The Ho Chi Minh City Transport Department has disclaimed any responsibility for several cracks found in sections pre-constructed for the Thu Thiem Tunnel project. In August this year, investigators found a number of cracks in four runnel sections pre-constructed for the Thu Thiem Tunnel, which is part of the larger East-West Highway project linking HCMC's District 1 with District 2. The cracks had developed in the sections, built in neighboring Dong Nai Province, even before they were completed in June, the investigators found.

Rapid urbanisation is changing the face of Viet Nam, but at the same time creating problems that need to be solved, according to the head of the Institute of Urban Research and Infrastructure Development, Pham Sy Liem. Statistics supplied by the Viet Nam Association of Urban Planning and Development show that the average speed of urbanisation in Viet Nam's 700 or more cities has increased sharply since 1991

Tokyo overtakes Shanghai as the top spot for next year's real estate investment prospects among big Asian cities, a survey showed on Wednesday. The Japanese capital has the best prospects and lowest risk among 20 locations,the survey conducted by US research institute Urban Land Institute and PricewaterhouseCoopers showed. Tokyo moved up to the first place after being rated third in the past two years. Singapore is in second place and Hong Kong is third while Shanghai dropped to the fifth from last year's top slot.

The volume of unsold houses in the country's northern region is rapidly rising and prices are taking a hammering. Harcourts, New Zealand's biggest real estate chain with 180 offices, yesterday released figures that showed just how poorly the residential market is performing. The northern region, which takes in Auckland, is really feeling the pinch, suffering from declining prices and sale volumes.

The commercial real estate market in China's key cities has begun to feel the pinch from the global financial slowdown as demand for office space by a number of multinational companies softened in the third quarter. According to Colliers, an international property service provider, the average vacancy rate in Guangzhou edged up slightly to 15.1 percent during the third quarter, and the average Grade A office rent fell 1.5 percent quater-over-quarter to $21.11 per sq m per month.

Thailand's property market is expected to shrink by 5 to 10 percent next year as the country falls under the full impact of the global economy recession and local political uncertainty continues without resolution, property experts say. According to a survey by The Nation earlier this week, most property developers and real estate agencies accept that the property market will fall significantly in 2009 as concern about future earnings intensifies and homebuyers set aside plans to buy new homes.

Real estate trading classes have been expanding to receive more and more people who are rushing to learn and obtain their real estate practice certificates prior to January 1, 2009. HCM City these days is witnessing a new movement of following training courses on real estate business and brokerage. A staff of the Administration and Management Institute on Huynh Van Banh street in Phu Nhuan district, said that nearly all the trainees, who have registered for the classes, are now the staff of real estate firms and real estate trading floors.

In the first months of 2008, although the world faced disadvantaged conditions, FDI poured into Binh Duong sharply. Noticeably, FDI projects into the province were large scaled and hi-tech projects…

Property prices in China's 70 large and medium-sized cities rose 1.6 percent year-on-year in October, the lowest growth rate since 2006, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said on Tuesday. Shenzhen, with a price drop of 15 percent year-on-year for new residential housing and 17.4 percent for pre-owned housing, saw the biggest decrease in the country.

Despite the current global financial meltdown, the Malaysian property market still remains attractive to foreign investors, according to International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI) Malaysia honorary treasurer Yeow Thit Sang