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30 Mar

iProperty Group Continuing The Momentum

What an exciting and busy week it has been!

We held our very first EXPO in Penang last weekend and what a tremendous success it was. Organised on behalf of the Real Estate and Housing Developers Association (REHDA) Penang, MAPEX Penang 2012, with the theme The Most Lau Juak Property Show, was certainly well received by Penangnites and foreigners alike.

The three day expo, launched by YB Chow Kon Yeow, State EXCO for Local Government and Traffic Control, who represented YAB Lim Guan Eng, Chief Minister of Penang, attracted over thousands of people from all walks of life who made their way to the Straits Quay Convention Centre to grab the best deals in town.

Here are some snap shots of the event:

YB Chow Kon Yeow Officially Launching MAPEX Penang 2012

Folks visiting the booths at the MAPEX PENANG 2012

After such an astounding success in Penang, all focus is now on delivering an equally successful iProperty.com International EXPO in Singapore, which will be held from the 20th – 22nd of April 2012 at the iconic Marina Bay Sands from 11am – 8pm.

Also present at the EXPO will be Howard, our friendly mascot in Singapore who is keen on letting people to be in the know not just about the latest in the property market, but to also provide them with the opportunity to discover the best deals in town.

From the peaks to the valleys, Howard is on ground to promote the EXPO.

So, do lock in the dates and we hope to see you there.

On a separate note, we are keeping to our promise to only deliver the best, fastest and easiest search experience for our consumers. We have recently made some changes to our website – iproperty.com.my, making download of information of property news and search faster. We are pleased to say that these changes will be implemented across our other three portals in Hong Kong, Indonesia and Singapore.

So, brace yourself to have all the information you need to make an informed decision downloaded in a blink of an eye.

Another significant accomplishment on the innovation front is the Malaysian team winning at the recent Facebook Mobile Hack Day in Singapore. With a total of eight submission and only four winners to be selected, we are proud to win the Best Overall App for use of Facebook.

The team developed an app called the Property Friend Finder, which will enable users to find properties that are near their friends and family.

These are only some of the innovative things that we at the iProperty Group are working on. We assure you, there are more interesting things in store. So, do stay tuned!

Enjoy the week!

14 Mar

iProperty Group PAVING the way in LEADS

Early this year, I wrote about how innovation has and will always be a key fundamental to the iProperty Group. In this ever growing industry, success of any business is constantly measured. Being in the online industry, our metrics are measured by the number of leads we generate for our customers, amongst the many other factors.

So, in order to deliver only the best to our customers, we have put in a lot of effort in finding avenues to innovatively generate more leads for customers. At the same time, we wanted to focus on building relationships with our customers and look for ways to engage more creatively with our consumers and make property search easy.

Here’s what we have embarked on over the last two months:

Singapore

I would like to introduce you to Howard, our friendly mascot in Singapore. He is a patient, wise owl with a keen sense of hearing and listening. Howard is inviting consumers to “Be iN The Know” about the property market and not be left behind.

Enthusiast property buyers know the importance of being in the know about the latest development in the property market before embarking on a purchase. As such, with Howard, we have made getting this information much easier and more exciting!

So, you will not only be seeing Howard on the iproperty.com.sg website but also on taxis in Singapore. Do drop by and say hi to Howard.

Another buzz of exciting news that has recently taken place in Singapore is our partnership with MediaCorp’s TODAY newspaper, the country’s largest free newspaper. The paper will be publishing a dedicated property classifieds section in full colour, which will be sold to our agent customers. These classifieds will appear every Friday.

We see this collaboration as a way of maintaining and improving our pole position in the online property market, while enabling our customers to reach and engage with a wider market and at the same time offer our consumers a another avenue to look for their dream home or next property investment.

Malaysia

REACH, ENGAGE and CONVERT! That’s what the Malaysian team is focusing on doing in 2012!

The Reach, Engage and Convert programme, or REC for short, has been put together as a platform to provide customers the opportunity to reach a wider target market and engage these consumers into learning more about their property developments with the hope of converting them into buyers.

The team kick-started thier first event recently and had the opportunity to meet, mix and mingle with major clients. All with the objective of building rapport and develop a buy-in on new opportunities.

On a separate note, if you are looking at investing in property in Penang, then do join us for the MAPEX 2012, The Most LAU JUAK Property Expo in Penang!

