Kota Kinabalu (Thursday) - SEDIA Chief Executive Datuk Dr Mohd Yaakub Johari, while presenting during a seminar on the real estate industry, spoke of Sabah as blessed with excellent locations, natural resources, cultural heritage and biodiversity which can contribute to Malaysia’s real estate sales internationally.

“Sabah, being not only a gateway for regional trade but also ideal for transhipment between, Kalimantan, Southern Philippines and North Asian countries such as China, Japan and South Korea, can also capitalise on market deregulation of the ASEAN Free Trade Area,” he said.

Datuk Dr Mohd Yaakub was giving a presentation on ‘Sabah Development Corridor: Latest update and Long Term Sabah Economic Outlook’ during the seminar entitled “How to sell Malaysian Real Estate internationally”, organised by Malaysia Property Incorporated (MPI) and Sabah Housing and Real Estate Developers Association (SHAREDA).

Similarly, SHAREDA President Datuk Susan Wong said in her opening speech that Sabah is reputed to be an eco-tourism destination and Kota Kinabalu is known as the nature resort city, providing an eco-environmental place to live in. She also added that Sabah is home to many different races and ethnic groups who live together harmoniously, which ensures great potential in the tourism industry.

When speaking on the Malaysian Real Estate market, she said the Malaysian government had made it fairly easy for foreigners to buy property here as there is a programme which overseas buyers can participate in called Malaysia My Second Home. The programme had further boosted the strength of the property market and opened up many new investment opportunities for the foreign investors.

"Our Malaysian properties have also proven to be popular with investors from the United States, Japan, China and the Middle East. The foreign investors are all set to enjoy high returns on their investments because Malaysia has portrayed very well with strong economic policies in the international property arena that have given confidence to the foreign investors. The laws governing foreign investors in Malaysia is quite relaxed like no Real Property Gain Tax after the first five years, which is five per cent within the first five years," she said.

Towards this end, Susan stated that the seminar by MPI was timely, which she believed would enhance the knowledge of property and real estate players in Sabah in selling internationally. Other speakers during the seminar were MPI General Manager Venna Loh, MPI Legal Adviser Chris Tan and PriceWaterhouseCoopers Executive Director Phan Wai Kuan. Present during the seminar were Institute of Development Studies cum MPI Board member Datuk Seri Panglima Clarence Bongkos Malakun, SHAREDA Vice Presidents Wong Ten An and Chew Seng Hai, and its council members Leena Toyoi and Datuk Chong Hon Len. -SDCMedia