THE DEVELOPMENT OF PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CAPABILITY INDEX (PMCI) FOR EFFECTIVE SERVICE DELIVERY IN STRATIFIED RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY Leader Mustafa Omar Researchers Hishamuddin Mohd Ali, Ibrahim Sipan, Dzurllkanian Daud, Maimunah Sapri, Kamalhassan A/L Achu, Shahabudin Abdullah Abstract Despite the increasing challenges and rising expectation towards effective residential property management services, there is limited studies and lack of evidences of the utilization of internal capabilities that are crucial for residential property management. Therefore, the identification and evaluation of residential property management capabilities is become important. The research aim was to develop Property Management Capabilities Index (PMCI) to provides property managers with a tool to evaluates their management capabilities. Data were collected through a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and survey with a sample of 428 practitioners drawn from the stratified residential property management industry in Peninsular Malaysia. Property manager’s self-assessment on key drivers of management capability was the basis in developing the PMCI. Than, the assessment of key drivers was converted into an index by calculating scores for each drivers with defined weightings. The research identifies five specific key drivers and relevant subcategories which were segregated into 1)Property Asset Data Management, 2) Integrated Maintenance Management, 3) Responsive PM, 4) Effective Financial Management and 5) Organisation Result and Performance. As a result, the overall PMCI is 71.7 (of a potential 100 capacity). Therefore, there is scope to lift current performance levels. The PMCI presents Malaysian residential property management organisations with the opportunity to benchmark themselves against organisations of a similar type and size. In highlighting areas of strength and weakness, the PMCI will help organisations to direct their attention to priority areas for improvement. Keywords: property management capabilities, stratified residential property 1.0 Introduction A review of property management literature highlighted the critical role that property managers play in managing the stratified residential properties. According to Tsang (2009), the integration of value added service into traditional property management as result of the increasing customer’s expectations and desire to improve the standard of property management. Property management evolved not only as an operational discipline to ensure that provided services are effectively managed but also capable of analyzing and responding to the changing needs of organizations, (Ling, 1997; Job, 2012). Therefore, the identification and evaluation of residential property management capabilities is become important. As in Malaysia, management of residential properties is the largest segment of the real estate management business. According to Wong (2013), currently there are about 14,998 strata development areas occupied by approximately 5.9 million citizens or 26% of the population in peninsular Malaysia. Adding with this increasing awareness, the management of stratified residential property management became more difficult due to characteristics of the property itself which distinguished by individual ownership of a unit, shared ownership of common property, and collective membership in a corporate body that