KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will need to raise the number of hotel rooms in the country by about 50% to cater for a targeted growth in tourist arrivals to 36 million by 2020, said Deputy Minister of Tourism Datuk Dr James Dawos Mamit.

HONG KONG: German luxury goods company MCM Products, which took over home-grown retailer Episode's shop to open its flagship store in Central, said the strategic position of Hong Kong as a gateway to China would outweigh the cost of high shop rents in the city.

Global brands would be undeterred by rising rents, it said.

HONG KONG: Sales of second-hand homes fell to a seven-week low last week, with only 226 deals done, as buying sentiment was hurt by uncertainties arising from Japan's nuclear crisis.

HONG KONG: Wealthy shoppers are driving a shift in Hong Kong's retail mix away from the mid-priced merchandise that once attracted local and foreign shoppers to the city, to the high-priced luxury international brands favoured by China visitors.

HONG KONG: To rent or to buy? Cereal Luk, like so many other tenants in Hong Kong, is currently wrestling with this tricky question.

While she is keen to avoid paying rapidly rising rents, buying now seems fraught with risk, since average home prices are approaching the peak levels reached before the 1997 East Asian crisis and luxury-home prices have exceeded those levels.

WASHINGTON: US consumers turned gloomy in March as rising energy prices ignited fears of inflation, a change in mood that could dent global economic growth.

Another report on Tuesday, Mar 29 showed home prices fell for a seventh straight month in January but held above their post-housing bust low of April 2009.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd (MRCB) and Ekovest Bhd have established a joint venture company — KL Bund Sdn Bhd (KBSB) which would act as the project delivery partner (PDP) for the multi-billion River of Life project to rehabilitate the Klang River.

KUALA LUMPUR: Metro Kajang Holdings Bhd plans to allocate RM100 million in capital expenditure (capex) for its property development division this year, including the acquisition of new landbank.

SHANGHAI: InterContinental Hotels Group, the world's largest hotel chain by number of rooms, plans to launch a China-specific brand to drive its ambitious expansion in the world's fastest-growing market.

WASHINGTON: US single family home prices fell for the seventh straight month in January, bringing prices to just above April 2009 lows, a closely watched survey said on Tuesday, Mar 29.