Upbeat mood - Industry experts at The Edge Investment Forum on Real Estate 2010 are optimistic about the outlook for the residential sector, property stocks and REITs this year. The Malaysian property market has certainly bounced back from the slowdown over a year ago.

This year will be a good one for the property market, said CB Richard Ellis (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd managing director Allan Soo at The Edge Investment Forum on Real Estate 2010 on April 10.“It is generally accepted that the market is getting from warm to pretty hot right now,” Soo said in his presentation entitled “Malaysian property market outlook in 2010 — Is the picture clearer?”Speaking to a mor

What are the factors that can add value to a property?

"It is easy to succeed in real estate investment,” said N K Tong, group managing director of Bukit Kiara Properties, a high-end niche property developer. “If you have the discipline to take a long-term view, find opportunities to add value and be patient yet decisive,” he added at the recently concluded The Edge Investment Forum on Real Estate 2010 held in Kuala Lumpur on April 10.

The Malaysian real estate investment trust (MREIT) market has yet to realise its true potential compared to peers around Asia, primarily due to the lack of overseas investors participating in Malaysian entities.

Strangely enough, we are less driven by speculation this time round than Singapore and China. There are a lot of multiple ownerships in Mont'Kiara condos for example and none of them has defaulted since 2008! This fact came from a bank.

The current good property sales trend is expected to continue for at least the next 12 months in spite of concerns over the potential of further hikes in the overnight policy rate (OPR), ECM Libra Capital Sdn Bhd head of research Bernard Ching said at The Edge Investment Forum on Real Estate 2010.This, he added, is because of the attractive mortgage schemes offered by banks and the upfront cost

Regional real estate funds have been very quiet in Asia since mid-2008 — cautious about the impact of the US’ economic woes, besides the slowdown in the Singapore and Hong Kong markets then.However, the middle of last year saw the mood change. Funds started buying into strategic real estate investments in Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and China.

Hap Seng Consolidated Bhd may be a relatively new property brand in Peninsular Malaysia, but the company has built more than 10,000 homes in the past two decades in Sabah, in towns such as Sandakan, Tawau, Lahad Datu and Kota Kinabalu.In 2004, the company decided to establish a presence in Peninsular Malaysia.

Residential property transactions in Singapore have been hogging the headlines, of late. However, in 1Q2010, investment sales of industrial properties here actually accounted for a higher quantum than residential sales, according to DTZ Research.Investments in the industrial segment for the quarter was S$1.02 billion (about RM2.37 billion), or 38.5% of the total transacted value.