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Buying a home sight unseen

The Business Times
ZACK Fountas bought a new one-bedroom apartment in White Plains, New York, from his home in Chicago, without ever having set foot inside the building. The 850 sq ft apartment is within walking distance of the train station, and with an asking price of US$155,000, it appeared on paper to have almost everything that Mr Fountas and his fiancee were looking for, including a dishwasher.

Concrete jungle cements potential for developers' profits

The Business Times
AS famed psychologist Abraham Maslow argued, shelter is one of man's most fundamental needs. Trying to satisfy that need for the 1.38 billion people in China is definitely no mean feat. Furthermore, the desire to upgrade and accumulate investment assets should keep demand for real estate in major global cities growing over time. Perhaps then, investing in a Chinese developer would appear to be a potentially attractive proposition. However, developers differentiate themselves by positioning their land bank to achieve a desired level of exposure to certain provinces or cities. From an investment point of view, which regions bear the most potential, and which developers would stand to benefit?