BEIJING: China's trust firms invested 207.8 billion yuan (RM95.5 billion) of funds in the real estate sector in the first half, with two-thirds of that in the second quarter, the official China Securities Journal reported on Tuesday, July 26.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong reported 48 cases of residential mortgage loans in negative equity in the second quarter of 2011, down 18.6% from 59 cases in the first quarter.

Data from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority showed the aggregate value of loans in negative equity declined to HK$58 million (RM22.04 million) as of the end of June, from HK$72 million in March.

JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's approval rating has plunged as protests over the high cost of living multiply in Israel, a poll published on Tuesday, July 26 found.

About 32% of Israelis are satisfied with the mIsraeli leader's performance while 54% are not, vaccording to the liberal Haaretz newspaper, which said the figures reversed survey findings from May.

While green developments are in the early stages of adoption in Malaysia, there is no doubt that they have come a long way. There are 27 Green Building Index (GBI) certified buildings in Malaysia while 179 applications have been submitted over the last two years.

Although the condominium market in Mont’Kiara has been subdued of late, it does not seem to have lost its attractiveness to new residents, especially expatriates.

Developers are moving towards building condominiums with smaller units, which means there will be a limited supply of large condos in Mont’Kiara in the future, a scenario for investors to consider.

Putrajaya has held its own despite the prevailing perception that a city of government offices and civil servants would not attract much attention among real estate investors.

The US subprime crisis, which peaked in 2008, triggered a global financial crisis that affected the property sector in many countries. But now, the real estate market in certain cities is recovering and experiencing positive growth. One hot spot is New York City.

Uncertainty over the national housing policy in the wake of the recent  Singapore General Election and buyers’ increasingly discerning attitude have caused both volume and prices of new private home sales in May to drop, compared with the preceding month.