Property Hunter Magazine Property Hunter Magazine Issue 55 - June 2014 | Page 40

/// Contributor The Rise of the High-Rise Housing offer and current/estimate demand W Dr. Daniele Gambero CEO and co-founder of REI Group of Companies Dr. Daniele Gambero is the CEO of strategic marketing consultancy firm REI Group of Companies. He holds an MBA from L. Bocconi University in Milan-Italy, Master in Communication from the University of Michigan Ann Arbour MI – USA, Ph.D in Marketing Strategies and Communication from L. Bocconi University and University of Michigan. With his vast experience in strategic marketing consultancies, investment studies, researches, property market reports and business valuation globally, the REI Group of Companies helps Malaysian developers with business solutions relating to design, concept, strategic marketing and pricing, advertising and marketing and sale procedures for their residential, commercial and industrial projects since 2007. hen I give presentations on the Malaysian Property Market I always talk first about the main driver that justifies the balancing between offer and demand, the economic current performance and outlook of the Country. This is a concept that has to be very clear for both developers and purchasers. Real Estate is not an economic driver or, we can also say, it is not the cause of the economic growth of a Country. It comes in as a logic and natural consequence of the economic development of the Nation. Economic drivers are manufacturing, services (such as financial services, high quality health services supply – i.e. properly developed third age healthcare system and so on), education, tourism and O&G. Malaysia has been kept on performing pretty well in the past decade and the outlook for the next several years remains positive as all the indexes are showing ample room for improvement. By looking at a steady growth of the economy and comparing some of the indexes with other fully developed economies in the world Malaysia should be proud of the achievements and look at the future in an optimistic way as there is still plenty of room for improvement (Chart 1). USA EU UK JAPAN AUSTRALIA MALAYSIA 2.52% 0.12% 0.65% 0.65% 0.65% 4.70% Gov. Depth as % of G DP 101.60% 90.60% 91.10% 226.1% 20.7% 53.10% Gov. Deficit as % of GDP -4.10% -3.7% -7.40% -9.6% -3.00% -4.50% Balance of Current Acc in USD Billion -360.7 -34.5 -93.6 56.6 -44.9% 16.6 GDP GROWTH Inflation 1.5% 1.5% 2.7% 0.2% 2.4% 3.2% Unemployement 7.3% 10.8% 7.7% 4.1% 5.7% How this applies to Iskandar Malaysia is easy to say. In the last 8 years IRDA has been able to attract more than RM133 billions of committed investment within the 9 economic cluster defined by the 2005-2025 Comprehensive Development Plan. As we speak more than 55% of this has been already realized (Charts 2 and 3). Good to be underlined is that 65% of the amount above has been generated locally with a mere 35% coming from oversea. Looking at a possible 2020 outlook we can find very positive signals coming from our neighbor Singapore. The recent state visit of the Singaporean PM and his speech in Putrajaya are confirming the very high interest that Singapore has into Iskandar Malaysia not from a “property-speculation” point of view but more as an “industrial and manufacturing facilities supplier” with the big plus of attractively valued skilled labor cost. The results of a recently conducted “public opinion survey” are highlighting how little the Iskandarians are aware of the IRDA’s growth achievements. 9 ECONOMIC CLUSTERS Food and Agro Processing Petro & Oleo - chemicals Electrical & Electronics Education Services Logistics Tourism Financial Services Creative Industries Health Services INVESTMENT UPDATE 2006 - OKTOBER 2013 TM ISKANDAR REGIONAL DEVELOPMEN AUTHORIT Committed and Realised In vestment Year-On-Year RM’Bil 140.00 www.PropertyHunter.co