Sr Lim Boon Ping is the President of Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents (MIEA). Among many other goals the MIEA aims to represent members on all issues of practice with BOVAEA, relevant government agencies, associations and to be the voice for Practitioners in the country and unite and protect the interests of all Practitioners in the profession. 

WILLIAMS MEDIA sat down with Sr Lim Boon Ping, to learn more about the MIEA and the Malaysian property market.

How long have you been working in real estate?

20 years since year 1999

What are the current roles and titles you hold right now?

President of MIEA (July 2019 till June 2021)

What are some of the defining moments in Malaysia's real estate/expat history?

Malaysia is one of the first in ASEAN region to open up to foreigners staying or even to own properties. From Silver-hair programmed to Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H), Malaysia has always been welcoming foreigners residing in Malaysia. 

Where are the key emerging markets/sectors that people should be looking into in Malaysia that you think will have an upside?

Regionally,  Malaysia is still one of the more affordable places in terms of property prices. We still see plenty of room for growth in the future for Malaysian properties. If we were to zoom in to a specific sector, I feel there’s a great potential for short-term stay related properties. As our tourism industry is growing, there is an increasing demand on short term stay. However, careful consideration must given to the related law or rules that govern this sector as not all apartments will be allowed to do short term stay business. 

Why did you first start working in the property industry?

My dad is one of the first batch of registered estate agents in Malaysia, and I was being encouraged to explore real estate industry. I was sent to the University of Auckland, NZ to pursue a Bachelor of Property in 1997. Started working as a estate agent in my dad’s real estate agency firm right after graduation. 

What advice would you have for those looking to enter property markets in Malaysia?

With reference to the past 28 years transaction data in Malaysia in accordance to the National Property Information Centre, Malaysian property has been going through a steady growth. As long as any property investors are willing to buy and hold the property for a good number of years, they can only expect good capital growth at the time of selling later.

Besides capital appreciation, Malaysia properties will also provide stable rental returns of an average 3-6 percent annually. Thus with the combined returns from capital appreciation and rental yields, Malaysian properties are definitely one of the best hedges against inflation. 

How do you best help a buyer or tenant?

By talking to the buyer/tenant and to understand what our clients’ needs are, then only we can tailor the required listings to them for their considerations. 

How do you best help a vendor selling/leasing their property?

This is done through a more targeted marketing process. The market today is moving towards more targeted marketing strategies, we don’t want to waste time, money and efforts to do mass marketing, but rather we will identify who are the more probable and potential buyers/tenants, and make marketing action plans to reach this target group. 

What would you like to see changed in the industry in short term?

One of the current challenges in Malaysia is the eligibility for obtaining a sufficient housing loan. Ever since the banks adopted the new Responsible Lending Policy, where they moved from giving out loan based on gross income to net disposable income in 2012, the loan rejection rate remains as high as 50%. While I am fully aware of the bank’s concerns over risk management in the loan approval process, but I feel the banks should review and relax the Debt Servicing Ratio (DSR) especially to those first-time homebuyers. 

What advice do you have for people looking to buy affordable residences in Malaysia?

The millennial generations must understand one thing, their first home will not be their dream home. What happened in Malaysia now, was that many young people kept complaining the house price is too expensive, what they effectively trying to say is, the “dream house” they wanted now is way beyond their reach. What they should do is to buy an affordable housing first, get their first property, a few years later, when their first property appreciated in capital value, they then can slowly upgrade to other more expensive properties. 

Where is demand currently coming from? Where is the interest focused at the moment?

The Malaysian property market untill today is still very much locally focused. Easily over 95% of property transactions are bought by locals. Having said that, Malaysia is one of the earliest to open up property ownership by foreigners in ASEAN region and many Expats do find Malaysia a very conducive place to live in, in terms of multi-culture, regulatory system, language, and foods.

The biggest demands for properties is always more focus on bigger cities in Malaysia, namely Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor Bahru, followed by other capital cities in the states such as Melaka, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, Ipoh and etc. 

For more information about the MIEA or the Malaysian property market phone or email Sr Lim Boon Ping, President of MIEA

Click here to visit the MIEA website.