Knight Frank Malaysia expands residential business via acquisition of Property Hub
KUALA LUMPUR: Real estate services firm Knight Frank Malaysia has acquired a majority stake in agency Property Hub Sdn Bhd and set up a joint venture – called Knight Frank Property Hub Sdn Bhd – to grow its residential business.
Knight Frank Malaysia group managing director Sarkunan Subramaniam said it has acquired a 51% stake in Property Hub, while Knight Frank Asia Pacific has acquired a 10% stake in the agency.
Property Hub, which has 120 agents across its Kuala Lumpur headquarters and Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, branch, will integrate with Knight Frank Malaysia’s residential operations, acting as the key element of the company’s agency network for the segment.
“Our next expansion plan is for Knight Frank Property Hub to go into Penang this year, as well as Johor (in the future),” Sarkunan told a press conference yesterday, adding that its target is to double the turnover of Knight Frank Property Hub within three years.
Knight Frank Property Hub in Malaysia will operate as the focal residential, project marketing and international project marketing arm, leveraging Property Hub’s strengths and track record in the residential sub-sale and mid-to-high-end markets, its substantial cache of highnet-worth clients as well as its experience serving multinational and expatriate clients from over 50 countries.
Sarkunan added that with the combination of its 600 professionals in Malaysia, this will enhance Knight Frank Malaysia’s ability to provide comprehensive solutions for clients in any market across the country.
Knight Frank Malaysia group executive chairman Eric Ooi said Property Hub provides strength in its numbers, reach and will use technology to be competitive in the market.
“Knight Frank Malaysia focused a lot initially on our advisory work (valuation and consultancy) and later on we grew our (property) management business. Growing the residential (business) is probably the last jigsaw in our puzzle. We didn’t focus on it earlier because there were many competition in the market,” explained Ooi.
Knight Frank Property Hub managing director and Property Hub co-founder Benjamin Tee said this joint venture aligns with its vision to provide clients with a full range of services including valuation, capital markets, corporate services and property management, while leveraging its expertise in residential sales and leasing as well as project marketing.
Sarkunan said the property market is poised to recover strongly this year as Malaysia enters the endemic phase, while pent-up income during the pandemic allows people to invest in properties now.