19th National Real Estate Convention To Address Housing Industry Concerns

The upcoming 19th National Real Estate Convention 2008 (NREC), jointly organised by FIABCI Malaysian Chapter, together with co-organisers, The Institution of Surveyors Malaysia (ISM) and Associate of Valuers and Property Consultants in Private Sectors Malaysia (PEP), will be held at OneWorld Hotel from August 26 to August 27, 2008.

The timely NREC 2008, will serve as a platform to address current housing and estate concerns as well as to improvise strategies to overcome rising costs of housing industry.


Datuk Richard Fong who is President of FIABCI Malaysia and Group Executive Vice-Chairman of Glomac Bhd said "some developers are set to increase 30% of selling prices of houses, but other developers, may build smaller homes than the current size, to remain profitable". Datuk Richard also voiced concern over the cement price which has shot up more than 50% in the last 3 months and prices of the steel which has doubled to RM4000 per tonne compared to price 12 months ago.

Institution of Surveyors Malaysia immediate past-president Datuk S.R Abdullah Thalith Md Thani said "the current housing & estate scenario will serve as an opportunity for the industry to innovate the cost of building house, so as to reduce unnecessary wastage".

Organising Chairman of NREC, Mr Previndran Singhe, (who also holds the position of Group Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Zerin Properties) shared that the theme is appropriate as the current industry is facing a more complex market and is continuing to evolve rapidly, bringing great sophistication and diversification to the industry. For this coming NREC, a comprehensive and innovative programme has been drawn up to equipped key decision-makers, property developers, architects, valuers, estate agents, surveyor, planners, bankers to deal with local property market which is affected by sky-rocketing fuel prices and other rising cost of building materials".

This year's NREC 2008 is expected to attract over 600 high profile delegates from Malaysia as well as foreign counterparts and the launch will be officiated by Minister of Housing and Local Government Datuk Ong Ka Chuan. Also present at the event, was Dato'. Mani Usilappan.

The 19th NREC 2008 registration is priced at RM599 per person, which includes convention materials, tea breaks and lunch meals.

Tribe Toyota Amazing Trails 2008

The Annual Tribe Toyota-Amazing Trails was recently held at the UMW Toyota Subang Jaya Branch, with over 80 types of Toyota vehicles used. The Amazing Trails is different from other treasure hunt as it challenge 400 over participants from nationwide to hunt for FOOD. This treasure hunt also involved teamwork and mild physical challenges, as at one of the stops, participants had to roll a giant dice to choose from a menu of 1 to 6 drinks, blended from different organic ingredient. At Batu Caves, the participants were given a task to climb 272 steps rigorously to get one of the clues after which, a "teh tarik" challenge awaited them.

At final stage, participants were tasked to experience "mix-of-spices" challenge, where they had to identify different types of spices after a mix up. The hunt ended at Genting Sempah before the participants headed up to Genting Highland for a night's stay and prize presentation.

During the prize presentation and dinner, Director of Customer Group Service, Mr. Ismet Suki said, "when we were planning for this event, we are thinking of a theme that would appeal to all our members, I'm glad to see that the food has caught everyone's attention".