KUALA LUMPUR: Local hotel room prices rose 17% to average US$118 (RM359.90) per night in 2010 from a year ago, thanks to a strong recovery in corporate travel coupled with a resurgence of international tourists, according to the latest Hotel Price Index (HPI) by major international hotel accomodation provider Hotels.com.

SHAH ALAM: Setia City Mall, located in S P Setia Bhd's thriving 4,000 acre Setia Alam township that is set to open by mid-2012, has welcome its first few shoppers despite still being under construction after the shoppers' won a competition run exclusively on Facebook.

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Abd Karim Munisar has resigned as chairman of both Kumpulan Hartanah Selangor Bhd (KHSB) and Kumpulan Perangsang Selangor Bhd (KPSB), the groups announced to Bursa Malaysia separately on Friday, Mar 18. Abd Karim at the same time resigned as a non-independent and non-executive director of KHSB.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association Malaysia (Rehda) plans to submit a memorandum containing recommendation on the proposed amendments to the Housing Development Act (118) to authorities beyond the Ministry of Housing and Local Government in two months, said president Datuk Seri Michael Yam.

SINGAPORE: SANYO Asia Pte Ltd has completed the solar panel installation for Hotel Penaga in Penang, situated within the Unesco World Heritage Site of George Town. It is the first heritage restoration in Malaysia to receive the Green Mark Certification from Malaysia's Green Building Index.

KUALA LUMPUR: Joint patrols my members of the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) and auxiliary police at the Light Rail Transit (LRT) stations in Selangor will be conducted to ensure the safety of passengers.

Selangor police chief Datuk Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah said about 300,000 people used the LRT service in the Ampang area in a month, for instance, and the police wanted them to feel safe.

BEIJING: China's property prices increased at their slowest pace in more than a year in February after a succession of policy moves by the government to cool the real estate market.

BEIJING: New home prices rose 6.8% in Beijing in February from a year earlier, flat from an annual increase of 6.8% in January, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Friday, Mar 18.

In Shanghai, the prices were up 2.3% in February compared with a rise of 1.5% in January.

KUALA LUMPUR: Developer UDA Holdings Bhd is selling the shop office blocks at its Sinaran TTDI project in Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI) by tender.

PUCHONG: The first condominium block of Casa Tropika in Batu 14, Puchong, has been sold out since it was opened for sale in early January, said TSI Holdings Sdn Bhd group managing director Datuk Lim Seng Kok.