LONDON: Property investor NewRiver and Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing have created a joint venture to acquire UK retail property which has bought its first portfolio for £49 million (RM253.83 million).

The closed-end NewRiver Retail Investments LP JV's deal capacity is more than £250 million, including leverage, NewRiver said in a statement on March 1.

JEDDAH: Jeddah needs almost a million housing units over the next 20 years, says a strategic plan prepared by the Jeddah municipality.

KUALA LUMPUR: Golden Horse Palace Bhd (GHPB), a subsidiary of Country Heights Holdings Bhd (CHHB), is acquiring 20 units of Country Villas from its sibling Country Heights W.T.C Sdn Bhd (CHWTC) for a total of RM4 million.

KUALA LUMPUR: A six-member delegation, including the top management of Renexus Group, Malaysia, is currently discussing with Pakistani authorities in Lahore to build low-cost houses, introduce Wimax technology and develop waste water treatment facilities.

HONG KONG: Sun Hung Kai Properties decision to pay a steep price for a residential site in Tseung Kwan O is a move to take advantage of its development across the street and use the high land cost to price the flats there at a large premium, market watchers say.

KUCHING: The government will accord recognition to the customary rights (NCR) lands under the existing law and state land code.

PETALING JAYA: England-based developer, Berkeley Homes is currently marketing 167 units of waterside residences known as The Residence (pictured) at Woodberry Park in London to international investors.

HONG KONG: Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah warned last Friday that new measures would be rolled out to cool property prices if steps he introduced in the budget did not do the job.

The budget has been heavily criticised by lawmakers and members of the public for failing to address the difficulties many people face in buying a home.

HONG KONG: Fourth-quarter net profit at China Vanke, the country's largest listed property developer, rose 35%, beating forecasts, as residential sales picked up strongly.

China Vanke Co Ltd booked a net profit of 2.37 billion yuan (RM1.18 billion) for the October-December period, against 1.76 billion yuan a year earlier, according to Reuters calculations.

LONDON: UK house prices were 0.4% higher than a year ago in February, marking the first annual rise since March 2008, a survey showed on March 1.

House market analysts at Hometrack said prices rose a non-seasonally adjusted 0.3% on the month but warned that the market did not appear poised for another boom.

Prices were 1% lower in January than the same month in 2009.