Swhengtee Eyes US$22.68 Million Sales At Property Expo

KUALA LUMPUR, April 18 (Bernama) -- Swhengtee International Sdn Bhd, a property exposition organiser, aims to rake in US$22.68 million (RM100 million) worth of property sales in the upcoming Swhengtee Property Expo 2017. Group President, Gavin Tee, said the sales target was higher than last year’s figure of US$15.88 million (RM70 million), which was expected to be propelled by buyers from China. “Many Chinese have travelled around the world and have finally come to the conclusion that Malaysia is still the best place for them as their final destination for business, education, health and wellness, and retirement,” he told reporters at the soft launch of Swhengtee Property Expo here Tuesday. Swhengtee Property Expo also inked a memorandum of agreement with China’s One Belt One Road Property and Finance Expo to enhance property visibility in Malaysia to Chinese investors. Asked whether the capital controls imposed by Beijing in late December would hinder investments in Malaysian property, Tee said contrary to public perception, Malaysia might prove to be the biggest beneficiary of China's capital controls. “Malaysia will be the main beneficiary due to its close connection and cultural similarities with China. The impact is certainly positive for Malaysia even in the short term,” he said. He said the Chinese were encouraged by the fact that their government has warm ties with the Malaysian government, with many mega projects being jointly undertaken or are in the pipeline. "The Malaysian government policies are friendly to them and that's a very strong pull factor,” he said. Tee said he expected more Chinese investments to come in as the Chinese would continue to invest in overseas properties, and in the long term, might even make up the biggest share of the world's property market. Chinese investors, in general, were also suffering from western fatigue where many western nations such as the United Kingdom and Australia, as well as Hong Kong and Singapore, had imposed protectionist policies including high barriers to property investment in their countries, he said. “This has prompted the Chinese to shift their attention to more welcoming regions like ASEAN, within which Malaysia stands out for being the most Chinese-friendly in terms of our policies and government-to-government cooperation,” he said. Additionally, many Chinese mainlanders had participated in the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme, an initiative by the Malaysian government to encourage foreigners to reside in the country. “Their MM2H residency in Malaysia would lead the Chinese to bring their business enterprises and network to Malaysia, as well as their families, and this augurs well for the property market in Malaysia,” he added. Swhengtee Property Expo, which will be held on June 24-25, 2017 at the MidValley Exhibition Centre here, expects to draw some 20,000 local and foreign visitors. --BERNAMA