Marc Townsend, managing director of CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) Vietnam has been in the country for eight years and has seen at least two major real-estate cycles. It’s now entering the third.

KL-Kepong Country Homes Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd (KLK), hopes to gain a foothold in property development with its newly launched township in Sungai Buloh called Bandar Seri Coalfields. The 1,000-acre freehold project is its single-largest to date with a gross development value (GDV) of about RM3.7 billion.

We just fell in love with the location. The lake view and surroundings  impressed us so much that we decided to buy the land even though we weren’t considering Cyberjaya when we started looking for land at the time,” Tim Development & Construction Sdn Bhd manager Yap Lai Yee tells City & Country.

KUALA LUMPUR: Tune Hotels said it will be investing about RM2 million to RM3 million on green technology for each of its
hotel in the next two to three years. Its Group Chief Executive Officer Mark Lankester said the move is expected
to help the company reduce 30 to 40 per cent of its existing operating cost for the next three to four years.

KUALA LUMPUR: The oft-used adage for any property development is “location, location, location” which certainly describes Hijauan on Cavenagh, Selangor Dredging Bhd’s (SDB) latest Singaporean residential offering. Hijauan, which means “greenery” in the Malay language, is situated a mere five-minute walk from the famed Orchard Road.

CANBERRA (Australia): The latest Australia Housing Industry Association (HIA) Housing to 2020 report has estimated that the country will require 1.6 million homes over the next nine years. It may face a critical housing shortage by 2020 if the current rate of supply does not pick up.

GEORGE TOWN: Hunza Properties Bhd will pay out RM10 million compensation to about 100 buyers of units at its Gurney Paragon condominium due to late delivery.The project located in Gurney Drive in Penang has a gross development value (GDV) of RM480 million and is part of the 4ha Gurney Paragon, a mixed development project comprising a shopping mall and the condominium.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing (KWPKB) and the Malaysian Institute of Architects (PAM) have jointly organised a 2020 Countdown Clock Urban Design Competition that is now open for public voting.The public can go to vote.pam.org.my. to vote for their favourite design for the countdown clock to be located at Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur.

During our recent site visit to Iskandar Malaysia, we drove around the project sites for EduCity, Medini, SiLC, Horizon Hills, Setia Eco-Gardens, and Johor Premium Outlet, and made stops at the state administrative centre in Kota Iskandar, Columbia Hospital, and Puteri Harbour sales gallery.

LONDON: News International, the British newspaper wing of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, has put its former Wapping home up for sale, abandoning a plan to remodel the 15-acre site in east London that housed the News of the World.