MELBOURNE: Victoria's residential market is poised to enjoy long-term, albeit slow, growth on strong economic fundamentals, said international real estate service provider CB Richard Ellis (CBRE).

KUALA LUMPUR: JAKS Resources Bhd, via its wholly-owned subsidiary JAKS Sdn Bhd, entered into a joint venture (JV) agreement with IJM Corporation Bhd, also via its wholly-owned subsidiary IJM Construction Sdn Bhd (IJMC), for a construction contract for the Pahang-Selangor Raw Water Transfer Project amounting to RM268.53 million, the group announced on Thursday, Dec 2.

HONG KONG/SINGAPORE: Asian governments have imposed a raft of measures aimed at preventing their property markets from taking off too quickly, but the region still offers investors some of the most prospective real estate globally.

SHANGHAI: InterContinental Hotels Group Plc (IHG) launched its first upscale boutique brand in Asia in Shanghai on Thursday, Dec 2, a nod to the city's rising prominence as a business and tourism hub.

HONG KONG: Sun Hung Kai, Asia's largest property developer by market value, is confident of achieving its sales target for the 2010/11 fiscal year, despite harsh tightening measures announced by Hong Kong last month.

BEIJING: Residential property prices in China's 100 key cities rose 0.82% in November from a month earlier, according to China Real Estate Index System (CREIS).

Shenzhen stood out as the city with the highest average price, at 24,601 yuan (RM11,627.75) per square meter, followed by Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou and Sanya, the private data provider said.

KUCHING: The Housing Loan Division of the Federal Treasury is expected to adopt the e-Forms system fully by the middle of next year, thus speeding up and facilitating the process of applying for housing loans among civil servants.

KUALA LUMPUR: ECM Libra Investment Research said Sunway Holdings Bhd is the top buy for the construction sector, amid its strong earnings growth of 86.5% in financial year 2010.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Mace Group (MACE) of the United Kingdom, a global consultancy and construction giant will invest RM3 billion in Malaysia over five years, thus giving foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country a timely boost.

No short supply of news-flow. We expect the Klang Valley (KV) MRT project to feature in the next batch of entry point projects (EPP) to be announced by PM Najib, potentially this month end or in the early days of 2011.