PROFESSIONAL SUSTAINABILITY AND REGULATORY MISALIGNMENT IN MALAYSIAN REAL ESTATE AGENCY PRACTICE: INSIGHTS FROM ELITE PRACTITIONERS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21837/pm.v24i43.2117Keywords:
Real Estate Agency Practice, Professional Sustainability, Regulatory Misalignment, Governance, Real Estate NegotiatorsAbstract
The Malaysian real estate agency sector is governed by a formal regulatory framework intended to uphold professionalism, protect consumers, and preserve market integrity. Despite this, persistent concerns regarding illegal brokerage, weak enforcement, inadequate negotiator oversight, uneven technological adaptation, and declining professional standards continue to affect the sector. This study examines how regulatory and governance challenges shape the sustainability of professional real estate agency practice in Malaysia. Using a qualitative exploratory design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with five experienced registered estate agents in Malaysia and analysed thematically. The analysis identifies four interrelated challenges: outdated legislation, enforcement asymmetry, uneven oversight of real estate negotiators, and business and digital pressures affecting sustainable compliance. Together, these challenges point to a broader condition of regulatory misalignment in which formal professional expectations are insufficiently aligned with operational realities. The study argues that the sustainability of professional real estate agency practice depends not only on formal compliance structures but also on the degree to which regulation, supervision, market conditions, and institutional capacity are mutually aligned. By reframing familiar industry problems as a governance issue affecting professional sustainability, the paper offers an integrated and analytically grounded interpretation of reform needs in Malaysian real estate agency practice.
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