Political issues a big challenge to industry: Real estate agency heads

KUALA LUMPUR (March 12): Real estate agency heads said Malaysia’s current political uncertainty remains among the biggest challenges to the real estate industry.

“Malaysia’s political issues remain among the biggest challenges of the industry. If the situation does not get any better, I believe the industry will continue to be affected,” said Kozin Real Estate founder Alex Ting during one of the panel discussions at Malaysian Annual Real Estate Conventions 2016 (Marec’16) today.

However, he believes now is the best time for property investors to look for opportunities, even though there are other challenges facing the industry, such as tightening of bank loans and cooling measures.

“Economists reckon that oil prices will recover soon, so it will stimulate the property market. Before that happens, I believe there are a lot of opportunities in the industry -- in this year and maybe next year,” Ting noted.

Hartamas Real Estate Sdn Bhd managing director Eric Lim concurred that political issues are one of the challenges, but the difficulty of getting loans should be getting more urgent attention from the government to help the industry to grow.  

Another panelist, CBD Properties Sdn Bhd managing director Datuk Adrian Wong said the biggest industry challenge for him over the next three years is to get more of the Gen-Y to join the field.

“There are challenges in good times and bad times. My company and I try to not focus on challenges too much -- we do not want to be distracted from our goals. However, we are concerned about the current issues, so that we can adjust our strategy from time to time,” said panelist Wan Choy Heng, director of Property Hub Sdn Bhd.

“If we are doing things right, we don’t have to worry about challenge!” Wan shared.

The panel discussion was moderated by Carey Real Estate Sdn Bhd founding partner Nixon Paul.

He concluded the session by saying that an agency that can walk through the storm will have a clear goal, strong team and knowledge sharing.

Do not ask your taxi driver about the value of your home. Click here at The Edge Reference Price to find out.