‘Southeast Asia property market to surge within 10 years’

Category: Swhengtee Article Published: Wednesday, 07 August 2013 17:43

Part 2 – ‘Southeast Asia property market to surge within 10 years’

By JAN YONG

HUGE UPSIDE: Many factors lead to the ascendancy of SEA in the world’s stage in real estate, among them the region’s huge upside potential

Southeast Asia (SEA) will drive the property scene ‘crazy’ within the next 10 years and Malaysia will be among the best, says Gavin Tee, an international property consultant and speaker. “Two years ago, I predicted that SEA will be the focus of the world’s real estate destination and this has been borne out by events following that,” he said, referring to the huge interest generated in recent times by SEA nations like Singapore, Laos, Myanmar, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Tee cited two main reasons for the recent rise in SEA’s profile. The first was US President Barack Obama’s visit to Myanmar which signalled the increasing importance placed by Washington on SEA. The other was China’s efforts to extend its economic influence in SEA especially in the newly emerging economies of Indochina.

“It’s somewhat akin to an ‘economic war’ with the two superpowers trying to get a foothold in SEA. Add Hong Kong and Japanese investors in and it’s no surprise that SEA especially Laos, Myanmar and Jakarta are growing very fast.

Property investors will be the first to gain,” the property adviser told NST RED in an exclusive interview.

Malaysian properties inexpensive :“The Malaysian market will benefit from this development, in fact I believe Malaysia is the best among all the ASEAN countries. It is very investor friendly with some of the most flexible policies around.

The Malaysian property market is transparent, while its legal system, culture and infrastructure are conducive for foreigners living here.

“Most importantly, the property prices are still very inexpensive thus presenting a lot of upside potential. The Japanese and Germans have realised this and are putting up more investments here while Malaysia has always been the first choice for Singaporeans,” said Tee predicting that 2013 can be very good for property investment especially tourist attractions and places that attract foreign investors.

Tee, who is also the Founder and President of SwhengTee Real Estate Investment Club spoke of the borderless nature of property investment where the whole world is now in the radar of property investors. “Property investors are now looking at the whole world’s market because the property market is now more or less globalised or connected,” he said, giving the example of Dubai’s property market collapse in 2009 which affected the global market including Malaysia’s.

Supporting the view that SEA is on the rise is a recent CNN news report citing a report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers and the Washington D.C.-based Urban Land Institute that Jakarta is tipped to be Asia‘s top real estate market in 2013, ahead of cities such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney. The research houses ranked four SEA cities as top Asian Investment Prospects for 2013 (excluding Australia). The cities, in order of their rankings are Jakarta, Shanghai, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok.

As a result of these new developments, property investment will undergo a game-changing shift in 2013 across the world. Describing this as “The changing face of the real estate world”, Tee will speak more on how the rules of the game have changed and how to read the market correctly in a one-day seminar on 19th January 2013.

To be held at the PWTC (Putra World Trade Centre), the seminar includes an investment programme where Tee will talk on how to identify the entry and exit points of your investments as well as his forecast for 2013. NST RED and New Straits Times are the official media partners for the seminar.

Check out next week’s issue for Part 3 which focuses on Malaysian property hotspots in 2013.

Changing face of real estate’ seminar
Date: 19 Jan 2013 (English)/20 Jan 2013 (Mandarin)
Time: 9.30am – 6.00pm
Venue: Dewan Merdeka, PWTC, Kuala Lumpur
Special promo for NST & NST RED readers, please call: 03-2288 8588
www.swhengtee.com.my/eng2013 (English), www.swhengtee.com.my/cn2013 (Mandarin)

Source: NST RED