Held from the 23rd to the 25th March at Straits Quay Convention Centre, MAPEX 2012 will be bringing you THE REAL PROPERTY DEALS in town! You will get huge discounts on properties by property developers and even stand a chance to win prizes valued at over RM 700,000!

Lock in the dates in your calendars, iPad, iPhone, Tablets, Androids and etc Today!

We look forward to seeing you there!

Indonesia

To complement our business in Indonesia, I am extremely happy to announce that we have rolled out our very first property ads tabloid in Indonesia. Named Rumah123.com Property Ads, the publication will serve as a form of media information for the property seekers.

We believe that this 32 page full colored monthly publication will take Rumah123.com to greater heights as property hunters now have another avenue to search for properties and obtain the latest news in the property market aside from the Rumah123.com website. It will also serve to provide agents and developers another platform to reach out to consumer and to generate more leads.

Officially launched this month, this publication will be one of the flagship publications in Indonesia to contain information on the Ten Most Wanted property location in Greater Jakarta.

So, if you are in Jakarta, do grab a copy for free or click here for a copy!

The Outcome – BIG LEADS! The Love Affair for Property Continues

Overall, these initiatives undertaken by the respective teams have paid off immensely. Since January this year, data generated from across our four portals showed a surge in the number property buyers searching for property, hence increasing the number of leads generated for agents.

In Malaysia, we saw a 45% increase, that’s over 291,000 leads generated for our agents from the month of January to February alone. In Indonesia, while the property market is slowly picking up pace, we have seen an increase in the number of real estate agents advertising on the site has increased by 112%, bringing the total of agents to 3, 463. The number of listings has also increased by 90% to 87,000.

In Hong Kong, the market sentiment also reflected a market rebound. Data gathered from GoHome.com.hk showed a significant increase of 38% in the number of leads recorded in February compared to the month of January.

In Singapore, data from email and SMS leads alone, generated by the portal, have shown a substantial 60% year‐on‐year jump in February 2012 as compared to February 2011,even as the market comes to terms with recent property cooling measures introduced in December 2011.

Our CommercialAsia.com portal also saw a 82% increase in the number of unique visitors to site, with a majority of visitors from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia and Hong Kong Hong.

Looks like a very positive and healthy property market!

Have a great week!

2 Mar

iProperty Group – Delivering Record Breaking Results

A philosopher by the name of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel once said that nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.

I concur that with passion, topped with determination, we can achieve anything we set out to do. As such, we have embodied this into our core values, where we ensure that we remain passionate in our words and actions while aiming for excellence.

This success was evidenced by the fact that in 2011, we helped millions of property buyers across our four portals search for their dream home or next property investment, be it locally or internationally. This phenomenal success was also seen with our agents who have successfully grown and taken their business to greater heights. Aside from that, the iProperty Group has been instrumental in providing a highly effective platform for hundreds of developers across the region promote their developments.

So, in 2012, you can be assured that we will continue to focus on providing consumers with the best experience when searching for property on either one of our four portals. We are also committed to being long term partners with the real estate industry in successfully growing their businesses while we increase our focus on providing integrated digital marketing solutions to the ever burgeoning property developer market across the region.

In lieu of that, in Hong Kong, the team held their annual dinner for customers and the event was well attended.

A Group Picture – The Hong Kong Team With Agents

On a separate note, in my previous blog, I stated that we recently released the findings of our iProperty.com Asia Property Market Sentiment Report 2012. The survey, conducted across our four portals in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Singapore, revealed that Asians were very keen on investing in properties overseas, with many citing migration, favorable currency rates and economic slowdown as reasons for their interest.

The findings of the survey further reinforced our desire to provide property buyers with a platform to search for properties overseas with greater ease and accessibility. With that, we launched an International section on each of the portals that we have. This new channel will not only serve the needs of local property buyers but will also provide property developers and agents, outside of the Group’s core markets easy access to investors in Asia.

With our unrivaled reach to Asia’s largest online property audience, the new channel will set the benchmark for the way property developers and agents reach their potential investors. It will also offer them a platform to engage with Asian investors in the most cost effective and highly efficient manner.

So if you are on the hunt for properties overseas, do visit http://www.iproperty.com.sg/international/

On a more fun note, today marks Employee Appreciation Day across the globe, which occurs annually on the first Friday of the month of March.

So to all employees across the iProperty Group, I would like to thank you for your passion, determination, commitment and dedication in taking the Group to higher levels. It’s because of you, we have achieved many milestones.

Enjoy the weekend!

