PropertyGuru, YOO host webinar on post-pandemic property opportunities

’Asia Real Estate Reboot’ brings together experts from the design brand and leading voices from extensive network of the summit

The PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit, in partnership with YOO Worldwide, hosted a webinar today on post-pandemic solutions for large-scale property investors, property developers, architects and designers.

Around 700 participants from 16-plus markets logged on to the six-way web conference moderated by Jules Kay, managing director of the PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards and Events, and facilitated by David Johnson, CEO of Delivering Asia Communications, live organiser of the event. The one-hour videoconference via Zoom was joined by panellists from Bangkok, Phuket, Singapore and London.

Experts from YOO Worldwide, including CEO John Hitchcox in London, sounded off on ways investors can strategise in the near to medium term following the global health crisis. Hitchcox also shared his insights on asset classes predicted to perform well in the wake of the crisis and touched on post-pandemic design, building and placemaking strategies. 

Lloyd Lee, managing partner at YOO Capital Management, spoke about the importance of separating real estate fundamentals from those specific to COVID-19. “For those of you who are trying to identify opportunities to create more returns, it’s probably not a crazy thing for the next 12 to 24 months to be looking at some of these more core markets and finding opportunities where you can go transform the value at the asset level where you’re actually surrounded by market that you think will have higher levels of liquidity over the near to medium term,” he said.

The rest of the expert lineup included Bill Barnett, managing director of C9 Hotelworks, and Paul Ashburn, co-managing partner of BDO Thailand, who joined in from Phuket and Bangkok, respectively. In Singapore, PropertyGuru Group’s chief business officer Jeremy Williams shared consumer trends and digital tools that developers could use moving forward.

As a trusted advisor for 23 million property seekers across the region, PropertyGuru reiterated its market leadership in providing technology-related solutions to those affected by the pandemic. 

“COVID19 has accelerated the move online across a wide range of different markets and commercial spheres. In the property sector it has quickly raised the profile and importance of technology-led solutions for buyers, agents and developers,” said Williams.

“There’s going to be a flight to quality across the board, both in locations and businesses that can actually perform, because everyone has been put in a quite a high degree of change. We’ve just raised a fund for special opportunities in the UK and that’s in the business of repositioning, supporting other projects that might not have the capital that they need,” added Hitchcox.

For further enquiries, email [email protected]. Visit the official website AsiaRealEstateSummit.com and follow our social media for upcoming live webinar announcements.

Here’s a playback of the webinar for those who missed it: