HONG KONG: The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) cannot afford to build only cheaper flats because it has to pay its own way under the government's new renewal strategy and needs revenue from luxury flats to stay in the black, Development Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said last Thursday, Oct 14.

LONDON: Property asking prices in England and Wales rose for the first time in four months in October, with sellers responding to seasonal pressures instead of market fundamentals, a survey showed on Monday, Oct 18.

DELRAY BEACH (Florida): Curtis Jones has fought for more than a year to keep his two-story townhouse in this beachside Florida city from being foreclosed.

Jones, a 49-year-old construction worker, feels like it is a one-sided fight.

"Nobody is willing to work with me. They just brush you off," he said.

Bandar Utama in Petaling Jaya is one of the Klang Valley’s property hot spots that is known for overnight queues for its terraced homes.

Selangor Dredging Bhd’s (SDB) Seventies-inspired RM170 million development Dedaun — which means leaf in Malay — is set for official launch on Oct 22. The project sits on about an acre of freehold land off Jalan Ampang, not far from the British High Commission.

For 38-year-old Teoh, the long wait to purchase a 2-storey shopoffice unit at Phase 6A3 in Bandar Kinrara, Puchong, was well worth it. He was convinced of the potential appreciation in value of the units as a supermarket would be coming up soon on a neighbouring plot.

The prices of landed properties in the Klang Valley that went under the hammer in August and September have risen considerably from earlier this year.

Everyone loves a view, especially of the sea from a very high elevation. That, and more, can be found at the luxurious Reflections at Keppel Bay in Singapore, which will be launched in Malaysia this month, says its developer Keppel Corp Ltd.The leasehold project, which comprises six high-rise towers and 11 low-rise villa apartment blocks, is due for completion in 2012.

There’s been intense speculation in Singapore on the next office deal. Tongues are wagging that The Corporate Office at 138 Robinson Road, a 21-storey office building at the corner of Robinson Road and McCallum Street, is close to being sold for more than S$200 million (RM473.1 million), or about S$1,900 psf of net lettable area (NLA).

With Singaporean individual and corporate investors being the largest group of foreign investors in Malaysian real estate, it is no surprise that government-linked Malaysian Property Inc decided to set up its first overseas office in the city-state. MPI officially opened its Singapore office-cum-gallery at SGX Centre 1 on Oct 1.