KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, 7 August 2008 - An impressive RM400 million worth of properties was transacted at the iProperty.com EXPO “The Luxury Collection” (www.iproperty.com/expo), Malaysia’s largest luxury property expo, which was organised by the iProperty.com Group (www.iproperty.com), owner of Asia’s No. 1 network of property portals and Malaysia’s No. 1 property and real estate website, iProperty.com Malaysia (www.iproperty.com.my).
The exhibition’s phenomenal success and vast amount of transactions done is a testament that the Malaysia property market is going strong and has become a magnet attracting high net worth individual and institutional investors from all over the world.
The iProperty.com Expo, which achieved 100 percent booth occupation three weeks before the event, is a truly International platform for Malaysian developers to market projects to high net-worth locals and foreigners. The exhibition took place last weekend from 25 to 27 July at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC), Halls 4 and 5. It featured over RM20 billion worth of the finest local and international luxury real estate by over 100 exhibitors.
Exhibitors were extremely impressed with the big crowd of genuine local and international buyers, who were all eagerly seeking investment opportunities. The international buyers, who travelled here especially for the event, came from 70 countries, including Singapore, UAE, India, Hong Kong, Ireland to name a few.
There was no sign of dampened sentiments due to the current global economic volatility. Genuine investors and home buyers who visited the iProperty.com Expo were ready buyers, eager to cash in at the current price.
Said Patrick Grove, Executive Chairman of the iProperty.com Group: “iProperty.com Expo has established itself as a B2B and B2C platform where individual and institutional investors from overseas come to survey property from Malaysia and the world. Fund managers were seen talking to alternate investment opportunities like wine and palm oil investment scheme which some have never heard of previously.”
“The Expo serves as an important marketing and branding platform for Malaysian developers to effectively reach out to a large pool of high net worth local and international homebuyers and investors. With over 20 percent of the exhibitors from overseas, this is also an excellent avenue for overseas developers to market to local Malaysian investors as well as investors from across the region who have congregated here for the Expo,” he added.
Investors hot spots were Penang, Kuala Lumpur city centre and Iskandar Development Region (IDR) in the State of Johor.
Developers with projects that are tourist destinations like Sepang Goldcoast, managed more than RM15 million worth of sales over the weekend at the iProperty.com Expo and at their site office in Sepang.
Favourite suburbs amongst home buyers were Petaling Jaya, Setapak, Mont’ Kiara, Bangsar, Kota Damansara, Subang Jaya and Subang USJ.
Besides Australia which has traditionally been a hot favourite for overseas investment; new international markets introduced at the Expo such as Dubai, Las Vegas, Bali, Phuket, Koh Samui also proved to be crowd pullers.
Property talks and forums by top industry experts were packed to the brim with genuine investors and home buyers who wanted to learn more about the local and global property market outlook, property investment tips local and foreign property opportunities.
The impressive list of high-quality award-winning exhibitors who participated in this year’s show, include Malaysia’s top developers such as SP Setia, IJM, Bolton, Putrajaya Holdings, Sunway City, TH Properties, TTDI Development, Malaysia Pacific Corporation and Bandar Utama Development and Mulpha International Berhad.
The Expo’s exceptional success is also largely attributed to the huge boost given by aggressive promotional activities across iProperty.com Group’s network of websites. Its network of websites includes leading property portals in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Philippines. It also received strong support from international media partners.
YB Dato’ Seri Ong Ka Chuan, Minister of Housing and Local Government Malaysia officially opened the iProperty.com Expo “The Luxury Collection”. The Keynote Address “Selangor – Towards Sustainable Development”, was delivered by YAB Tan Sri Dato’ Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, Dato’ Menteri Besar Selangor.
Over the years, visitors attending the exhibition series have been mainly serious home buyers and investors from over 70 countries who had budgets of at least RM1 million. Most of them also held top management positions and earned an annual income of at least RM150,000 making them perfect candidates for high-end property purchases.
The iProperty.com Expo, themed “International Collection” will be held in Singapore at the Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre from 21 to 23 November, 2008. As part of the group expansion plan, the iPropery.com Expo will make its appearance again in Hong Kong 14 to 15 March next year.
About iProperty.com Expo (www.iproperty.com/expo)
Formerly known as “the International Home Buyers and Property Investor”, the exhibition was renamed iProperty.com Expo after its acquisition by the iProperty.com Group in March 2008. Since its establishment in 2005, it has grown to become the leading high-end property exhibition, attracting over 80,000 people and 300 exhibitors. Exhibitors include top international developers, agency and property-related companies. In 2008, the exhibition will take place in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, presenting a perfect synergy in the markets in which the iProperty.com portals are dominant. Further expansion into other countries is planned for coming years in line with the geographical expansion of the iProperty.com portals.
