With 22-years experience, 18 consultations and having dealt with some 9,000 properties, Stephanie Chang, is undoubtedly the “queen” of the property market in Ipoh.

An interesting fact is that those involved in the property industry were known as a “broker”.

But the term broker lost its trust worthiness with potential buyers and so players in the property industry had to evolve.

Nowadays, those involved in the property industry are known by many high profile names like real estate negotiator, property negotiator, property specialist, property agent and many more savvy names.

Ironically, in the early days, there was almost no demand for flats or apartments in the Ipoh.

This may be due to the fact that land was readily available to put up numerous landed properties.

“It has been 17 years strictly in the property industry and about 10 years as project marketing consultant for various project development in Ipoh and also other states.

“The overall market is greatly affected by the pandemic and the political situation, but the property Industry is still very active especially in Ipoh and overall in the state of Perak,” said Stephanie when met by Ipoh Hyperlocal recently.

She also added that the top three states with the highest number of residential property transactions (in this order) are Selangor, Johor and Perak.

“This is due to the low interest rates and the reintroduction of the Home Ownership Campaign (HOC) which has sustained the overall Malaysian residential property market performance last year.

“Landed residential properties especially in the price range of RM300K to RM500k are moving fast. This is due to the fact that landed properties still remain the most popular choice.

“So much land, so, why buy highrise is the feedback. As such, the total demand of landed property is much higher than the highrise properties.

“Meanwhile, commercial properties seem to be a bit slow, as lots of businesses are changing to online and others are looking into residential for home business,” she adds.

Stephanie also shares that among the choice locations in the city are in Ipoh Garden, Canning Garden, town area, or areas that have their own community like Botani area which there is International school, medical centre and other commercial outlets.

Other prime areas are the Thompson Road and Meru Valley which offer gated and guarded communities.

“From the time I started in the industry, I can say that due to material cost which keeps on increasing, the house price has also increased drastically.

“Compared with other states, in Perak, one can still find a lot of affordable properties.

“The current climate is good for homebuyers as it is a buyer’s market now. As for investors, it is also a good time to buy good-grade properties that can give high yields when the market recovers.

“Borrowing rates are at an all-time low, developers are more willing to sell at a lower profit margin for better cash flow, and there are many keen sellers in the market who are ready to negotiate a deal.

“Developers have also learnt that they need to innovate and not rely solely on the traditional ways of marketing their projects. They have adopted new digital technologies, switched to online marketing platforms and virtual walk through to survive,” said Stephanie.

In line with this, she has also diversified into other businesses related to her business, like Property Management and Mortgage management which provides one-stop service to clients.

Her other ventures include some trading business, distributorship like LG water and air purifier, Gaharu extract products whereby there is no need to stock up, no or low entry fee, attractive business plan and good commission schemes.

In ending the interview, Stephanie has some sound advice –

“With the price correction and various incentives offered, now is a good time for home seekers to buy properties for owner-occupation as it is a buyer’s market.

“The waiver of the Property Gains Tax is another incentive.

“The government has also introduced various incentives, such as the HOC and other stimulus packages to encourage property purchase, especially for first-time homebuyers,” she said.