HANOI: The Vietnam Architecture Association has launched a design competition challenging domestic and overseas Vietnamese architects to come up with an innovative idea for building houses in flood-prone areas, Vietnam News Agency reported.

In particular, the central and the Mekong Delta regions will be targeted.

KUALA LUMPUR: The property market in Dubai showed a drop rental and sale prices for apartments, villas and offices for the third quarter (3Q) from the previous quarter (2Q), a report said.

KUALA LUMPUR: Mah Sing Group Berhad has acquired two parcels of land in Ampang and Cyberjaya with a combined gross development value (GDV) of about RM1.2 billion.

PUCHONG: SP Setia Bhd, the developer of boutique lifestyle development SetiaWalk, is confident of leasing out at least 80% for the project's mall component in time for its launch in the first quarter of 2012, said its divisional general manager Wong Tuck Wai.

IJM Land
Canal City in the limelight

MELBOURNE: A country town in the state of New South Wales is offering houses to rent for just A$1 (RM3.08) a week to "keep the town alive".

There are still plenty of jobs available in the town of Trundle but no one to do them, Trundle Tree Change spokeswoman Cherie Quade told the ABC.

KUALA LUMPUR: The demand for housing is expected to remain strong for the next 12 to 18 months, after which the market will stabilise, according to Datuk Fateh Iskandar Mohamed Mansor, deputy president of the Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association of Malaysia (Rehda).

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia Steel Association (MSA) members will invest RM5 billion in the next three years to increase industry capacity by another 3.2 million tonnes per annum.

PETALING JAYA: The government believes the domestic steel industry is on track towards a strong rebound with the implementation of large infrastructure and construction projects under Budget 2011.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the government would continue to assist the steel industry to ensure that it was more competitive.

KUALA LUMPUR: Eastern and Oriental Bhd (E&O) has reopened its Lone Pine Hotel in Batu Ferringhi in Penang.

The hotel was reopened to the public on Monday after a one-and-a-half-years refurbishment and expansion process, it said in a statement on Tuesday, Nov 2.