Press
Conclusions of Real Estate Forum at Malta Property Expo 2011
John C. Grech, chairman of EMCS, drew two major conclusions from the Real Estate Forum, held as part of the Malta Property Expo at the MFCC, Ta’ Qali.
The issue of ownership of the real estate industry needs to be addressed, along with the need for planning and positioning the market within a global scenario.
“Ownership is a function of all stakeholders,” Dr Grech observed. “Even MEPA does not have 100% ownership of the issues because by its very statute it does not own all the issues.
“All stakeholders, including government, the sector and professionals, need to take the situation in hand and start a process.”
The second issue relates to planning, which “defines where the community wants to go. So, it is tied to a vision for the country, the country’s strategy and getting everybody on board, understanding where we want to go and wanting to go there”.
Real estate is tied to lifestyle but we have to be clear what lifestyle is and what planning is. “Essentially, it involves the entire community.”
As the forum was informed, bulk of the industry is servicing a domestic market, but Dr Grech pointed out that we are part of the global real estate market. “We need to position ourselves in that market. If we are selling too little, it is because we have not positioned ourselves. We need to decide what we want to stand for and what kind of lifestyle and quality we want to offer.”
An important point was raised related to properties that had authentic compliance certificates. MEPA chairman Austin Walker undertook to ensure that the position of all properties with authentic compliance certificates to be confirmed.
The forum started on Friday evening with two presentations by Adrian Said, managing director of EMCS, and Sigfús Jónsson from Iceland, giving an international perspective.
The speakers on Saturday were: Joyce Grech, Head of Product Management at HSBC Bank Malta plc; Dr Gordon Cordina from the University of Malta; Joseph Gauci, who is responsible for town planning at MEPA; Joseph Theuma, general manager of ReMax Malta; and Keith Pillow, managing director of Duplex Real Estate Branding.
The afternoon session consisted of a panel discussion with interventions from MEPA chairman Austin Walker, Kamra tal-Periti president Vincent Cassar; Malta Developers Association president Michael Falzon; and Federation of Estate Agents president Ian Casolani.
