Rather than lament escalating house prices or shrinking apartment sizes, Developers like Seri Pajam Development Sdn Bhd suggest that those in the Kiang Valley consider moving south. "With RM400,000, one can only purchase a 1,200 sq ft terraced house in Subang Jaya. The same amount can buy a 2,300 sq.ft. terraced house here (Negeri Sembilan)," Seri Pajam's finance director Tey Soci Leng has said. "This augurs well for those who already have or are planning to start a family as most of our homes come with at least four rooms". In fact, one will even be able to buy a one-storey house in Senawang for under RM200,000. These properties in Seri Pajam's Nusa Intan township are due to be launched soon. Seri Pajam's developments are mostly located in towns such as Seremban. Nilai, Mantin and Bahau, along the Lekas (Lebuhraya Kajang Seremban) or Sistem Lingkaran Kajang (SILK) highways. "The Lekas highway has shortened travel time between Klang Valley and Negeri Sembilan," says Seri Pajam general manager for marketing, Jean Ten. "For instance, it's only 18km from Kajang Selatan to Pajam. This highway covers towns which are previously secondary towns, such as Pajam, Mantin and Semenyih. With better accessibility, we note that more housing . developments have started along this highway." Prices for developments along the North-South highway have hiked up so much that developments are moving towards this corridor, she says. "Compared to properties in Putrajaya and Cyberjaya, our property prices are affordable and provide much value to our prospective customers," adds Ten. "For instance, we offer freehold landed property priced from RM250,000 only." While Seri Pajam's houses are not located within the Klang Valley, they still offer Kiang Valley standards of modernity, quality and design. Among the developer's signature products are its One Suria homes that come with rooftop gardens, and their Villa Suria homes that offer unique double storey bedrooms.
Seri Pajam professes that it manages to achieve cost efficiencies due to its in-house construction arm, Nova Loyal Construction Sdn Bhd. This was, in fact, the company that Seri Pajam's founder had started with. One of its related companies' earliest projects was as the main contractor for Bandar Baru Nilai. Nova Loyal often utilises industrialised building systems (IBS). This also results in cost efficiency, and reduction of construction period by as much as 40% to 15 months, on average. "We have better control of quality and can continue production even in light rain," Tey says. "We need less labour as well, which directly affects construction costs." For its use of IBS, Nova Loyal has won a Malaysian Construction Industry Excellence Award, as given out by the Construction Industry Development Board. Seri Pajam's related companies are also involved in the manufacturing and trading of building materials, which the company can leverage on. "We offer a hassle-free renovation package, whereby most of our products are completed with full height wall tiles, 2'x2' floor tiles and plaster ceiling," says Ten. "This reduces cost, time and effort for our house owners on renovation." Besides a slower pace of life, Seri Pajam buyers can look forward to significant property price appreciation, says Ten. Its 18'x60' double storey corner house in Pajam, for example, has appreciated from. RM290,000 in 2007 to RM450,000 today. The movement south has, in fact, been been encouraged by the government's own PRIMA programme, which has proposed six projects in Negeri Sembilan, adds Ten. This encourages homebuyers to live here but work in KL. Other Negeri Sembilan pull factors include higher educational institutions, such as US1M, INTI College, Nilai College, and various international schools having set up here.