Malaysian property developer SP Setia’s chief executive expects a shakeup in the country’s politics to deal a blow to government cronies and help his company to double profit.

“I think it’s very good for us. For any company that’s open and transparent it will be very good. If you are a crony and depend on handouts you’re going to suffer,” Chief Executive Liew Kee Sin said in the most outspoken comments by a business leader since the ruling coalition’s March 8 election debacle.

“If you’re not dependent on the government to feed you things, I think you will do much better now than before.”

The election result prompted sweeping changes to the cabinet of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and some big policy changes have already been signalled, including reforms to the judiciary and a review of Malaysia’s murky system of subsidies.

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According to one expert, Malaysia offers overseas property buyers the best investment opportunities in the South-East Asian property market. Marsha Lu, who is the head of the legal, diligence and compliance department at Property Frontiers, claimed that while Malaysia has not been as popular as Thailand in the past, the latter has experienced political instability recently. Arguing that Malaysia is presently “the best place to invest”, Ms Lu said that the country has recovered well from the Far East financial crisis in the 1990s, compared with many other states in the region.

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Real Acres, a bullish online property portal for India property market, has launched an interesting initiative with their series of online video shows featuring interviews of real estate industry builders and chief executive officers from India’s property markets. The following video, for example, features an interview with the director of Paradise Group.

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After an energetic rise over the past few years, Japan’s real estate market is running out of steam. Particularly in the past few months, difficulty in completing transactions has fuelled expectations that prices will start heading south. In the capital markets, the value of Japanese real estate investment trusts (J-Reits) has plummeted in recent months, leaving many trading well below their net asset value. The negative sentiment surrounding Japan’s property sector may seem natural, given the grim outlook facing the world’s main economies. The slowdown in the US, coupled with a rapid appreciation of the yen, is hurting the country’s exporters, which have been important drivers of growth.

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A report from the Gulf Daily News says that Abaad Real Estate Company had reported a total revenue of BD2.1 million ($5.5m) in the first year of its operation. The real estate subsidiary of Bahrain Islamic Bank earned a net income of BD 1.5m, representing a return on capital of 14.7 per cent.

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