The CIHAPB study tour to Malaysia has been held from 10 September 2014 to 13 September 2014 with fruitful results.

There were twelve CIHAPB members joining the study tour and they were led by Chairman Professor Yip Ngai-Ming and Vice Chairman Mr. Paul Ng. In the afternoon of 10 September 2014, the delegates visited the Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association Malaysia (REHDA) and were greeted by Mr. Datuk HJ Muztaza b Hj Mohamad, Secretary General of REHDA. Mr. Mohamad briefed the delegates about the role of REHDA in Malaysia's property market, the current property market conditions and statutory requirements and governance of housing management. Mr. Mohamad then shared some of the current issues in the property industry of Malaysia such as the scarce land supply in prime urban area, and the ever increasing labour and building materials cost. He also explained about private developers' involvement in building affordable ownership housing scheme for Malaysia citizens.

On 11 September, the delegates attended a workshop on Vertical Living hosted by the Department of Estate Management, Faculty of Built Environment at the University of Malaysia. The Head of Department, Associate Professor Dr. Nasir Md Dand delivered a welcome speech to the delegates, followed by a presentation from CIHAPB Chairman Professor Yip on "Vertical Living in Hong Kong and Mainland China". There were also two more presentations on "Residential Property management in Malaysia" and "Vertical Living Phenomena in Malaysia" presented by Adjunct Professor Sr Ishak, President of Malaysian Institute of Professional Property Managers and the Living Phenomena Research Group respectively. Our delegates expressed their deep interest on the "Strata Management Act" (SMA) of Malaysia and its impact on property management practitioners. There were fruitful discussion and good exchange of ideas at the workshop.

The delegates also toured around some of the prime commercial and residential developments in Kuala Lumpur. With the assistance of REHDA, the delegates visited a residential development which adopted a series of green building elements from building design to management practice. The delegates were specially pleased to learn about the green building design of utilizing natural air ventilation that fits well with the natural environment.

Chairman Professor Yip expressed his gratefulness to our counterparts in Malaysia for their kind hospitality. CIHAPB will maintain close relationship with our Malaysian academic and professional institutions to promote professional housing management in the Asia Pacific region.