24 Feb

The iProperty Group and The Asian Property Market

Over the last few months, there have been numerous reports flooding the main stream and online media with predictions of the property market in Asia. Given the slowing demand from key trading partners, the United States and Europe, the Asian economy was set to take a downturn.

As we serve an ever-growing number of consumers, agents and developers, we leveraged on our market leading websites in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Singapore as a bellwether to gauge the opinions of thousands of consumers in the region on the property market.

Conducted from November 2011 to January 2012 and gathering a total of 8,499 respondents, the first cross market online property survey of its kind revealed that despite the worldwide economic uncertainty, a majority of these survey respondents had optimistic views on the property market in Asia.

Across the four countries surveyed, the survey respondents had somewhat more in common than they had differences. The key similarities include:

  • Majority of people answering the survey in each country had occupied their current premises for less than five years
  • Economic and political concerns were not high on the list of concerns for most survey respondents
  • Location and price were the two most important factors taken into account in purchasing property, while political/economic climate and recommendations from family and friends were the least important.

During the launch of the survey, I was asked, “What is the most important factor to consider before investing in property?” To which I responded three factors – LOCATION, LOCATION and LOCATION!

Why? Because location is the most important factor that property investors look into as it ultimately will help determine how much yield you get, and how much capital growth. So before deciding on purchasing or investing in any property, do your research. Study the amenities, accessibility to public transportation, schools and etc.

So it wasn’t a surprise that location was one of two key factors that respondents considered important.

A key difference across the region was in the type of property these respondents preferred. The survey findings showed that landed property was the most popular type of property that respondents in Malaysia and Hong Kong favoured. In Singapore, private condominiums were the most popular type of property, while houses were the most popular in Indonesia.

It was also interesting to note that most of the survey respondents in each country had only been in their current premises for five years or less. Another key distinction was that when it came to ownership of properties, over 40% of Malaysian’s surveyed reported owning two or more properties, a higher proportion than in any other country. Hong Kong survey participants had the fewest property owners.

On the overseas property front, Singaporeans showed a higher interest than respondents from Malaysia, Indonesia and Hong Kong, with a majority choosing Malaysia and Australia as their most preferred overseas locations.
Malaysians on the other hand preferred Australia, Singapore and United Kingdom as their preferred overseas destination of investment, with many citing migration or retirement plans as the main reason of purchase.

To learn more about these findings, you can download a full copy of this report by clicking here -
http://edm.iproperty.com/sg/Asia-Property-Report-2012-Singapore/

The survey report has offered us valuable insights of the property market and I trust that you too will find this report highly beneficial as it offers an unbiased view on the Asian property market.

Enjoy the weekend!

10 Feb

The iProperty Group – Changing The Future Today

I was recently browsing through a website and came across this quote by Mahatma Gandhi – “The future depends on what you do today”. It truly is an interesting quote and one that has profound meaning!

As a company that strives to continuously seek ways to further enhance the property search experience, we at the iProperty Group spend hours on research and development to deliver only the best in innovation to our valued consumers, agents and developers.

Mahatma Gandhi – “The future depends on what you do today”

The quote by this legendary man, who is considered the father of the Indian independence movement, aptly puts things in perspective. The future truly does depend on what we do today.

Visionaries such as Steve Jobs thought about the future and developed tools and apps that have enormously transformed the way mobile phone, desktops and laptops functions. He thought ahead and saw the needs and demands of the people and developed the right tools to meet these needs.

The iProperty Group is part of that future thinking group. What started out as an idea nine years ago, has since changed the way properties are listed, searched and bought. Our forward thinking has enabled us to develop innovative tools that now enables consumers to search for properties directly from their mobile phones, tablets and even desktops, and all at the their own convenience.

“Be hungry. Be foolish,” the late Steve Jobs admonished the world.

Our one-stop search platform also makes it easy for consumers to make an informed decision as they are provided with up-to-date news on the property industry.

Believing in a dream and seeing it true is also a key fundamental in any successful venture. Having the can do attitude and the determination is just as crucial.

 

 

 

 

So, think ahead and in the wise words of Mahatma Gandhi – “The future depends on what you do today”, so think ahead and start working towards a better future today!

We at the iProperty Group are.

Have a great weekend!

3 Feb

iProperty Group Adopts a Mobile First Approach

It’s February and what an exciting month it is!

I am thrilled to announce that we launched our new mobile strategy and development team. The formation of the new team is in line with our company’s objective of becoming an organisation that is mobile-first in its outlook.

