This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on August 10, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: The local property market may have bottomed out last year with transaction volumes hitting the lowest point since 2012, Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents (MIEA) president Eric Lim Chin Heng said, noting that the market is set to gradually improve in the years ahead through to 2020. The number of transactions amounted to 311,824 last year.

“We envisage that the market will continue experiencing ‘confidence gaining growth’ as fundamentals improve under the new government. Real estate investors, who have been playing an important part in the property market’s growth, have been on the sidelines for many years now and are looking forward to coming back to the market,” he said in a statement yesterday.

The body foresees the implementation of new policies by the government to boost the property market.

Lim pointed to two major events including plans to introduce and manage the supply of affordable housing and the forthcoming national budget, which “will be a test for the new government in tackling the woes of the property industry”.

On its part, to help spur further confidence building, MIEA will be focusing the content of its continuous development programmes (CDPs) towards empowering the 18,000 active members of the real estate fraternity with new knowledge and improving skills with an emphasis on professionalism and integrity.

Lim added that MIEA has been proactive in addressing the needs of the real estate fraternity and it was decided that CDP programme courses developed by MIEA would focus on skill development, appealing to both the new and experienced real estate negotiators to enhance their ability to serve clients more effectively.

The CDP is an annual training programme required by the Board of Valuers, Appraisers, Estate Agents and Property Managers to ensure that real estate negotiators (RENs) are trained to be relevant in the work they do.

This will enable RENs to continue practising for the coming year, allowing for the renewal of their REN tags.

“We want to prepare and provide opportunities to the RENs to be able to power through a challenging market and are prepared to reap the benefits when the market is expected to start picking up again in 2019,” Lim added.

The CDP programme will be held three times a week until end-December to cater for all negotiators.