How Azmi & Co Harnessed Technology To Land Millions in Real Estate Sales During the 2020 Pandemic

While he would not claim the title of a “visionary”, managing director of Azmi & Co Sabah, Mr Wong Chaw Kok clearly emphasized and demonstrated the importance of understanding market knowledge in a tell-all interview regarding the progress and status of the leading Malaysian real estate agency this year. 

The year 2020 was without a doubt the most unprecedented time ever witnessed by this generation in the history of real estate, and any business for that matter. The closest economic circumstance that Mr Wong could compare the COVID-19 pandemic to, from his own experience, was the SARS pandemic in 2002 which is a storm in a teacup comparatively. However, the first pandemic of the 21st century had a totally different effect on the human population, now that the world of technology and The Internet is in full force. 

The Foundation to Success is Knowing The Trends

“It’s like everyone is playing musical chairs and suddenly the music stops. Now everyone is rushing to get the best available seat. That’s how I like to view it.” Mr Wong chuckled when asked about his view of the pandemic effect on the market.

“The year 2020 is a period of resetting in anticipation of what is going to come. The response is mainly from governments and central banks and how they are addressing the fallout and impact of this pandemic. Number one, they are pumping liquidity into the market and secondly, they are reducing interest rates to alleviate the household burden in terms of payments and also relieving cash flow for companies. In that sense, it gives us breathing space with the market pause to realign our finances.”

“There was plenty of speculation about whether house prices would drop and what we are seeing now is that transaction activity has dropped drastically, I would say about 80%, on an overall basis. Prices are however holding although an uptick in auctions is noticed. If the pandemic persists for a lengthy period, a decline in prices may result. Some sectors of the economy are performing better than others, for example, the stock market is reaching all-time highs in some regions. The question is, will this liquidity flow into the real estate market. I think it is a question of when...?”

Despite the challenges of surviving the economic downturn in 2020, I was curious why and how Azmi & Co had recently expanded and renovated their Sabah headquarters of 3 of their 6 floors in KK Times Square. It turns out that their group had grown and performed exceptionally well, closing a whopping total of RM250 million in sales this year. 

Understanding the Flavour Of The Times 

It would be redundant to list out all the new Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) norms the company and every other business has followed to adapt to the current times. Instead, the agency’s positive performance came naturally to them due to their well-informed understanding of the market and the need for efficiency. 

Clearly, with social distancing and enforced SOP, everyone has turned to rely on digital marketing and online sales. 95% of the sales this year by Azmi & Co were in fact made online and this was largely due to their freshly curated digital portal.

Just before Malaysia implemented the Movement Control Order (MCO) in mid-March 2020, Azmi & Co understood that affordable housing was the “flavour of the times”, as Mr Wong put it. They saw the growing demand for this market even before the economy was severely hit and Mr Wong was able to explain that this is partly due to a factor unique to Sabah - the issue of land scarcity.

Kota Kinabalu, being a narrow coastal city, pushes property prices to unaffordable levels for the general public forcing them to look at the outskirts, such as Tuaran and Papar, for affordable homes. KK City itself has very little suitable sites remaining and at the right price for development of affordable houses.

First Agency in Sabah to Adopt Full Digitalization 

With this insight, Azmi & Co then decided to take on a more aggressive stance on the PR1MA affordable housing market and knew that they would need a system to streamline and process a heavier volume of transactions. 

A fully encompassed agency portal allowed Azmi & Co to harness the power of technology and convert a mass number of bookings into sales. Not only does it make the buyer’s experience more seamless but it also provides a platform to support the agents, from managing their portfolio to personal branding. 

Homebuyers can browse all listings showcased by an agent with a single scan of a QR Code and make a booking. The system then acts as a one-stop centre for the agent to manage all bookings and even transaction payments.

No more chasing admin for receipts and documents. Furthermore, no other agency in Sabah at this time offers such a fully-integrated platform and paperless software for their agents and negotiators.

What’s next for Malaysian real estate and Azmi & Co?

“I think next year is the year of reckoning and we’ll probably see sub-sale properties coming back only in 2022 - 2023, and possibly a boom in 2024. There’s so much money in the financial system but it’s not seen on the ground. However, there will come a time when that money will have to hit the ground and it will push prices back up. The market will come back with a stronger bounce, the only question is when? In my opinion, it will be in 2024. So next year will be a good time, if not the best time to buy if you are looking for a home or looking to invest in properties”

Azmi & Co is not just an estate agency but a company with many hats providing a full suite of property services. They have reorganised and recruited heads of three valuable departments moving forward. These services include:

• Real Estate Valuation and Consultancy 
• Real Estate Agency
• Property Management

For the upcoming year, the Sabah branch of Azmi & Co has a positive and proactive outlook. They anticipate growth in their team of dedicated RENs and REAs by early 2021 and in the case that their newly reorganised divisions bloom and scale new heights, they plan to further expand and occupy all their 6 floors at KK Times Square.

You can get in touch and follow their journey by visiting their website at https://www.azmigroup.com.my/