Real Estate Leaders Unpack Asia’s Property Trends

(From left): Anthony Capuano, CEO of Marriott International; Lee Yeow Chor, CEO of IOI Corp.; Irfan Razack, Chairman of Prestige Group; Panote Sirivadhanabhakdi, Group CEO of Frasers Property; and Michael T. Smith, CEO of Hongkong Land, at the Forbes Global CEO Conference 2025.

Forbes Asia

Seasoned real estate leaders including Marriott International’s Anthony Capuano, IOI Corp.’s Lee Yeow Chor, Prestige Group’s Irfan Razack, Frasers Property’s Panote Sirivadhanabhakdi and Hongkong Land’s Michael Smith shared the latest trends in Asia’s commercial property and hospitality industries at the Forbes Global CEO Conference in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Razack, the Indian billionaire chairman of developer Prestige Group in Bangalore, sees an office boom in the South Asian country, driven by demands from the so-called global capability centers, which are offices set up by multinational corporations to handle operations like software development and accounting.

Irfan Razack, chairman and managing director of Prestige Group.

Forbes Asia

“The consumption of office space in the first half in India has been 39,000,000 square feet, which is pretty huge,” said Razack. “And India has crossed the mark of one billion [square feet of] office space.” To capture the opportunity, his company planned to spend 120 billion rupees ($1.4 billion) to add more than 17 million square feet of office space across India into its portfolio, bringing the total to some 30 million square feet of office space by April 2028.

Meanwhile, Smith, the chief executive of one of the biggest commercial landlords in Hong Kong’s Central business district, sees resilience in the city’s luxury retail sector. Despite subdued consumer sentiment across the Asian financial hub, Hongkong Land, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based conglomerate Jardine Matheson, is pressing ahead with a $1 billion revamp of its high-end retail portfolio in Central.

Michael Smith, chief executive of Hongkong Land.

Forbes Asia

“We frequently get people to come into our mall in Hong Kong and spend $10 million a day shopping, which is pretty ridiculous,” said Smith. “Hong Kong is still such a center of the high-net-worth individuals. Hong Kong is at an inflection point now, and so we’re deploying capital there to ensure that we capture that.”

Capuano, the president and CEO of U.S. hotel giant Marriott International, said he’s witnessing a “global explosion” in travel demand. “We see a sustained, systemic trend where more and more consumers, perhaps because of the [Covid] lockdowns, didn’t buy as many luxury goods, watches, handbags, shoes and the like, and didn’t miss that as much [post-Covid],” he said. “But they deeply missed the opportunity to explore the world.”

Anthony Capuano, president and CEO of Marriott International.

Forbes Asia

The trend has boosted the financial performance of Marriott, which last year recorded a 4.3% year-on-year rise in global revenue per available room (RevPAR). Among the more than 140 markets it has presence in, the Asia Pacific region excluding China recorded the biggest jump in RevPAR of 13% during the period.

Amid geopolitical uncertainties and rising costs, the real estate experts offer insights into how to navigate the challenges. Lee, the Malaysian billionaire who controls IOI Properties, one of Singapore’s biggest landlords, emphasizes the importance of maintaining cash flow efficiency. He explains that developers should factor in land costs as a significant component of overall development expenses, noting that cash starts flowing out the moment land is acquired.

Lee Yeow Chor, group managing director and CEO of IOI Corp.

Forbes Asia

Razack said that while cash flow management is important, developers should also aim big. “If you think big, if you look at excelling in whatever you’re doing and you’re trying to build some iconic developments, those will never fade away.”

In the era of AI, some real estate companies are turning to the technology to enhance efficiency. Still, Capuano believes that AI won’t replace human roles, especially in the hospitality industry.

“The unique challenge for our business is to remind ourselves that we are in the human connection business,” said Capuano. “One young man asked me, ‘With all the advances in AI and machine learning and robotics, can you imagine a day where you run a hotel with no employees?’ And my answer is, “hell no.’”