KUALA KUMPUR (Nov 17): All licensed housing developers who failed to complete a housing project or have caused the abandonment of the project shall be deemed to have committed a criminal offence under the amendments to the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Act 1966.

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 17): Property developer Malton Bhd saw its 1QFY12 net profit more than double due to a higher recognition of income from its ongoing projects and the launch of Amaya Maluri.

Net profit for 1Q ended Sept 30 rose to RM12.1 million from RM5.54 million the previous year while revenue improved 44.3% to RM99.2 million from RM68.7 million.

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 17): Nilai Resources Group Bhd has received an offer to buy LK Prisma Sdn Bhd, which owns a 418.2-acre piece of land, forming part of the Seremban Utara township development, for RM118.4 million.

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 17): Al-Hadharah Boustead REIT, the country's only Islamic plantation-based Real Estate Investment Trust, continued to see gains from recent acquisitions as its 3QFY11 net profit rose 44.7% to RM27.2 million from RM18.8 million last year.

HONG KONG (Nov 17): Sun Hung Kai Properties plans a HK$100 million (RM40.49 million) facelift next year for its six-year-old APM shopping mall.

The mall is near Kwun Tong MTR station in East Kowloon, earmarked by the government as the site of a second core business district.

HONG KONG (Nov 17): Developers have started digging deeper into their own pockets to double the commissions they pay to sales agents to encourage them to close more deals.

The extra incentives on offer already appear to have paid off, with 218 new homes sold over the weekend — up 67% from a week earlier and the highest since May 2008, according to Samsung Securities.

TOKYO (Nov 17): The exodus of expatriates from Japan did not start immediately after the tsunami rolled out of the Pacific on the afternoon of March 11.

HONG KONG (Nov 17): Office rents in Hong Kong's central business district have been softening and a sharper decline is expected as demand for space dries up as a result of the global economic turmoil.

LONDON (Nov 17): The eurozone's worsening debt crisis is a dark cloud passing over the international economy, but for London estate agents it has a silver lining. Southern Europeans are moving money out of their economically troubled home countries into the British capital's property market, where it is driving up sales transactions and prices.

SUBANG JAYA (Nov 17): The Empire Shopping Gallery (ESG) in Subang Jaya, Selangor has reopened on Wednesday, after months of repair and renovation works on the damages sustained by the building in an early morning gas explosion in September.