Finding the right property, in the right state, in the right region, in the right suburb, on the right street is no mean feat: a single property purchase can be impacted by numerous influences – some that extend to a national or even global scale.
“Across the world, from the US to Australia, from Vietnam to China, the property market is one of the key pillars of the national economy. Therefore, one needs to examine the property market from a broad macroeconomic perspective, together with other important macroeconomic indicators including income, the job market, public investment and population growth,” says our Senior Economist, Dr Kevin Hoang.
Hailing from Vietnam, and with decades of experience across several sectors both here and in his home country, Kevin brings a wealth of expertise to his role with Milk Chocolate. In Australia and Vietnam, he’s worked across numerous sectors including public investment, health policy and real estate, in government, academic and industry settings. Ten years ago, he completed a PhD in Economics/Econometrics/Statistics at the University of New South Wales. Kevin’s knowledge and qualifications give him a competitive edge in the property industry and, combined with his keen interest in the real estate market, make him an enormously valued member of our team.
A global perspective
Kevin’s role at Milk Chocolate has three primary functions: monitoring the Australian property market, as well as the local and global economies; working with other Milk Chocolate verticals to produce tailored property investment strategies, otherwise known as our Game Plans; and carrying out research on the building of our proprietary analytics framework.
When it comes to observing market and economic conditions, his insights are second to none; Kevin offers a keen understanding and analysis of the Australian and global economies and their interaction with the local property market, which is shaped by his extensive research and watchful eye. He closely tracks reputable think tanks like the IMF, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and Australian Government agencies to gauge economic developments and potential market changes. He also assesses other factors that might impact our corner of the world.
“The Australian property market has special characteristics in comparison to other markets. That is, immigration accounts for a large share of the total population – approximately 60 to 70 percent of total population growth,” he says.
“Therefore, what happens in other parts of the world can have immediate effects on local property prices: the rise of the middle class in China, India, and Vietnam could push up the prices of the high-end segment of the property market; the sudden drop of the inflow of international students due to COVID-19 has pushed up the vacancy rate of the unit market in Sydney and Melbourne, and the Hong Kong crisis has led to a surge in searches for properties in Australia.”
This insight helps shape our Game Plans and ensures they’re in line with current market conditions and future expectations. Within each Game Plan, Kevin develops a key set of assumptions on market trends and cycles that might influence a client’s investments, with allowances made for worst-case scenarios.
His work in this area is incredibly extensive: 135 different assumptions are built into each property investment scenario – a depth of analysis that wouldn’t be possible without Kevin’s comprehensive research. This, he says, is one of the highlights of his role: “I enjoy my job most when I, together with my team, come up with tailor-made and evidence-based investment strategies for our clients.”
Forward to the future
As we move our data and analytics arm into the future, Kevin is helping to drive our overall strategy and make the vertical more robust. He’s working closely with our co-founder, Richie, on the strategic direction, and with our machine learning engineer, Timothy Quill, on a bespoke advanced data and analytics system that will become a huge part of our business in the coming years. Kevin can’t wait to see how big data and automation will revolutionise the way we do things.
“In the future, the data and economics vertical will collaborate more closely with the design/construction and tech verticals,” says Kevin. “In fact, rich data on demographics, lifestyle, and customer preferences will help Milk Chocolate to design more suitable homes in regards to functionality and value maximisation. Data and economics will also be seamlessly integrated with the tech to enhance the property journey for customers, ultimately providing them with insights and facts to make more informed decisions.
“I truly believe in the Milk Chocolate mission. That is, to change how people interact with property.”
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