SYDNEY: Australian new homes starts hit a six-year high last quarter thanks to stimulus spending on public housing, while work in the pipeline suggested the sector would help underpin the economy as a whole going forward.

KUALA LUMPUR: Berjaya Land Bhd acquired a total of 19.4 million 0% 10-year irredeemable convertible unsecured loan stocks 2005/2015 (ICULS) of 50 sen nominal amount each in Berjaya Corporation Bhd (BCorp) for RM17.38 million.

KUALA LUMPUR: IJM Corporation Bhd on Tuesday, June 15, was awarded a RM349.98 million contract to build a second Penang bridge. 

PETALING JAYA: Sunway Real Estate Investment Trust (Sunway REIT) will emerge as Malaysia's largest when it is listed in July.

It's initial public offering (IPO) of 1.65 billion units at RM0.97 per unit, comprising an institutional and selected investors portion of 1.52 billion units and a retail portion of 134 million, will also make it the largest IPO on the local bourse to date.

TOKYO: US real estate firm LaSalle Investment Management plans to invest ¥300 billion (RM10.8 billion) in Japanese property over the next 12 months, the head of its Japan arm said on Tuesday, June 15.

KOTA KINABALU: The city of Kota Kinabalu is expected to be squatter-free by 2015, Mayor Datuk Iliyas Ibrahim said on June 15.

He said that to achieve the goal, the Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK) was formulating strategies to rid the city of squatters, which included involvement in the housing industry in addition to activities by state government agencies.

PETALING JAYA: Sunway REIT Management Sdn Bhd (SunREIT) is looking at doubling its assets base from RM3.78 billion in five to seven years.Its CEO Datuk Jeffrey Ng said the REIT managers has a medium- to long-term horizon on its investments, and might acquire foreign properties to be injected into its REIT in the future."However, the REIT will focus on Malaysian properties for the time being, an

FUJIAN: "Encircling the cities from the countryside and finally capturing them" was a key guerilla warfare tactic employed by Mao Zedong in his campaigns against the Kuomintang. It is now being resurrected by Fujian-based real estate developer Powerlong Real Estate Holdings.

HONG KONG: A new private sector campaign is offering free office space in the city's prime locations, helping small entrepreneurs with their dreams

Launching a start-up business is no easy feat, especially in Hong Kong, one of the world's most expensive cities in terms of office rentals.

BEIJING: The global economic recovery is likely to be "slow and tortuous" and China faces risks from a multitude of factors including trade protectionism and bad real estate loans, China's Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) said on Tuesday, June 15.