SYDNEY: The Australian government yesterday gave the go-ahead for a second international airport for Sydney, ending decades of indecision with a move predicted to boost the national economy.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott confirmed that Badgerys Creek in western Sydney will be the site of the new airport, with planning to start immediately and construction from 2016.

SINGAPORE: Singapore’s March home sales dropped to a three-month low as first-quarter private residential prices fell the most in five years.

Home sales slid 83% to 480 units last month compared with 2,793 in the same period a year ago, according to data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) released yesterday. Sales fell 35% from February, the data showed.

SINGAPORE: A consortium that includes Singapore tycoon Ong Beng Seng and Wheelock Properties (Singapore) Ltd offered yesterday to buy Hotel Properties Ltd for S$3.50 (RM9.06) per share, valuing the company at around S$1.8 billion.

OSAKA (Japan): The Japanese city of Osaka plans to invite operators to build a casino on a plot of reclaimed land on Osaka Bay, its governor told Reuters, pipping Tokyo in the race to attract global gaming firms to set up the country’s first gambling resort.

BEIJING: China’s residential land price gains slowed for the first time in nearly two years in the first quarter, and are likely to slow further in the second quarter, the land ministry said yesterday, another indication the property market is losing steam.

KUALA LUMPUR: Tropicana Corp Bhd is confident of achieving an 80% take-up rate for Tower B of its Paloma Serviced Residences at its RM6.3 billion Tropicana MetroPark development in Subang Jaya, Selangor, thanks to a proposed dedicated flyover that will link the integrated development to the Federal Highway.

SELANGOR: Cyberview Sdn Bhd, a government-owned entity that is the landowner of Cyberjaya, is looking beyond information and communications technology (ICT) in the transformation of the technology-themed city.

KUALA LUMPUR: I-Bhd, in its bid to triple sales over the next three to four years, yesterday unveiled plans for its Central Tower mixed development, comprising residential serviced suites, a hotel tower and an office tower with a total gross floor area of 1.6 million sq ft.

CAMERON HIGHLANDS: LBS Bina Group Bhd expects its property development projects here to contribute 30% to its revenue by 2017, up from the current 5% to 10%.

The group’s current and future developments in the Pahang hilltop tourism spot over the next 10 years have a gross development value (GDV) of RM5 billion, said managing director Datuk Seri Lim Hock San.

KUALA LUMPUR: Bina Puri Holdings Bhd has raised its unbuilt order book to RM1.93 billion after it secured a RM247.84 million contract to build a fishery complex in Kuching, Sarawak.