Apac Realty to expand real estate services to Laos

REAL estate services provider Apac Realty : CLN 0% will be expanding its services into Laos through a franchise agreement.

The company, which operates under the ERA brand, announced in a bourse filing on Tuesday (Mar 21) that it has signed an agreement with franchisee ERA Laos, granting it exclusive rights to operate ERA member broker offices in the country.

The agreement is for an initial period of 25 years starting from Tuesday, and may be renewed for another 25 years, if conditions set out in the agreement are fulfilled.

ERA Laos currently has 15 salespersons and has set a target to grow the number of agents to 300 by end-2025.

Marcus Chu, chief executive officer of Apac Realty, said the expansion deepens the company’s foothold in the Indochina region and “advances our strategic regional growth plans with a capital-efficient approach”.

“With the government amending its laws to permit foreign ownership of condominiums, market watchers believe Laos will be the next property hotspot in Indochina. Our entry into Laos is timely as there are very few real estate brokerage agencies in the country,” he added.

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The franchise agreement with ERA Laos would mean that Apac Realty has a presence in four out of five Indochina markets. The other three are Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.

The filing stated that these economies are expected to register growth of between 3.1 and 6.2 per cent in 2023, driven by strong domestic consumption underpinned by a relatively young population of 194.2 million.

It also said Laos’ real estate market is in the early stages of development and its potential is underpinned by strong foreign investment, especially from its largest investor, China, which invested US$2.5 billion in 2021. The new US$6 billion China-Laos Railway, which connects Kunming with Vientiane, continues to stimulate economic activity and influence the valuations of real estate, it added.

Apac Realty possesses the exclusive ERA regional master franchise rights to 17 countries and territories in Asia-Pacific with the inking of this agreement. The group would also have a network of more than 21,900 agents in 647 offices across 11 countries and territories.

Shares of Apac Realty closed flat at S$0.63 on Tuesday.