SHANGHAI: China homebuyers seem to have got the message — for now at least.

Responding to the first roll-out last month in Shanghai and Chongqing of the long-awaited property tax — which came on top of earlier nationwide measures to curb runaway prices — buyers kept out of the market last week.

HONG KONG: Individual serviced apartments are being offered for sale in Hong Kong for the first time.

The launch by the family-owned Ovolo Group will test the market's appetite while allowing the company to raise cash to expand as property prices continue to rise.

HONG KONG: Hampton Place, Kingswood Villas and Kornhill are among the housing estates that have recorded price increases of more than 80% amid a resurgence of the property market in the past two years, according to property agents.

HONG KONG: Developers are poised to accelerate releases of new projects in Hong Kong to take advantage of a strong rebound in prices, agents believe.

HONG KONG: A Philippine developer is targeting Hongkongers with an upmarket Versace-branded residential project in Makati City in the heart of Manila's financial district and shopping mecca.

Robbie Antonio, managing director of Century Properties, believes the famous brand will attract Hong Kong buyers to the Milano Residences project.

BUTTERWORTH: Several areas in Penang today experienced moderate haze, with visibility slashed to between four and six kilometres, according to the Meteorological Department.

A spokesman said the haze was due to the dry weather and absence of rain over the last few days.

KUALA LUMPUR: Kuantan Port City (KPC) is projected to attract up to RM38 billion investments by 2020, and help the East Coast Economic Region (ECER) and the country's first Special Economic Zone located within it, to be an industrial and logistics hub.

The ECER encompasses Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang as well as the Mersing district in Johor.

KUALA LUMPUR: Axis REIT Managers Bhd (ARMB), the manager of office/industrial Islamic REIT Axis Real Estate Investment Trust (Axis-REIT), is offering their unit holders the opportunity to reinvest their income distribution in new units as part of the trust's plan to allot an issue up to 75,180,200 new units, which is up to 20% of the current fund size of Axis-REIT of 375,901,000, increasing the

LONDON: The average price of flats and maisonettes in London Central had increased by 12.7% last year-end, compared to the previous year.

KUALA LUMPUR: The board of United Overseas Australia Ltd (UOA), which is listed primarily on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), has submitted documents to Bursa Malaysia for a proposed listing of its development arm on the local bourse's main market.