Sabah Real Estate Pioneers Going Global with Knight Frank Property Hub

With their vision to further reinforce their position as the leading, global real estate consultant in Malaysia, Knight Frank Malaysia acquired real estate agency Property Hub Sdn Bhd in a joint venture (JV) earlier this year and rebranded the agency as Knight Frank Property Hub Sdn Bhd (KFPH).

The merger made headlines as it was the first time the international corporation had acquired a real estate agency with a base here in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

Expanding with a real estate agency that has aligned values and a professional calibre was a vital deciding factor in ensuring a successful joint venture for Knight Frank Malaysia.

So why Property Hub?

Property Hub comprises over 120 real estate professionals, almost half of which are based at the Sabah branch here in Kota Kinabalu.

The Sabah branch of Property Hub was founded by real estate pioneers, Enoch Khoo and Fiona Wong.

Fiona, who now leads the operations leg of KFPH, began her journey in real estate about a decade ago after working at Singapore Airlines.

The two old primary school mates from Sandakan reconnected in Kuala Lumpur while working in real estate and decided in 2014 that they would bring their oversea knowledge and experience back home by founding Property Hub Sabah.

Together, Fiona and Enoch, the sales and marketing leg of the firm, eventually led the team together to be a five year consecutive Malaysia Institute of Estate Agents (MIEA) Real Estate Firm of the Year (Sabah) and have produced 7 MIEA Award Winners.

Rooted in Sabah

Enoch is no stranger to the industry and is locally known as “Sabah Boy” for transforming the real estate landscape. By founding Property Hub Sabah with his partner, Fiona, he was the first in the state to connect East and West Malaysia real estate.

Enoch Khoo, Director of Knight Frank Property Hub Sdn Bhd

Enoch Khoo, Director of Knight Frank Property Hub Sdn Bhd

His raw and indispensable opinions and expertise led Enoch to also author his first book “Cock & Bull of the Real Estate Industry” in 2015.

As a pioneer in project marketing, Enoch has spoken in Australia, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore over the past 10 years and to date, Property Hub Sabah has brought in RM200 million worth of investments.

Commitment to Success

“Our relationship with our developers lasts for years and we start and finish the projects with them,” Enoch said.

“One of our key differences in marketing projects for our developers is our advisory, research & long term partnerships with the developers we are associated with."

T1@ Bundusan and also T2 @ Apas, Tawau has proven their capabilities that their agency starts and finishes a project together with a developer and ensures the success of their developments.

Fiona Wong, Director of Knight Frank Property Hub

Fiona Wong, Director of Knight Frank Property Hub

“Even after completing a project with a developer, we are still focused on their development as we cater for the sub-sale market after all the work is done so we still provide consistent after sales services to our clients.

"This gives our client’s the peace of mind whenever they deal with KFPH RENs (real estate negotiators), as they know we are here for the long run," Fiona added.

Currently, KFPH are the sole marketing agency for The Logg project at Lintas, Luyang and they look forward to repeating their past performance and ensuring the success of this project for the client.

“Locally Expert, Globally Connected”

- Knight Frank Property Hub

"We want to play a BIG role in bringing investments to Sabah & Malaysia where we are the local experts in our territory. With Knight Franks global reach, we can connect with the right clients globally to the potential Sabah has in the real estate Industry," Enoch championed.

"Therefore one of the biggest change in mindset for us after this merger is we are starting to look at opportunities from a global perspective as we now have the right platform for us to do so."

No other firm in Sabah have this platform which allows true global connections.

385 Offices

52 Territories

16,000 People

1 Team

Knight Frank Property Hub prides itself on having top class professionals.

“In the year 2019, Property Hub Sabah managed to produce a National MIEA Award Winner which showed that the number one real estate negotiator in the whole of Malaysia can be from Sabah too." Fiona said.

"This has never happened before and we are glad we created this history and caught the attention of our Peninsular Malaysia friends for our performance.”

Enoch added, "This is what inspires me and Fiona to carry on our work. To elevate and bring Sabah Real Estate to a national level and now with this merger with Knight Frank we have brought it to a global level."

We believe in doing things the right way because you never know who is observing. The next big opportunity is just around the corner.

"It speaks volume of what we truly believe in which is Quality over Quantity. It is in line with our tagline, 'Locally Expert, Globally Connected'."

"I believe one of the key considerations which sets us apart from the rest of the agencies is, All our RENs at Knight Frank Property Hub are full time. We are serious and focused on our clients real estate needs. "

What's next for Knight Frank Property Hub Sabah?

"As a company we are looking to expand to Penang, Johor & Sarawak. We want to provide this true global platform and will be actively looking for the right talents & partners for these expansion plans.

"As for Sabah, we will be looking to establish an even stronger foothold and dominance in the real estate industry.

"While expansion are in the plans, we will do so selectively only with the right partners or associates as we want to attract people with similar visions and goals to be part of our journey."

Knight Frank Property Hub is only 6 months into the joint venture and the future is looking bright. Opportunities have now opened up to Sabah investors on a global scale like never before.

For more information on Knight Frank Property Hub, you can visit their website at https://knightfrankpropertyhub.com/

Property Hunter would like to thank Enoch Khoo and Fiona Wong of Knight Frank Property Hub for this exclusive interview.

Special thanks to Monocolo Boutique Hotel for sponsoring the event space to conduct the featured photoshoot and interview.