TOKYO: Nipponkoa, a unit of Japanese property and casualty insurer NKSJ Holdings, wants to make at least one overseas acquisition this financial year as part of a plan to expand in foreign markets, the company's new president said.

NEW YORK: After more than three years of stagnation the United States housing market is picking up again, and agent Sherri Shang's working hours are growing longer as affluent Chinese buyers resume home hunting in Manhattan.

HONG KONG: Veteran property watcher Koh Keng-shing has gazed into his crystal ball and does not like what he has seen.

"I see history probably repeating itself and a correction looming large for the market," said a sombre Koh.

HONG KONG: Strong demand in the office market has lifted rents in Central above their pre-crisis peak of three years ago.

"Half-yearly growth in rentals for all districts was between 13% and 21%," Mark Price, head of business space for greater China for property consultancy DTZ, said. "Rentals have rocketed on the basis of growing demand from the financial and other sectors."

HONG KONG: Property developers are showing an increased interest in buying old colonial-style historic buildings as long-term investments.

Once reluctant to buy such buildings in the absence of an unambiguous government policy on their status and uncertainty over their future potential, developers are now throwing those cautions to the winds.

OSAKA: Three months after eastern Japan was struck by a massive earthquake and tsunami, gloom has once again settled over Osaka's long-depressed property market.

KUALA LUMPUR: Mudajaya Group Bhd is expecting to add another RM1 billion worth of jobs to its order book over the next 12 months, according to its managing director Ng Yin Loong.

"We are currently bidding mostly for power plants, some hospital contracts and other works such as the LRT extension packages," he said after the company AGM.

KUALA LUMPUR: Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on Wednesday, June 22 urged Malay contractors to create their own opportunities to be involved in achieving government targets.

He said they should identify new areas and markets for themselves and be bold in diversifying their business.

PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced on Thursday, June 23 that a 1Malaysia people's housing project would be developed on a piece of land at the Sungai Besi airbase in Kuala Lumpur.

KUALA LUMPUR: United Malayan Land Bhd (UMLand) plans to launch more new projects with a total gross development value (GDV) nearing RM500 million in the financial year ending Dec 31, 2011.