Kota Kinabalu is three hours south by good road, with an international airport serving Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and Seoul; from there Mount Kinabalu, the Kinabatangan river and Sipadan's diving are all in reach. Closer to home there is snorkelling off Banggi and Balambangan islands and some of the best sunsets anywhere on the equator.

Costs in Sabah are low and foreign freehold ownership is permitted above the state's minimum price, with a solicitor handling the conveyance and state consent. For a spacious, solid house near empty white beaches at a price that would not buy a parking space in Singapore, the Kudat peninsula is a remarkable value proposition.