PENANG will witness a gathering of property experts and industry players at the inaugural Penang Property Summit 2015. It will be held from Jan 9 to 11 at the sPICE Arena Penang (Pisa).

The summit is seen as a timely event, given the rapid pace of property development on the island and growing concerns about rising prices and the environment.

KUALA LUMPUR: St James Group Ltd will launch Smithfield Square serviced apartments to the Malaysian public at the Westin Kuala Lumpur hotel this weekend.

MELAKA: Hatten Group Sdn Bhd launched Harbour City, a six-acre (2.43ha) mixed-use marine-themed development located on the eastern shores of Pulau Melaka, last Saturday. The launch was held at the grand foyer of Terminal Pahlawan in Melaka.

MELBOURNE: Australian developer R Corp Pte Ltd  launched its Melbourne project, The York, in Hong Kong last month.

KUALA LUMPUR: The 14% decline in the value of the pound against the US dollar since last summer is a significant boost to many overseas buyers with dollar assets, according to Black Brick managing partner Camilla Dell. Black Brick is an independent property buying agency covering London and the home counties of Kent, Surrey and Sussex.

KUALA LUMPUR: Another landmark appears in Jalan Sultan Ismail with the opening of Quill City Mall by Quill Group of Companies.

Officially launched on Sunday, the ceremony was officiated by Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz.

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 23): RHB Research has downgraded Hua Yang Bhd to “Neutral” (from Buy) with an unchanged target price of RM2.28 in light of the challenging property market.

In a note Friday, the research house said take-ups for new launches had been slow, and it expects this trend to continue in the near future.

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 23): CIMB Research has maintained its Add rating on Mah Sing Group Bhd at RM2.06 with a lower target price of RM2.49 (from RM2.63) and said Mah Sing's share price went ex on Jan 22 for the 3-for-10 rights issue and the 3-free-warrants-for-10-rights shares.

In a note Jan 22, the research house said the 1-for-4 bonus issue was expected to go ex later in 3Q.

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 23): Hong Leong IB Research has maintained its “Neutral” rating on the real estate investment trust (REIT) sector and said retail REITs will continue to outperform over office REITs given its pricing power and potentially higher rental income from positive rental revision.

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 22): Guocoland (M) Bhd saw its net profit for the second quarter ended Dec 31, 2014 (2QFY15) fallen 75.4% to RM3.02 million or 0.45 sen a share; while revenue fell to RM55.3 million, from RM59.1 million previously.