PropertyGuru For Business Forum Showcases Growth Opportunities in 2023 for Real Estate Agencies
Pictured from the left during the panel session are Ahyat Ishak and Joe Thor, with Nabeel Hussain (top left) and Dr. Lee Nai Jia (top right).
KUALA LUMPUR: PropertyGuru For Business held an exclusive event dubbed ‘Opportunities for Growth in 2023’ for selected real estate agencies on the evening of 16 March 2023, at VE Hotel, Bangsar South.
The event featured a panel discussion with Dr. Lee Nai Jia, Head of Real Estate Intelligence at PropertyGuru Group, Nabeel Hussain, Deputy Managing Director & Head of Department for Capital Markets at Savills Malaysia, alongside Ahyat Ishak, founder of Pejuang Hartanah, as panellists.
The three-hour forum reflected PropertyGuru For Business’ commitment to enabling and empowering realtors through data analytics to identify opportunities and drive business growth.
Dr. Lee started the forum as a speaker with his session on the outlook for the Malaysian property market.
Sharing his findings and market statistics, he said Johor showed the highest growth in median transacted prices in Q4 2022, likely due to a bull run in the Singaporean property market and double-digit increases in rental rates there.
Among other interesting insights, he noted that demand from investors was more sustained than first homebuyers in Malaysia due to the ability to offset rising interest rates with higher rentals or capital appreciation.
As for economic trends in 2023, Lee noted the impact of digitalisation on working arrangements but believes in continued interest by property seekers in real estate as a substitute for cash deposits amid inflation.
A panel discussion followed involving Hussain, Ishak and Lee as they discussed opportunities for growth, moderated by Joe Hock Thor, General Manager of Data and Software Solutions at PropertyGuru Group.
Ishak highlighted current concerns among the Bumiputera community on the rising cost of living over property ownership but believes there is abundant opportunity for realtors to target ‘Orang Kaya Baru (OKBs)’ - which directly translates to newly rich people.
He advocated using data among real estate agents as he called for attendees to educate the public on the merits of property investment. “We are the preachers, tribal leaders to our tribe, and we should sing the song of data,” he said in reference to the suite of Big Data solutions offered by PropertyGuru For Business.
Hussain shared similar sentiments on the importance of real estate data but highlighted the need for end-to-end solutions for institutional investors when asked what agents today need to be equipped with to sell from a commercial perspective or within the capital markets sector.
He acknowledged increasing sophistication in the local property market, especially in the commercial space, as compared to a decade ago. Still, he noted low-income levels as a challenge to home ownership.
The final session was by Soh Jien Min, Product Manager at PropertyGuru Group, titled ‘Become a Local Expert – Higher Performance with DataSense’.
His case study on the rental market for projects near Damansara Damai MRT Station showed attendees the quantifiable percentage increases in rental rates per square foot and supply-demand trends while revealing similar properties viewed by website visitors.
Jien Min also demonstrated the use and credibility of Portal Demand, as demand uptick from the PropertyGuru portal (+29.3%) closely matched rental demand increases announced by the Singapore Urban Redevelopment Authority (+29.7%) for the whole year of 2022.
To learn more about products and solutions by PropertyGuru For Business catered towards real estate agencies, click here!
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