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Land titles for 100,000 families in Selangor

KUALA KUBU BARU: Some 100,000 families in Selangor who have been occupying the state land for more than 15 years will soon receive their land titles, Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said today (April 7).

He said the decision was made at the state executive council meeting today and the move would benefit squatter families and farmers occupying Temporary

WHO calls for innovative solution to make urban dwellers healthier

MANILA: The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday, April 7 called for an innovative solution in narrowing the health inequity caused by rapid increase in urban population, so as to create a healthier society in the Western Pacific Region, China's Xinhua news agency reports.

Hong Kong home prices seen as peaking out

HONG KONG: Lower than expected sales of apartments in Cheung Kong Festival City in Tai Wai have raised concerns that price gains in the primary market may be outstripping the budgets of homebuyers.

"It is a sign that prices are close to their peak," David Ng, head of regional property research at the Royal Bank of Scotland, said.

China’s burial sites offer healthy returns

HONG KONG: Buying a burial plot may not be on the top of one's shopping list, but it can be a sound investment in China.

In areas near big cities such as Shanghai, where land is scarce, prices of burial plots have been rising about 10% per year over the past few years, according to Marcy Zhang, the managing director of Shanghai-based Crispins Property Investment Management.

Reduce housing loan rates, says Cuepacs

KUALA LUMPUR: Cuepacs has urged the government to reduce the interest rate on housing loans from 4% to 2% in keeping with the market rates.

Its secretary-general, Ahmad Shah Mohd Zin, said many commercial banks were charging less than 4% and the government should also adjust the rates, which were first introduced in the early 70s.

Government mulls sharing land sale profit with concessionaires

KUALA LUMPUR: The government is mulling the idea of sharing part of the profit from the eventual sale of land along newly built expressways with the concessionaires, said Works Minister Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor.

Such a move would help to lighten the concessionaires’ cost burden and the intensity of toll hikes, the minister said.

Harrods Estates to debut at Cityscape Abu Dhabi 2010

ABU DHABI: Harrods Estates, the luxury real estate division of the Harrods Group, will showcase its prime residential property portfolio in Central London at the Cityscape Abu Dhabi 2010, an international real estate investment and development event to be held from April 18 to 21.

Need for uniformed green building rating in Asia

KUALA LUMPUR: The Asia market is being flooded with numerous green ratings and this is confusing tenants and developers, the Clinton Foundation's Clinton Climate Initiative energy efficiency building retrofit programme regional manager (Asia) Christopher Seeley said in a panel discussion in the session entitled "Going green - technologies/buildings" at the Asian Metrocity Summit here on April 6