NEW YORK: Midtown Manhattan office rents fell 33 percent in 2009 as New York’s financial industry cut staff and relinquished space, according to Bloomberg citing a report by commercial property broker FirstService Williams.

PETALING JAYA: Tanjung Balai Development Sdn Bhd will hand over J-Avenue shopoffice project (pictured), which is located just behind AEON Jusco Cheras Selatan, in Selangor to buyers in January.

MIAMI: Florida's Miami-Dade County will start using the Internet next month in a bid to help auction off tens of thousands of delinquent properties that have put it on the frontlines of the U.S. foreclosure crisis.

KUALA LUMPUR: Property developers will continue to emerge as key winners in 2010, driven by rising demand and improving economic outlook, according to an analyst at MIDF Research.

HONG KONG: New mortgage loans approved in Hong Kong in November rose 203.8% from a year earlier, but fell 11.1% from October for a fifth consecutive month-on-month decline, figures from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) showed, according to Reuters on Dec 29.

Month-on-month figures are not seasonally adjusted.

KUALA LUMPUR: PLB-KH Bina Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of PLB Engineering Bhd, has entered into a sale and purchase agreement with Datuk Ong Cho Hoon to acquire four parcels of agricultural lands in Penang for a total cash consideration of RM3.78 million.

KUALA LUMPUR: Indah Paper Industries Sdn Bhd (IPISB) is acquiring a plot of land in Klang, Selangor, measuring 263,930 sq ft for RM7 million, parent company Minho (M) Bhd said in a filing to Bursa Malaysia on Dec 29.

KUALA LUMPUR: Majuperak Holdings Bhd has entered into a conditional sale and purchase agreement with Alliance Contract Manufacturing Sdn Bhd to dispose two pieces of land in Penang for RM6.38 million and RM6.62 million respectively in cash.

KUALA LUMPUR: TH Properties Sdn Bhd, which is promoting sustainable development, is collaborating with Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) to research cost-efficient and building materials.