KNIGHT Frank Malaysia executive director of research and consultancy Amy Wong had at one point in her life thought of herself as being unlucky as the 1997 Asian financial crisis derailed her plans to study abroad.
She loved economics and writing, and she had her heart set on going to the London School of Economics and Political Science in the United Kingdom.
The Asian financial crisis started while she was taking the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examinations.
Her parents were real estate agents, and she knew a lot about the real estate industry, so much so that she was determined not to follow in her parents' footsteps.
The eldest child in a family of four children, Wong was upset about not getting to study economics. But looking back now, she realised it was a tipping point that connected the dots to get her to where she is now.
She had scored 7As in the SPM but her parents were unable to send her abroad due to financial constraints.
But her SPM results enabled her to skip Form 6 and immediately enrol in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, where she graduated with a degree in property management in 2002.
While working as an assistant manager (valuation) at Colliers International Malaysia — her first job — Wong pursued her Master's in real estate at the University of Reading from 2004 to 2006.
"I had majored in valuation and my starting salary was only RM1,200. I was doing eight site inspections a day but I had great mentors who taught me the quickest ways to get things done.
"I also learnt how to carry out corporate valuation on office towers and shopping malls. However, I reached saturation point after only two years. No matter how attractive the money was at the time, I just didn't want to work there any more.
"And then, my boss gave me the chance to write a full market study report and the rest is history. I love doing it as I get to combine economics with writing as a real estate researcher."
Wong said real estate today was not what it was 20 years ago, adding that she was curious to see what it would be like 20 years from now.
"Today, developers must build towards the demand of the end users. It's not so much the developer's market any more. In the 1990s, people were streaming into Kuala Lumpur and so whatever the developer built, people would buy.
"Co-working space is also in demand now. Who would have thought that in the early days, one would want to share a working space with a stranger? Uber was the first to come up with this concept where people don't need to own a car. Sustainability in all sense of the word is very important now and each person sees it in a different way."
As a researcher, Wong said she got to analyse trends such as how industrial properties became much sought-after in the last two years, thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic.
"As businesses go online, there are also a lot of backend activities. There has to be a server for the website to be hosted and data centres to gather all the orders, warehouses for the goods to be stored, and centres for the segregation and distribution of the items.
"And the Ukraine crisis is making business operators control costs by stocking up when the price is low and buying in advance. Industrial properties have become popular but the developer must build with the end users in mind.
"Some people may be looking for warehouses with cold storage rooms, higher ceiling so they could stock more goods, or a nice front-end showroom.
"It's the same with residential properties. Some clients may want a house with a bedroom on the ground floor for the elderly."
After working at Colliers for five years, Wong joined PAInternational Property Consultants Sdn Bhd as head of research (2007-2010), CBRE Malaysia as executive vice-president (research and consultancy head, 2010-2015), Sunway Property as assistant general manager (market research and analytics head, 2015-2016) and Savills Malaysia as its director and research and consultancy head (2017-2021).
Wong, who specialises in master planning development consultancy, also provides investment advisory services to local and foreign investors and presents independent market reports for initial public offering submissions.
She believes that gratitude is a "superpower".
"The scolding you get, the mistakes you make are all life's lessons. Experience is a good teacher and you need to be kind for good things to happen. Some people are consumed by pessimism and negativity.
"A little bit of positivity doesn't harm anyone," she added.
The writer was a journalist with the New Straits Times before joining a Fortune Global 500 real estate company. This article is a collaboration between the New Straits Times and Tradeview, the author of 'Once Upon A Time In Bursa'.
