Former Savills analyst Mr. Ku Swee Yong hopes to shake up the property scene in Singapore with his new agency International Property Advisor (IPA), which aims to connect high net worth individuals to suitable property investment products.
“We want to provide a service to represent the private wealth that goes into real estate investments,” said Mr. Ku.
He was the real estate division director of SG Private Banking before he left early this year to set up IPA. Prior to joining SG Private Banking in 2008, he was the director for marketing and business development at Savills Singapore for over two years.
According to Mr. Ku, he set up IPA to bridge the gap in the property advisory space. Presently, most property firms in the country employ agents who instruct clients on buying, selling or leasing physical real estate without taking into account other classes of property investments such as equities.
However, private clients, who qualified for private banking accounts, require a different approach, said Mr. Ku.
“We require consultants and brokers who are able to think on behalf of the private client, and this involves knowledge of the client’s portfolio and the wide range of investment products competing for the client’s attention,” he said.
Mr. Ku expects that through IPA, the gap between bankers and property consultants will be bridged.
“Bankers are typically not equipped to deal with or cannot understand or manage real estate as part of their core work,” he said. “And real estate professionals typically do not have enough financial knowledge. We bridge this gap and differentiate ourselves by providing a holistic solution for clients.”
The new agency will assist in managing the property portfolios of affluent investors to enhance and preserve value, pattern real estate portfolio strategies to the objectives of the clients, like estate planning to wealth creation, and broker transactions on the ground, which will provide the team direct knowledge on prices, as well as on the demand and supply situation.
Mr. Ku says that there is a remarkable potential for such services. About a fifth of high net worth individual’s wealth in the Asia-Pacific is in real estate and interest in property-related investments has been growing.
Mr. Ku plans to collaborate with private banks and businesses in need of property expertise. He is also looking to hire and increase IPA’s headcount to 12, from the current five.