The team, comprising of experts and headed by Michael Ong, will be in charge of developing innovative mobile products for customers and consumers across the group’s core markets – Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Singapore.

The team will also be responsible for the Group’s presence on all non-computer platforms – mobile phones, smartphones, tablets, smart televisions and other devices.

The iProperty Group has and will always be committed to enhancing the experience of our property buyers and investors, including meeting the future needs of our customers and consumer.

We have a lot of interesting things in the pipe line, so do stay tuned!

Aside from that, tomorrow also marks World Cancer Day.  It’s a day where the world unites together in the fight again the global cancer epidemic. To all fighting the battle, I pray that you combat the disease successfully!

Enjoy the weekend!

27 Jan

A Successful Start for the iProperty Group

Hope you had a great Chinese New Year celebration and enjoyed the long weekend!

In 2011, the teams all across the iProperty Group focused their commitment on building relationships with customers and in finding ways to further enhance the experience of consumers who visit our website, to search for the dream home.

Our inaugural publication – Malaysia Top Property Developers 2011/2012

The dedication, passion and unrelenting commitment showcased by the team have resulted in the group achieving a 103% increase in revenue, and a 72% increase in the number of paying agents. The Group also significantly deepened its relationship with property developers, highlighted by the launch of our Top Developers publication earlier this year.

To our loyal and esteemed consumers and customers, this success could not have been achieved without you as well. The growth we’ve experienced over the years is because of customers and consumers like you, who faithfully support our business.

We appreciate your trust, and we’ll do our best to continue to give you the kind of service you deserve.

And to the entire team at the iProperty Group, a big THANK YOU for all your hard work and dedication. Your passion and determination, has helped us achieve one milestone after another.

Our performance in 2011 provides us with an outstanding starting point for 2012, and rest assured, we have a clear strategy for each country and will continue to focus on executing our plans to continue to deliver only the best for you.

Have a great weekend.

20 Jan

iProperty.com Introduces Malaysia to the World

A year ago, the team at the Malaysia office sat down and put their heads together on how best to give tribute to the unsung heroes who have through the years been instrumental in shaping the skylines of Malaysia – our developers.

They thought and they thought hard till they came up with the perfect idea – a coffee table book that will not only showcase their prestigious developments, but also their biographies and future developments. All encapsulated in a book that will proudly give these unsung heroes the due recognition they deserve.

And delivered on that idea the team most certainly did. Aptly named, Malaysia Top Property Developers 2011/2012, this 250-plus page limited edition publication is the perfect starting point for anyone keen on investing in property in Malaysia as the book features profiles of 36 of the country’s top property developers, inspiration and concepts of their signature developments. Aside from that, the book also highlights their past and upcoming projects and offers a comprehensive index and contact list of these developers.

The hard work the team put in has finally paid off when we launched the publication, which is in line with the company’s mission to be innovative in finding avenues to promote the property industry to world, together with the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Malaysia Properties Incorporated.

I am also proud to say that the book has also garnered the support from the Ministry of Tourism as well.

The book is retailing at RM 99 and is available at all major bookstores – MPH, Kinokuniya, Borders, Times and also Popular. So, do grab a copy of this highly coveted book at a bookstore near you.

To the team, kudos on putting together a book that not only showcases Malaysia’s finest developers and developments but for also giving the world the opportunity to know more about them!

Here are a few snapshots of the launch:

Our inaugural publication – Malaysia Top Property Developers 2011/2012

An Auspicious Moment for iProperty.com Malaysia –The signing of the mock cover of the Malaysia Top Property Developers 2011/2012 coffee table book together with the Minister of Housing and Local Government and CEO of Malaysia Properties Incorporated

A Group Shot – (L-R) Timothy Hor, Country Manager of iProperty.com Malaysia, YB Datuk Seri Chor Chee Heung, Minister of Housing and Local Government, Kumar Tharmalingam, CEO of Malaysia Properties Incorporated and Daniel Ho, Manager, Developer Services, iProperty.com Malaysia

On a separate note, I would also like to take this opportunity to wish all those who are celebrating a Happy Chinese New Year, Gong Xi Fa Chai. According to the Chinese calendar, this year marks the year the Dragon and it is often believed that that the dragon is an auspicious symbol as it signifies success and happiness.

So to all, may success and happiness be yours all through the year!

Enjoy the long weekend and festivities.

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