By SITI AISYAH NABILAH BT SUWARDI
aisyahs@thestar.com.my

(From left to right) President of MIEA, Mr Eric Lim, Deputy Finance Minister, YB Dato’ Lee Chee Leong with the recipient of CEO Awards, Mr. David Ong

PETALING JAYA: A total transacted value of RM34.52bil was recorded in the first quarter of 2017 compared to RM31.98bil for the same quarter of 2016 in the real estate industry, according to Deputy Minister of Finance II Datuk Lee Chee Leong.

He said that in 2016, the real estate industry has realised a total transacted value of more than RM145bil with a total of 320,000 transactions, which amounted to a significant contribution to the national economy.

Lee recently officiated the ninth annual gala dinner of Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents (MIEA), an event that recognised the efforts of real estate agents, negotiators and practitioners.

MIEA president Eric Lim cautioned the public against making a deal with unregistered real estate agent during his speech.

“Please use the services of MIEA members and the registered real estate agents and negotiators. Do not gamble with your huge investment and life savings in the hands of the illegal brokers. You have no recourse if the transactions turn sour, ” urged Lim.

There were a total of 20 awards categories that were being presented that night.

The Real Estate Agent Of The Year was won by YY Lau from JLL Property Services (M) Sdn Bhd while the Real Estate Firm Of The Year was granted to Hartamas Real Estate (M) Sdn Bhd.

Other winners of the night included Property Hub Sdn Bhd, Cornerstone Realty, Knight Frank Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Reapfield Properties KL Sdn Bhd, Metroworld Realty Sdn Bhd, Homefield Real Estate, Zilin Properties, Kozin Real Estate Sdn Bhd, DeOne Properties Sdn Bhd and WTWY Real Estate Sdn Bhd.

The event ended with a group photograph session with the prize winners.