CHINA: The Chinese government plans to impose property tax in Shanghai and Chongqing by the years' end to curb property speculation, according to a report by online news portal soufun.com.

PETALING JAYA: Mitraland Group plans to launch the second phase of The Cascades @ Kota Damansara in Petaling Jaya, Selangor within the next two months.

The developer said that indicative prices for the second phase, which comprises apartment units, are between RM550 psf and RM600 psf.

KUALA LUMPUR: Kedah Gerakan Youth urged the state government to fulfill its pledge to stop the increase of the Bumiputra quota for housing development.

In a media statement on Monday, Oct 18, the youth division said the state government made its pledge in Decemeber last year to stop the increase of the Bumiputra quota from 30% to 50% for housing developments.

KUALA LUMPUR: Property developer Tambun Indah Land Bhd has been given the nod by the Securities Commission to be listed on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia.

In a statement Monday, Oct 18, its managing director Teh Kiak Seng said it was timely for the company to come to market to be listed in view of the increasing demand for properties on mainland Penang.

HONG KONG: The controversial rent-to-buy scheme — supposedly a short-term relief measure for better-off home hunters — could be expanded if the response is good, Donald Tsang Yam-kuen has hinted.

SHANGHAI: Despite the central government's attempts to cool the property market, a Shanghai district government last Thursday, Oct 14 released seven sites for sale.

HONG KONG: Elderly residents in crumbling areas of Kowloon City would like to take advantage of the new flat-for-flat scheme — but only if their new homes are as big as their old ones and they do not have to pay any extra money.

HONG KONG: The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) cannot afford to build only cheaper flats because it has to pay its own way under the government's new renewal strategy and needs revenue from luxury flats to stay in the black, Development Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said last Thursday, Oct 14.

LONDON: Property asking prices in England and Wales rose for the first time in four months in October, with sellers responding to seasonal pressures instead of market fundamentals, a survey showed on Monday, Oct 18.

DELRAY BEACH (Florida): Curtis Jones has fought for more than a year to keep his two-story townhouse in this beachside Florida city from being foreclosed.

Jones, a 49-year-old construction worker, feels like it is a one-sided fight.

"Nobody is willing to work with me. They just brush you off," he said.