LONDON: InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is set to open its new 254-room six-storey hotel in Westminster in central London by late 2011. The 120,000 sq ft site for the hotel is presently office and retail space.

SINGAPORE: Policy makers from South Korea to Singapore, confronted with rising real-estate values that threaten to mimic in Asia the US mortgage bubble that roiled the global economy, are stepping up efforts to rein in prices.

LOS ANGELES: Sun Valley, a sun-baked and struggling corner of Los Angeles, is fertile ground for mortgage rescue scams with its high proportion of subprime borrowers, Spanish speakers and a sharp drop in home values.

KUALA LUMPUR: SP Setia Berhad Group'S subsidiary, Setia Lai Thieu Ltd is teaming up with Vietnam's Investment and Industrial Development Corp (Becamex IDC Corp) to undertake a mixed-use project in Vietnam valued at US$16.26 million.The project would be carried out in Lai Thieu, Binh Doung province.

KUALA LUMPUR: Jetson Construction Sdn Bhd, in a joint venture with Medallion Builder Sdn Bhd, has been awarded a contract of approximately RM104 million to undertake the proposed rehabilitation of a housing project at Bukit Cerakah, Daerah Kuala Selangor, Selangor.

KUALA LUMPUR: Ireka Engineering & Construction Sdn Bhd has acquired three units of condominiums at Seni Mont’Kiara from Amatir Resources Sdn Bhd for RM5,067,700, the former announced on Oct 26. The development consists of 605 condominium units in four residential tower blocks.   

KUALA LUMPUR: Quill Capita Management Sdn Bhd (QCM), the manager of Quill Capita Trust (QCT), a commercial real estate investment trust listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd announced on Oct 26 in a press statement, a profit after tax of RM8.09 million for the 3Q ended Sept 30, 2009.

SHAH ALAM:  S P Setia Bhd Group through its subsidiary, Setia Lai Thieu Ltd, signed an agreement on Oct 26 with Investment and Industrial Development Corp (Becamex IDC Corp) for the assignment of 27 acres of land to develop a mixed-use project located in Lai Thieu Town, Tuan An District, Binh Doung Province, Vietnam.

KUALA LUMPUR: Real estate agents have greeted the government’s move of reinstating a fixed 5% real property gains tax (RPGT) effective Jan 1, 2010, with scepticism, saying the local property market was still on uneven footing.

KUALA LUMPUR: IJM Land Bhd led real estate stocks lower and builders fell after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak imposed a capital gains tax on property and the government cut development spending.

IJM Land, Malaysia’s fifth-biggest developer, slid 2% to RM2.44 at 10.28am on Oct 26, outpacing the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index’s 0.4% decline. IGB Corp lost 3.3% to RM2.07.