2016 was indeed a historic milestone for us as WTW formed a joint venture with CBRE to combine our more than 50 years of expertise and in-depth relationships in Malaysia with CBRE’s global reach. Under the new co branding of CBRE|WTW, we look forward to providing our clients with a wider range of professional services, geographically as well as scope of products. With CBRE as a strategic partner, we have confidence that we can help our clients expand their activities beyond our shores and more fruitfully, can help bring greater meaningful inbound investments into the Malaysian real estate market.

The growing consensus among the practitioners on the ground in all our branches throughout Malaysia is that market conditions have become much more challenging in 2016 and 2017 will not get any better. Latest statistics as of 3Q2016 by National Property Information Centre (NAPIC) recorded drop, ranging from 7% and 29% yoy in transaction volumes and values in the residential, commercial and industrial sectors. This sliding trend recorded since 2014 is not unexpected against a backdrop of falling crude oil and commodity prices and weakened Malaysian Ringgit.