Brand Legends are not born overnight. Instead, they are forged in the fiery furnace of adversity and challenges as well as innovation. Speak to Datuk Chew Yin Keen, Director of Iwajib Group on the subject of property and the founder of this boutique real estate developer gets excited about what he anticipates will be the next property boom next year. And, about time too, as the lull in bricks-and-mortar industry has exceeded its usual seven to 10 years cycle of doubling its returns.

“The property market has been soft and stagnant for almost eight years since 2016. However, things are changing especially for residential condos with a built-up size of around 1,000 sq ft and those priced below RM500,000 in Klang Valley,” he said.

Stating that while the overall market conditions forecast that the property market will boom in the next two years, he anticipates that both residential and industrial property prices will increase by at least 20% to 30%.

The reasons are manifold he asserted – especially due to inflation, economic growth and high demand coupled with the shortage of supply for both residential properties priced not more than RM500,000 and industry properties valued between RM3.0 million and RM5.0 million.

Sharing the story of Iwajib Group – the boutique real estate set-up founded in 2008, he shared on how he intends to capitalise on what he foresees will be an upward trend in the property market with several projects in the pipeline to be launched.

Dedicated to creating “thoughtfully designed properties” that cater to modern lifestyles, receiving the Brand Legend – 20 Years Awards by the Branding Association of Malaysia is the sweet icing on the cake in which he believes the recognition will spur further growth and will boost the demand for his current project – IX Suria Residences and other projects in the pipelines which will benefit from a boost of confidence by would-be purchasers, given the prestigious nature of the awards.

“My fundamental principle is ‘Make things happen and don’t wait for things to happen,'” he asserted. Basically, he adviced those intending to be successful in this line of work to be proactive, take the initiative and be prepared for any eventuality while confidently moving forward to achieve the common company goal.

The company’s mission he shared focusses on properties built in harmony with nature and the environment “without compromising on the quality and needs of home/business owners in order to create a valuable environment for the community”.

His vision for the company translates to the next generation with his son being part of the company since 2019. His son, age 28, is tasked “to do better and achieve more than the present” – based on the company’s core values and the fundamental principles. Admitting that both generations may have differences in approaching the business and management matters, a “compromised mindset is a must” he shared in considering and weighing the best option to adapt prior to implementation.

“Just make good use of each generation’s strengths by having an open mind without prejudice against each other and continue to have progressive thinking,” he said.

Not bad at all for this boutique developer who started building from the ground up by undertaking its maiden project comprising 40 units of terrace houses which was then followed by 133 units of terrace houses.

Looking back, this once practitioner lawyer has no regrets having ventured into property development, seeing a synergy between both industries.

“As legal practitioners – as corporate lawyers and property lawyers, we deal a lot with properties, I’m very familiar . So, when an opportunity came about one day with someone presenting (the opportunity to buy) a piece of land, I bought it and developed 40 units. From there, we expanded our business one project after another.”

However, the pathway to greatness has its challenges with the cost of construction getting higher coupled with increased of compliance costs and selling price of property stagnant.

“The selling price has been stagnant since 2016. You cannot push the price higher. You have to maintain the price so that the people can afford to buy. That is the reality in the market at this moment. Construction cost has increased. Our foreign exchange rate to the USD is very uncertain. If the exchange rate rises further to the USD followed by the withdrawal of the diesel subsidies, there is again, another round of construction costs increase,” he said.

“There are many factors that affect property development and the risk management by the property developer is getting more and more risky . Not like those days you’ve got a margin to manage the risk, but today you don’t have that a margin to manage the risk,” he added.
Elated at being named the Brand Legend Awards recipient under the 20 Years category in recognition of a brand by a reputable organisation having resilience in the market for so long, purchasers or customers he said would gain a reinforced confidence level of one’s brand which is very important for any company’s brand that has been recognised,” he added.

“Recognition is very important. It’s whether people want to recognise you that your brand exists. The Brand Legend Awards is given by the Branding Association of Malaysia which is given only if you have sufficient history to take this awards in terms of business continuity, and especially post the three years period of COVID-19 that you still exist when a lot of other brands have disappeared during the COVID-19 period.”

Be they big or small brands he noted, everyone faced challenges during the pandemic. For him, one of the major challenges during that crucial period was in the supply of the building materials.

“People can buy your properties, but can you deliver? During the Movement Control Order (MCO) period, a lot of materials could not be produced. A very classic example is related to the supply of sand because sand production is needed which couldn’t be achieved during MCO,” he recalled.

“So you face this challenge and the thing is that how you manage this challenge and how you can overcome this challenge, you need to address it. Otherwise the project will be delayed.”

By managing these issues which he did, he is pleased to report that not only was his project not delayed, he also did not even claim the grace period given by the government under the regulation in which developers could claim up to 162 days extension of time.

Overcome the challenge by applying the fundamental principle,‘Make things happen and don’t wait for things to happen.,” he quipped.

It needs to be proactive, take initiative, be prepared for any eventuality and thereafter confidently move forward with this kind of simple model or principle is crucial for success.

If you going to wait for things to happen, then you will have big problems. How can you continue with your business? You must be prepared for any eventuality. You must be proactive and you must take initiative. If you don’t take initiative to resolve problems, do you think the problems will disappear?”

To him, market study is crucial as the needs of the market is very important and one must produceproducts that are unique and above the market’s expectations which the people are looking for in the market.

Travelling abroad yields him plenty of ideas. And for now, he is happy to travel and observe as his way to survey the needs of the market and observe trends that people are looking for and figure out how to deliver it a notch above for the market. Giving his buyers extra value sets his firm apart from the rest of the competition.

“Since 2016, the property market has been on the decline due to cooling measures imposed back then. And there has been quite a number of restrictions being introduced since then. And, new property projects being launched into the market have been reducing since 2016.

“Even up to today, new supply of property launches are comparatively very low as compared to prior 2016. So when you look at the situation from 2016 until now, it has already been eight years and the prices of property have never gone up. In fact, they have never increased for eight years and the property cycle is (suppose to increase) every eight to 10 years.

“There is always a boom and an increase or price adjustment upwards and to me, I anticipate that in 2025, 2026 and 2027 – these three years will show property market price adjustments that will adjust upwards whichranging from 20% to 30% because of the exchange rate, increase of construction and compliant costs. I speculate there will be an upward swing of property prices to around 20% to 30%.

“This is what I anticipated and it will come true. And, judging from the GDP growth for 2024 – it is about 5% and above so I hope that they can sustain this momentum. In 2025, definitely prices of property would rise as everything else has been going up except the property price. You also have to bear in mind that in 2026 or 2027, the government will be preparing for the elections so there will be a lot of economic activities being planned to ensure that the economy continues to grow above 5%. And, when that happens, inflation will step in including the rise of property prices, so I anticipate at least a conservative rise of about 20% to 30%,” he concluded.

@Paparazzi