BEIJING: China should launch a property tax to cool the housing market, which remains dangerously over-priced, a state think tank said in a report published on Tuesday, June 22.

KUALA LUMPUR: DFZ Capital Bhd posted a net profit of RM23.28 million in the first quarter ended May 31, 2010, a 152% increase from RM9.2 million a year earlier.

The profit was attributed to contributions from the newly acquired subsidiaries, Tenggara Senandung Sdn Bhd and Seruntun Maju Sdn Bhd.

KUALA LUMPUR: Bolton LYL Sdn Bhd, an indirect unit of Bolton Bhd, has terminated the proposal to acquire a 5.5-acre parcel of land in Kuala Lumpur for RM39 million from Intrapuri Sdn Bhd.

KUALA LUMPUR: Selangor Properties Bhd posted net loss of RM25.62 million in the second quarter ended April 30, 2010 due to a foreign exchange loss of RM38.8 million as the ringgit strengthened against the Singapore dollar, US dollar and Australian dollar.

MELBOURNE: Affordability will remain an issue for the residential market in Melbourne, as the average first-home buyers' loan peaked at over AU$279,000 (RM785,421) in the previous two months from AU$275,000 in February this year, according to CB Richard Ellis (CBRE)’s second quarter 2010 MarketView report on the residential sector.

KUALA LUMPUR: UDA Holdings Bhd would commence construction to redevelop the Pudu Jail site by the first quarter of 2011 (1Q2011) with the project to be built in stages over 10 years, Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Awang Adek Hussin told the Dewan Rakyat.

SINGAPORE: RiskMetrics, an independent advisory firm, on Monday, June 21, recommended that Parkway investors approve a proposal allowing a partial takeover bid by Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah.

Quantum leap from new listings

BEIJING: An increasingly audible outcry on the mainland over soaring home prices, at a time when millions still live in shanties, has prompted a search for solutions to make housing more affordable for both the poor and the growing middle class.

HAINAN: Whenever villagers from Fenghao on the island of Hainan saw a helicopter hovering over the island's southern Shenzhou peninsula, they guessed it was Larry Yung Chi-kin, the former chairman of Citic Pacific, on an inspection tour of the company's vast development in the area.