The Management Of Property Development Risks In Malaysia - Risk Management And The Property Development Process: A Review

Property development has been a major contributor to the Malaysian economy and ultimately, it has a multiplier effect on other industry which supports property development. The industry is predominantly made up of private companies involved mostly in the residential and commercial development sectors in the Klang Valley. During the financial crisis which hit Malaysia in the late nineties, many property development projects were either abandoned, frozen or the scale was very much reduced. The number of properties categorized as ëover hangí, by the National Property Information Center (NAPIC) of the Ministry of Finance,Malaysia, also indicates that property development is a cyclical business with volatile returns and therefore, it is inherently risky. This lead to the question of: how do property developers manage the multitude of risks which confront them? This study has four objectives: * To identify the property development risks which confront property developers and risks management strategies they adopt; * To identify the more successful property development risk managers; * To apply their risk management strategies into an improvised academic framework; * To assess the implications for the property development industry. // A qualitative research will be carried out by way of a survey of listed property developers and an assessment of their annual reports over a ten-year period, 1994 to 2004. The survey will be designed to identify which are the listed developersí key property development risk and property development risk management strategies. A detailed quantitative analysis of the annual financial statement of these property development companies over the 1994-2004 periods will be prepared, and concentrated on measures of business risk and financial risk. The implication of the property development industry arising from this research is that whether property development risks are well managed and whether the scope of property development operations is a determinant of effective risk management. One opportunity that arises from this research is that there is scope for further research to better align academic theory with applied property risk management and to develop an improved academic framework for property development risk management. This paper reviews previous studies and research done in the management of risk among listed property developers in Malaysia. This paper reviews previous studies and research done in the management of risk among listed property developers in Malaysia.