1. real estate

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CEO
CONVERSATIONS
2014
The Business Times | Wednesday, October 8, 2014
“It is not how many
people you have,
it is who you have.
It is not how many
hours you work, it is
how you work.
It is not how many
days you work
because we simply
work on weekends
when most people
don’t. The results
tell the story.”
David Yuen, managing director of Austpac International,
shares the secrets of the real estate agency’s success.
DAVID AND
GOLIATH
W
ITH only 25 staff,
Austpac International Pte Ltd’s
taking on of the
property market
is like the fable of David and Goliath.
And, like the tale, the group, which
has been marketing and managing
Australian and New Zealand properties in South-east Asia since 1992, has
found no small measure of success.
Amongst its many accomplishments include the fact that it has
made more than 30,000 sales across
300 projects in the past. It also currently runs offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, and Kuala Lumpur.
“We have never had more than 50
staff at any given time anyway. It
doesn’t sound like a lot for 30,000
sales right? But let me assure you it is
enough to do the job. It is not how
many people you have, it is who you
have. It is not how many hours you
work, it is how you work. It is not how
many days you work because we simply work on weekends when most
people don’t. The results tell the sto-
ry,” says David Yuen, managing director of the group. Mr Yuen, who has
ben in the real estate industry for 28
years, started Austpac PRD Realty in
Hong Kong in 1989.
SUCCESS BUILT
ON STRONG
FUNDAMENTALS
Austpac’s success comes from a mix
of factors – sheer hard work, an astute
reading of the market, and of course,
a strong team.
It is, after all, the only agency that
provides full scale services to investors and clients. This includes buying
and selling, property management including rental collection and repairs,
mortgage financing and refinancing,
and accounting services including tax
returns and tax planning.
“Personally I think the most important part of the investing/purchasing
decision is having during sales and after sales service.
“Imagine the investor experience
buying 10 overseas properties in 10
overseas countries without the after-sale and during-sale service!”
The property consultancy has
worked hard to earn its stripes. It has,
in the past 25 years, held more than
2,000 weekend exhibitions across
Asia. “No other agent has ever come
close. Practice makes perfect,” says
Mr Yuen.
He adds: “Of the hundreds and
hundreds of overseas property agencies I come across in the past, I have
never seen anyone who could survive
on Australian/New Zealand properties alone. We are the only company
that can market the same country for
more than 25 years and flourish.”
A COOLING
MARKET
Mr Yuen credits the company’s success to focus. Indeed, even as its
South-east Asian operations slows,
the group continues to focus exclusively on marketing Australian and
New Zealand properties. After all,
with its sound fundamentals – the
Australian property market has proven to be the most steady in the region
for the past 25 years – there is no reason to switch its focus.
“With various Asian governments
hitting their real estate markets with
cooling measures, the sentiment
seems somewhat gloomy. Most people believe that they will be penalized
if they buy investment properties,
overseas properties included. Even
though Australia and New Zealand
have not intervened with their own
market with any cooling measures,
most potential overseas investors
simply believe they cannot buy.”
The company is hence turning its
attention to China in the coming year.
David Yuen
Managing Director
Austpac International
According to Austpac, its sales volume in China is already more than its
total South-east Asia market combined, and is increasingly rapidly.
REVERTING
TO BASICS
“Now at 58, almost ready to retire, I
feel that my biggest achievement is
not just the S$10 billion worth of real
estate we have transacted and managed, but most importantly I have
been able to build up a personal portfolio of more than 100 properties
from the skills that I have learned in
the real estate world,” says Mr Yuen.
“Nowadays people are spending
way too much on electronic gadgetries and luxury items like holidays.
“I hope that they don’t forget to
save up for a few properties so that
they can achieve wealth creation and
sustainability.”