The Edge Investment Forum on Real Estate 2016 draws 600 attendees

KUALA LUMPUR (April 30): About 600 participants kicked off their long weekend by attending The Edge Investment Forum on Real Estate 2016 (REIF 2016) today. This is also the 10th property investment forum in Malaysia organised by The Edge Media Group.

Themed "Riding out the storm: Pitfalls to avoid", the forum was held at Sunway Putra Hotel, Kuala Lumpur today. REIF 2016 was presented by Sunway Property and supported by TheEdgeProperty.com.

“The Malaysian property market has run into headwinds. This is no secret. The transaction volume has dipped. New property launches have slowed. Prices have plateaued but not tumbled as some of us here this morning must be hoping for,” said The Edge Communications Sdn Bhd and The Edge Property Sdn Bhd managing director Au Foong Yee (pictured, right) in her opening speech this morning.

She said that the challenges confronting the sector are not about to go away very soon. However, the reality is that the market is not dead.

“As astute investors, you would know that there is no such thing as a good time to buy property. Any time is a good time if you know how. What is key is to avoid the pitfalls in riding out the storm – That is the theme of our forum,” said Au.

There were three presentations and one panel discussion.

The forum started with a presentation entitled “Market Outlook: Where are we at the curve?” by JLL Property Services (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd country head and managing director Y Y Lau.

The following speaker was Savills (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd managing director Allan Soo. His presentation topic was “Investing in retail – shop lots or shop offices?”.

Next was Jalin Realty founder, owner and group CEO Ian Chen, with his topic “Investing in properties Down Under: Have you missed the boat?”.

The last session of the day was a panel discussion themed “Where to put your money – real estate, stocks or REITs?”.

Moderated by Au, the three panelists were Sunway Bhd executive director, non-independent executive director Malaysian, managing director to property development division Malaysia and Singapore Sarena Cheah (pictured, left); Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd head of equity research Sarah Lim; and Axis REIT Managers Bhd CEO and finance director Leong Kit May, shared their investment insights with the crowd.

Besides the forum, participants also took the opportunity to visit booths set up by Sunway Bhd, Ho Chin Soon, as well as TheEdgeProperty.com.

A repeat participant, Jeyaratnam said he wanted to listen to Ian Chen’s insight as he has invested in property in Australia. “I got to know this forum from The Edge weekly paper. I’m interested to know what Australian property future is like from this forum.”   

Another participant, Karen Cheong, who attended the event with her husband, said that they would love to know where the investment hotspots are in the current soft market.

“We were looking forward to listening to all the speakers' insights. We do invest in property and would like to know what is the trend ahead.”

Sometimes, even the value of your home can be a mystery. Go to The Edge Reference Price to find out.

Grab the May 6 issue of TheEdgeProperty.com for a more detailed report on REIF 2016. The full report comes out in the May 9 issue of City & Country, the property pullout of The Edge Malaysia.