HONG KONG: Home sales rebounded significantly last week after confidence was boosted by Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen's announcement of a raft of housing measures, but analysts said the bounce was likely to be brief.

LONDON: Surging demand from investors in Britain means developers are starting to market schemes there ahead of Hong Kong or other destinations.

This reverses a trend of the past 18 months to market British schemes off-plan in Hong Kong, Singapore and on the mainland before Britain.

BANGKOK: Privately-owned hotel investment company Red Planet Hotels plans to raise US$100 million (RM310.46 million) from its shareholders to help finance a planned foray into China's competitive budget hotel sector.

PETALING JAYA: Construction company Fajarbaru Builder Group Bhd on Tuesday, Oct 18 announced to Bursa Malaysia that its wholly-owned subsidiary Fajarbaru Builder Sdn Bhd (FBSB) has received a letter of acceptance dated Oct 14, 2011 from Ampang 210 Sdn Bhd regarding the award of a contract worth RM166.4 million.

KUALA LUMPUR: Bandar Malaysia, a mixed development that is being undertaken by 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) on land situated in Sungai Besi, will begin with affordable houses expected to be launched in December.

SEOUL: More than 70% of residential areas in major South Korean cities are plagued by excessive daytime noise while an even higher rate of them suffered from noise pollution at night, a government survey showed on Tuesday, Oct 18.

SINGAPORE: The Singapore Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and Housing Development Board (HDB) will be releasing four residential sites for sale in October 2011. These sites will yield about 1,900 units in total, adding to the 13,825 units which have been launched under the Government Land Sales (GLS) Programme this year, said the URA on Monday, Oct 17.

SHANGHAI: InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has signed 12 contracts for its new China hotel brand with the first opening of the new brand expected in late 2012 or early 2013, its China head said on Tuesday, Oct 18.

SHANGHAI/HONG KONG: China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd, the country's property developer by market value, posted a 46.8% rise in nine-month operating profit, but said it is concerned about the impact of tightening measures on the industry.

BEIJING: Average housing inflation in 70 major Chinese cities dipped to 3.5% in September from a year earlier, down from August's 4.1%, according to Reuters calculations using official data published on Tuesday, Oct 18.