About iProperty.com Malaysia (www.iproperty.com.my)
iProperty.com Malaysia is the country’s No.1 property and real estate website in all key metrics (confirmed by: ComScore, Frost & Sullivan and Alexa.com). More than half of The Edge’s top 10 developers and one third of The Edge’s top 30 developers are iProperty.com’s regular clients, including SP Setia, Tan & Tan, Sunway City, Sime Darby, Mah Sing, MK Land and Glomac.
About iProperty.com (www.iproperty.com)
iProperty.com (www.iproperty.com) is Asia’s No.1 online property group, with leading property websites in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Philippines. We are part of Australian Securities Exchange-listed IPGA Limited (www.ipgalimited.com). Recently, the iProperty.com Group made history by winning the highly prestigious CNBC Asia Pacific Property Awards in the “Best Property Portal” category for 4 of our websites Malaysia (www.iproperty.com.my), Singapore (www.iproperty.com.sg), Hong Kong (www.gohome.com.hk) and Philippines (www.iproperty.com.ph). iProperty.com is owned by Australian Stock Exchange-listed IPGA Limited (www.ipgalimited.com), (ASX: IPP).
iProperty.com Network:
Singapore: iProperty.com Singapore
Malaysia: iProperty.com Malaysia
Hong Kong: GoHome.com.hk and House18.com
Taiwan: VRHOUSE.com.tw
Philippines: iProperty.com Philippines
Events: iProperty.com EXPO
Luxury: iLuxuryasia.com
For media queries, please contact:
Chris Cheung
iProperty.com
DID: +60322970867
Mobile: +60166031271
Email: chris@iproperty.com
Yvonne Low (Ms)
Mobile: +60122984820
Email: yvonne@iproperty.com
_______________________________________________________________
Annex: Quotes from Exhibitors
Sepang Goldcoast Sdn Bhd
Sepang Goldcoast Sdn Bhd, which deployed an army of sales and marketing staff to speak to visitors, found its booth swamped throughout the exhibition.
“We were so busy all day, we didn't even have time for lunch - but that's a good thing!” said the company’s head of Sales and Marketing, Steven Yap, adding: “We had quite a number of buyers who put down deposits on our Sea Tropics Cluster Villages – including several of the other exhibitors!”
Generally, Mr Yap found the visitors to be a high-calibre mix of locals and expatriates, including Middle Easterners.
“It was actually our first time exhibiting in Malaysia, so it was a great experience for us. Many buyers couldn’t believe it when they found out ours was a Malaysian project,” he said, referring to its palm-shaped villa development and the rest of its 5,000-acre beachfront paradise, Sepang Goldcoast.
South Bay Realty & Development; West Bay Homes, LLC and SC Global Investments
Meanwhile, Las Vegas realtors and investors were also impressed with the level and mix of visitors at the event. A delegation from South Bay Realty & Development, West Bay Homes LLC and SC Global Investments had set up an exhibition booth expecting to see a mostly Malaysian audience. Instead, they found themselves also handling enquiries from Dubai, Australia and other key Asian countries.
“Malaysia is one of our key target markets for investment in Las Vegas, due to the per capita income and economically strong property market,” said delegation spokesman Michael Colandane.
“Coming all the way here, we certainly didn’t expect to be able to reach out to some of our other key target markets at the same time, so the high-level international crowd at this Expo is a big bonus for us.”
South Bay Realty and Development and West Bay Homes provides comprehensive home buying or home building services, while SC Global Investments provides services for those looking for investment opportunities in the United States, particularly in the Southwest markets. Together, the companies provide the full suite of housing from units around RM450,000 to around RM6 million.
OSK Property Holdings Berhad
OSK Property Holdings’ Senior Manager of Sales and Marketing Stanley Wong said they was happy to have “sealed deals” for its luxury units at the expo even before completing its show house.
The big draw was its Sutera Damansara development, near Damansara Damai.
“We got good response from young professionals who like the idea of a gated and guarded community close to nature and with broadband wiring installed,” he said. “Our innovative 10-90 financing package with HSBC Bank also attracted their interest.”
Under the 10-90 package, buyers put down a 10 percent downpayment and pay nothing for two years while the project is undergoing construction. Installments only begin after project completion.
“For discerning upwardly mobile buyers, this makes it easy for them to start preparing a safe and comfortable home for their family,” he said.
Karma Developments
Karma Royal Group / Karma Developments’s Events Coordinator Brooke Wotton was also full of praise for the organiser’s accommodation of her company's last-minute booking from Bali.
“We only booked a week before the event, and they were able to process us very efficiently and we arrived and set up with minimal fuss,” she said, adding: “It was my first time in Malaysia, so I didn’t really know what to expect.”
Ms Wotton found the occasion extremely useful for factfinding and networking, both with local exhibitors and visitors, as well as with those from international destinations such as India and Dubai.
She was impressed with the calibre of exhibitors at the Expo, and looked forward to participating in the local luxury property market. Karma Developments is unique in its niche of building five-star boutique hotel villas – villa-style resorts with all the luxury of five-star hotels.
Back
|
