New SHAREDA President Initiatives to Propel Sabah Property Market into Recovery

In 5 years, 10,000 applicants depositing RM4 million each under the business migration scheme will instantly produce RM40 billion investment into SDB. 

“This is called passive investment migration. With a 5 times spin-off effect, RM200 Billion will eventually result from this initiative and Sabah will be one of the richest states in the nation,” explains Datuk Chua. “By lowering the threshold for professionals, whereby they only need to invest 600k in property, we broaden our pool of expert talent while also driving up capital in the state. Talent is what we need in Sabah.”

Property investors favourite one-stop shop is returning!

For the second segment of the survival initiative, SHAREDA has announced that they will be hosting Sabah’s largest property exhibition, Propex 2021 this year. The property expo will be held this November 26-28 2021, at the Sabah International Convention Center. It will be a 3-day event for hungry buyers to attend and delve into the business opportunities available in Sabah real estate.

Servicing Sabah’s issues in the industry

The second part of Datuk Chua’s manifesto aims to amend the issues existing in the market. Malaysia including Sabah’s biggest problem is that there is an overhang of properties unsold and it stems from the mismatch of properties available for home-seekers and the challenges in end financing. 

A mismatch of properties happens when the supply of housing does not match the demand. Homes are being built rapidly that do not meet the public’s capacity and desires to buy. This then leads to difficulty in obtaining financing loans from banks as there is an over-supply of what the banks considered as high-risk properties such as the high rise investment alike property. It is a nation-wide dilemma.

Datuk Chua’s answer to this lies in zeroing in on the actual data and statistics of supply and demand. 

He said, “If the Ministry of Local Government & Housing can practice big data sharing for projects planned over the next 5-10 years, developers can project and evaluate zoning before committing to construction and applying for APDL (Advertising Permit and Developer’s License).” Moving forward, this will correct the oversupply of mismatched properties. To target and understand the demand, Datuk Chua calls for institutions and the department of statistics to conduct market surveys. This practice will guide developments in Sabah to follow a market-driven demand.

“This is how to reduce the risk of abandonment before construction commences. We will be the first in Malaysia to have such big data analysis across the industry, shared with developers and other stakeholders like banks. It is very important we follow this to eliminate the possibility of mismatch properties and end financing issues.

We request the state to streamline the government policies and simplify the guidelines to make it more conducive in doing business in Sabah so that the overall development cost will be reduced due to smoother efficiency and overcoming holding cost element thus making homes more affordable."

Education is the key to longevity 

SHAREDA’s vision for its involvement in the industry exceeds the board’s term of just 2 years. The long-term initiatives will sustain the industry for generations to come, starting with the youth of Sabah.

The key movement for sustainability in the industry is to educate the workforce so SHAREDA will be collaborating with an institution to construct a highly-specialized diploma program for real estate development, focusing on the upstream side of the scope of business. 

He and the board members are well-versed and trained in the area of upstream property development and this sector knowledge is what is lacking and needed in Malaysia. Currently, there is only one other course in the country that focuses on upstream real estate development and that was created by REHDA in West Malaysia. For downstream development, there are plenty of courses available.

The course will be a part-time sandwich course where developers can send their staffs to study for the diploma while working at the same time. 

Additionally, to raise up the next generation of industry players, SHAREDA has appointed a new youth chairman and invited two youth members to join its regular council meetings.

Green practices for sustainable development

Sustainability in real estate development is important to SHAREDA and to the future of the Sabah economy and environment. The first green practice they are promoting is net metering. This is an electricity billing mechanism that allows consumers who generate some or all of their own electricity to use it at any time, instead of relying on Sabah Electricity Sdn. Bhd. (SESB) to generate the entire supply. Any leftover electricity can be sold back to SESB. 

Datuk Chua suggests that government buildings should be the first to implement this practice. They also wish to introduce rainwater harvesting. Being in a tropical climate, there should never be a shortage of water and yet, this is an issue Sabah often encounters. This method allows residents and businesses to collect and store rainwater from rooftops for supplementary supply.