Kuala Lumpur, 10 June 2013 – In what is the first of its kind, Malaysia’s Asia Mobile & Technology Real Estate Conference (AMTREC) proved to be a major success – engaging over 300 real estate professionals and providing them with a glimpse of what the future holds for the industry and the profession.
Held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel from June 8-9, 2013, AMTREC was significant for breaking new ground – triggering a new wave of awareness and realisation among local real estate professionals towards embracing technology while thoroughly engaging them to bridge the existing technological gap like never before.
Agents were privileged to receive first-hand; the latest statistics (and their significance) as presented by regional experts as well as personally experience a view of the future i.e. the latest technological trends and developments. Among these included online conveyancing, pre-booking of properties online, the power of mobile that is revolutionising how property agents will provide listings and close sales and how to tap the tremendous potential of the fastest growing property market in the world; the mobile and online consumer markets.
One of the key barriers for Malaysia’s real estate profession was this technological gap” – where many agents remained unaware or disinterested in venturing online or going mobile. This, in effect was a potential loss not just for business development, but it could potentially mean losing out to the increasingly growing technologically savvy competition.
But through initiatives such as AMTREC, this is changing.
“There is still some way to go before technology is embraced comprehensively, but the past two days have shown that in Malaysia, that journey has well and truly taken its fledgling steps. There is greater realisation that technology represents the future and it will be an integral component for the real estate agent going forward,” shared Gerard Kho, Country Manager of Propertyguru.com.my.
“AMTREC has made a real impact on real estate professionals, by grabbing their attention and interest on how technology empowers them to perform so much better. It has created a realisation that technology is an ally for success and it is here to stay. Judging from the response we have received, AMTREC has certainly made an impression in the minds of people towards accepting technology. We are looking forward to making AMTREC an annual affair,” added Kho.
One key factor for AMTREC’s success was its credible list of expert speakers, comprising of both PropertyGuru and external experts – regional and international leaders who generously shared some their insights with attendees.
These experts included William Woo, Industry Head for Property at Google Singapore (formerly APAC Sales Director for Yahoo! Mobile), Timothy Hor, CEO of Reapfield Academy – Reapfield Group and former General Manager of iProperty.com, Tom Hogg from SEA’s leading digital measurement specliast, Effective Measure, Milan Doshi, millionaire property investor and best-selling author, Lisa Rehak, user experience research consultant, who has worked on complex healthcare, online, solar, and military systems for users, Louis Bernard, mobile evangelist and Product Manager for mobile at PropertyGuru.com, renowned internet business coach Pam Siow and award-winning realtor and motivational speaker, Kenny Tan and others.
Echoing Kho’s sentiments were several of the participants, whom agreed that AMTREC has been an illuminating experience. Many have already decided to employ online and mobile elements as part of their marketing or personal branding strategies.
The shift towards what was once a gray and alien medium is well underway. For many, AMTREC is the start to embracing a “brave new world”.
For more information on AMTREC and PropertyGuru, visit: propertyguru.com.my.
About PropertyGuru Group
PropertyGuru Group is Asia’s leading online property portal group used by almost 11 million property buyers, viewing over 89 million property pages and generating over 350,000 enquiries for real estate developer and agent advertisers – every month.
Headquartered in Singapore, PropertyGuru was founded in 2006 by 2 entrepreneurs with a vision to simplify the property search process and help buyers, sellers and investors make better property decisions faster. Taking advantage of Asia’s growing affluence, property demand and online explosion, it received its first VC investment funding in 2008 and most recently secured approximately $60m investment in 2012 from Deutsche Telekom, South East Asia’s largest digital investment to date. Since its launch, PropertyGuru has reported rapid growth and most recently announced a record 96% increase in revenue, 60% increase in internet users and 50% increase in paying agent advertisers to over 24,000 – in 2012.
The award winning company focuses heavily on innovation. Over the last 2 years, the Company has developed and launched 15 mobile applications in 4 countries and 3 languages which have received over half a million downloads – almost 50 per cent of its users in Singapore now originate from a mobile device. PropertyGuru was also the first to integrate website with social media, first to launch Singapore’s only dedicated property newspaper with over 100,000 copies circulated island-wide every month and developing a property events platform with approximately 30 shows held annually across 4 countries addressing 30,000 potential property buyers on the ground.
About PropertyGuru Malaysia
Propertyguru.com.my is the fastest growing property portal in the country with offices in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor. The Malaysian portal currently has over 1.5 million visitors viewing almost 12 million property pages monthly.
PropertyGuru Malaysia reported a 2.5 times growth in revenue in 2012, attributed to a large growth in agent members, real estate developers and bank clients as well as a rise of 132% in website visitors to reach more than 11 million in comparison to the same period at the end of the previous year.
2012 also saw PropertyGuru taking the lead in the mobile space in Malaysia with the triple launches of PropertyGuru Malaysia’s consumer mobile app on Android and iPhone platforms as well as the Agent app on Android. The mobile apps have proved to be highly popular since launching in Q3 2012, with both consumers app receiving more than 77,700 downloads within three short months alone, with over 20% of all PropertyGuru users are now using mobile phone or tablet to visit the website in Malaysia.
For more queries or to arrange for an interview, contact:
Joshua Rayan
Tel: +6-012 368 8042
Email: josh@wordswizards.com
Sally Yeow
Tel: 017 374 0056/ 012 219 5767
Email: sally@mustardtree.com.my
Jade Wong
Tel: (+6) 012-219 5289
Email: jade@mustardtee.com.my