The city's major brokerage firms reported that prices in 4Q2009 in the Manhattan property market had decreased from a year ago while sales had risen. I expect this trend to continue into early 2010.

GEORGE TOWN: E&O Bhd anticipates sales of between 40% and 50% of its Quayside seafront luxury condominiums in the next one to two months.

E&O managing director Datuk Terry Tham said at least 110 units or 30% of the 298 units of the first block have already been booked by prospective buyers since the soft launch of the project. Its official launch is on Sunday Feb 7.

KUALA LUMPUR: Main board listed tertiary educator, Seg International Bhd. or Segi International (Segi) through its wholly owned subsidiary Metromas Realtors Sdn Bhd has signed an agreement with Upaya Jernih Sdn Bhd (Upaya) to develop and build a variety of buildings in Kota Damansara, Selangor.

KUALA LUMPUR: Main-board listed Encorp Bhd. has established an Australian subsidiary named Encorp Development Pty Ltd for property development.

According to a statement to Bursa Malaysia on Friday Feb , the company said that the new subsidiary in Australia has an issued and paid-up share capital of AUD100 comprising 100 ordinary shares of AUD1.00 each.

HONG KONG: Cashed-up mainlanders snapped up almost one in five luxury flats sold in Hong Kong last year, a sign of their growing economic might in the city.

HONG KONG: Hopewell Holdings and its highway construction unit plan to invest nearly HK$12 billion in the next six years in Hong Kong and Guangdong to develop residential and commercial projects and build expressways.

PAPAR (Sabah): Padi fields and other areas suitable for padi planting, including idle land, should not be used for other development purposes, Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Yahya Hussin said.

PETALING JAYA: The latest launch of the remaining towers of Selangor Dredging Berhad’s (SDB) Five Stones condominium development in Petaling Jaya is seeing brisk sales.

At the launch of Block D & E on January 16 the 25-storey 50-unit Block D was 92% taken up while slightly more than half of the 36-storey, 142-unit Block E was sold, said the developer.

SYDNEY: Australia's construction industry rebounded strongly in January, a survey showed on Friday Feb 5, posting its best performance in two years as home building boomed and the commercial and engineering sectors enjoyed healthy growth.

KUALA LUMPUR: Property services company, Colliers International has been ranked on Jan 28, 2010 by the China Real Estate Developers Association (CREDA) as one of the top 10 development consultants in China ’s real estate industry in 2009.