The last three weeks have seen a burst of people moves in key Asian markets as property services firms start to replenish their executive ranks amid signs of a post-pandemic rebound in Hong Kong and Singapore.
Colliers International this month announced the hiring of Dorothy Chow as executive director for valuation and advisory services in Asia. The 23-year JLL veteran is based in Hong Kong and will report to CK Lau, managing director for valuation and advisory services in Asia.
Chow specialises in portfolio valuation, dispute resolution valuation and land development consultancy, Colliers said. In her new role, she is responsible for enhancing the team’s performance, recruitment and shaping of talent, as well as strengthening the agency’s valuation and advisory services business in the region.
“I look forward to working with the other experts at Colliers to drive significant growth for our business and to accelerate the success of our clients and people,” said Chow, who is bringing three new team members with her to bolster valuation and advisory services.
Singapore Recruits
Toronto-based Colliers is boosting its valuation and advisory team in Singapore as well, by reuniting with Juvena Lim. After a brief stint as an associate director at rival Edmund Tie, Lim is rejoining Colliers as director for valuation and advisory services in the city-state.
Reporting to Joseph Yee, executive director for valuation and advisory services in Singapore, Lim is tasked with leading mortgage valuation and enlarging Colliers’ valuation footprint in the local market.
“The recent pandemic has accelerated Singapore’s property market trends, and I see great opportunities to grow the mortgage business and deliver memorable services to all financial institutions,” Lim said.
Also celebrating a reunion is Donald Goh, who left Colliers in 2005 and returns in the post of director for capital markets and investment services in Singapore. Reporting to Steven Tan, executive director for capital markets and investment services in Singapore, Goh will focus on expanding Colliers’ investment services business as it pertains to non-institutional clients.
Most recently a director for investment sales for eight years at Savills Singapore, Goh has a track record in industrial, shophouses and collective sales.
Rounding out the agency’s new Singapore slate is Patrick Gidney, who joins as senior director for occupier services in the market after most recently serving as Asia development director for flexible office provider IWG. Reporting to June Chua, executive director and head of office services for occupier services in Singapore, Gidney will collaborate and drive synergy with other stakeholders from the various service lines at the agency to identify and pursue new business opportunities, Colliers said.
Familiar Faces
Also in Singapore, two well-known names have changed allegiances to join CBRE’s local team.
Tricia Song, fresh off four years as head of research at Colliers Singapore, is now head of research for Southeast Asia at Dallas-based CBRE. Song steps in to replace former research head Desmond Sim, who left CBRE in May for a chance to head up local brokerage Edmund Tie. In her new role, Song will oversee research teams across Southeast Asia in producing analysis, insights and forecasts that reflect trends and evolutions across the different real estate sectors.
Linda Chern, formerly head of residential at Knight Frank Singapore, has assumed the role of senior director and head of residential services at CBRE, where she will lead the team in the marketing of ultra-luxurious and high-end residential properties and projects for both sale and lease. She reports to Moray Armstrong, managing director for Singapore advisory services.
“I am excited to join CBRE at a time when demand for luxury homes in Singapore has been increasing since late last year, which suggests that the ultra-rich investors are back in action,” Chern said.
Meanwhile, the agency announced that longtime exec Ng Li Ling has been promoted to head of client care for Asia, based in Singapore. In the role, Ng will be responsible for spearheading CBRE’s Global Client Care programme for top investor clients in the region. She most recently served as head of client care for Singapore.
Turning Upbeat
Asia’s financial hubs are signalling a resurgence in property market activity. CBRE reported in its Hong Kong 2021 Mid-Year Market Outlook that the city’s longest recession ended in the first half of the year, with bottoming-out rents and anticipated economic recovery set to support investment demand and capital value growth.
“Real estate market recovery will likely be most pronounced in the office and retail sectors, where mainland Chinese companies and tourists account for a meaningful share of leasing and consumption demand, respectively,” said Marcos Chan, executive director and head of research at CBRE Hong Kong.
According to JLL’s Hong Kong Property Market Monitor, the office leasing picture brightened in May as tenants occupied more Grade A space than they had in the previous month for the first time since July 2019.
Similar stirrings were evident in Singapore, where office rents in the second quarter registered their first uptick since the dawn of the pandemic, JLL said.
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