IT is relatively easy to snigger at the plight facing Dubai. Words like hubris and phrases like "pride comes before a fall" come to mind. After all, it is pretty humiliating for anyone to admit they can't pay their bills, let alone a city which has built its reputation upon being a braggart.

HONG KONG: Lee Shau-kee, the billionaire chairman of Henderson Land Development Co., is planning a $2.6 billion (RM8.8 billion) bet that Hong Kong home prices will keep rising.

Lee, 81, said today he plans to spend HK$10 billion (RM4.36 billion) on property in the next two to three months and another HK$10 billion on government land premiums for its Wu Kai Sha project.

SYDNEY: Lend Lease Group, Australia’s largest property developer, may buy the ING Retail Property Fund to gain assets including the Joondalup shopping center in Perth and the Harbour Town complex on the Gold Coast.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s home market will be a “good bet” because of a shortage of new housing units, Hang Lung Properties Ltd. Chairman Ronnie Chan said.

Chan said in a Bloomberg Television interview today that he’s “positive” about the city’s luxury housing market because demand will be supported by wealthy mainland Chinese.

IPOH: The Perak government has decided to blacklist the contractor involved in building the ill-fated suspension bridge which collapsed, killing three primary school pupils who attended a 1 Malaysia Camp at the education department’s co-curriculum centre in Kuala Dipang, Kampar in October.

KOTA KINABALU: Metrojaya Bhd, a leading homegrown retailer, opened its first department store in the heart of Kota Kinabalu at the Suria Sabah Shopping Mall here today.

Kota Kinabalu mayor Datuk Iliyas Ibrahim said the opening of Metrojaya in Kota Kinabalu was timely as it has been one of the fastest growing cities in this region.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong should step up tightening of bank lending to ease asset price inflation, the IMF said on Thursday, as the city's surging property prices have raised the risk of an asset bubble.

KUALA LUMPUR: The announcements on Dubai World’s debt restructuring and the Vietnamese dong’s devaluation hit world markets late last week. Malaysia was not spared, with some construction companies, perceivably with the most direct exposure, falling -9.2% since last Wednesday (compared to a -0.1% fall in the KLCI).

NEW YORK: A recovery of the US hotel industry isn’t likely until 2011 because room rates remain low and commercial real estate values have plunged, Fitch Ratings said.