Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Azmin Ali has urged Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to look at measures to help potential first-time homebuyers acquire properties to increase home ownership.

The real estate sector may deliver better returns than bonds, but investors should be patient and selective when looking at new property allocations, according to the Global Alternatives Survey 2016, published by Willis Towers Watson, a leading global advisory and broking and solutions company headquartered in London.

REAL estate investment trusts (REITs), as prospective property buyers, not only provide a new source of deals but is also an avenue for banks to cut property-related lending exposure as developers raise cash from property disposals to relieve their stretched balance sheets.

Kerjaya Prospek Group Bhd has bagged a contract worth RM213.75 million from Yong Tai Bhd, for the construction of main building works of a proposed mixed development project, known as "The Apple".

PRG said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Premier Gesture Sdn Bhd, signed the development JV agreement with Baycity for the project on a leasehold 2.6ha (6.48 acre) tract. Baycity owns the land.

Some 1,192 cases have been filed at the Strata Management Tribunal (SMT) to date since the beginning of the year.

EC World will be the third REIT to be floated in Singapore this year. The trust hopes to raise up to S$450 million (RM1.3 billion) with its initial portfolio of six e-commerce and logistics properties located in Hangzhou, China.

Malaysia and Singapore have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to work towards commencing the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) operations by 2026.

Hillcrest Gardens Sdn Bhd has unveiled its first Rumah Selangorku project with green features today.

PRG managing director Datuk Lua Choon Hann said the company's plans were still at preliminary stage.