UNTIL 10 to 15 years ago, the shophouses on South Bridge Road in the Boat Quay Conservation Area were still occupied by textile merchants, clothing retailers, Chinese provision shops as well as trading companies dealing in the import and export of dried foodstuffs such as oysters, scallops and Chinese mushrooms.

SINGAPORE: Construction of the first 20 projects, including 10 trunk roads and local roads, has commenced in the Singapore-Sichuan Hi-Tech Innovation Park (SSCIP), in Western China. Some of the roads will be open to traffic at the end of May. In 2013, investments in the SSCIP are expected to exceed RMB970 million (RM478.498 million).

HONG KONG: When Lee Shau-kee, the chairman of Henderson Land Development, said in January he would consider building homes and selling them for HK$1 million each to young buyers, my friends were ecstatic and thought hard about how they could qualify to buy one of them.

LONDON: Property in London is being snapped more quickly than at any time since October 2007 when the market hit its peak before the financial crisis, according to figures from real estate data firm Hometrack.

Real estate investment trusts
(REITs) allow private investors of any size and sophistication to access the commercial real estate market. Public-listed REITs are structured like mutual funds (with a single REIT owning and operating multiple properties) but can be freely traded on a stock exchange.

KUALA LUMPUR: Sunway Bhd, through Sunway Construction Sdn Bhd, has been awarded a RM222 million contract by Cititower Sdn Bhd for the mixed development project at Persiaran KLCC in Kuala Lumpur.

"I can count money very fast," laughs Timothy Hor, as he recounts the days when he worked in a bank during his late teens.Since then, Hor, who recently joined Reapfield Academy Sdn Bhd — the strategic think tank and training arm of Reapfield Properties Sdn Bhd — as CEO, has had a career that mostly focused on software and technology.

THE real estate market in Malaysia continues to be active in terms of transactions and will continue to be vibrant in the long term, Zerin Properties CEO Previndran Singhe tells City & Country."Recently, both condos and landed homes were mopped up by cash-flush investors in traditional locations in the Klang Valley, including Bangsar, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Mont'Kiara, Damansara Heights and C

NCT Group managing director Yap Ngan Choy started out as a tiling contractor in 1976, right after he completed school. In 1985, he set up his own company, NCT Tiling Sdn Bhd.