Gerald and Cindy moved from Petaling Jaya, Selangor, to Seremban in Negeri Sembilan about six months ago as they decided that their two young children would have a better quality of life in a smaller town, as well as to better manage their escalating expenses.

Owners of prime Grade-A office buildings in the Singapore CBD contemplating a sale these days are in an ebullient mood. Just 12 months ago, they were staring at capital values that had plunged 31% from the last peak in 2Q2008 while rental rates had nose­dived 52.8% from two years ago.

KUALA LUMPUR: Priceworth Wood Products Bhd — via its wholly-owned subsidiary Maxland Sdn Bhd — sold land in Sandakan, Sabah to Green Edible Oil Sdn Bhd for RM400,000, the group announced on Friday, Dec 3.

Priceworth Wood Products is engaged in the manufacturing, extracting and trading of timber and timber related products.

KUALA LUMPUR: Sanbumi Holding Bhd — via its wholly-owned subsidiary Sanbumi Sawmill Sdn Bhd — sold 39.98 acres of land in Kalabakan in the district of Tawau, along with the sawmill plant, equipment and machines to Dyna Istimewa Sdn Bhd for RM6.5 million, the group announced on Friday, Dec 3.

KUALA LUMPUR: Golden Frontier Bhd — via its wholly-owned subsidiary Golden Frontier Paper Industry Sdn Bhd — has acquired four pieces of freehold plantation land in Daerah Seberang Perai Selatan, Penang totaling 45.06 acres for RM10.79 million, the group announced on Friday, Dec 3.

KUALA LUMPUR: Box-Pak (Vietnam) — a wholly-owned subsidiary of Box-Pak (Malaysia), which in turn is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kian Joo Can Factory Bhd (KJCF) — has acquired a 6-acre piece of leasehold land in VSIP Bac Ninh, Bac Ninh Provience, Vietnam for US$1.62 million (RM5.1 million) on Thursday, Dec 2, the group announced on Friday.

HONG KONG: China and Hong Kong need to implement more measures to rein in the threat of property bubbles forming in certain sectors of their markets, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a working paper citing the views of economists.

MELAKA: Melaka already has a policy to allow land owners to renew their 99-year leasehold tenure much earlier without having to wait until the lease is expiring, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam said.

He said the policy, introduced seven years ago, enabled owners to extend their leasehold tenure although the remaining lease was still long.

KUALA LUMPUR: Mah Sing Bhd was voted the top company for Malaysia in the Asiamoney 2010 Corporate Governance Poll, the online finance information service provider stated in a press release on Friday, Dec 3.

The poll saw 146 senior executives and research analysts from 113 firms voted in this year's survey.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians who have locked in their investments in central London’s prime residential properties recently can expect strong gains on the back of a recovery in the pound sterling over the next few years, said Savills director of international sales James Talbot.“I think the pound will recover faster than the dollar, which means that if the ringgit goes up to 5.80 against the pound,