US existing-home sales rose in January after December's slowdown, as the US housing market continued to tighten, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday.

Construction of new US homes slowed in January while building permits edged up, according to government data released Wednesday that pointed to continued recovery in the housing sector.

London has overtaken Hong Kong to take the title of world's priciest office market, followed by a surprise, fast-rising third place Rio de Janeiro, according to a new survey.

Spanish property firm Reyal Urbis, which is drowning under a debt pile of over 3.6 billion euros, filed Tuesday for insolvency, the latest in a string of collapses of real estate firms since a property bubble burst in 2008.

From growing numbers of people with depression to families bankrupted by stock market investments, many are suffering in Vietnam's slow-burn economic crisis -- and blame the communist regime for their woes.

Hundreds of Filipinos converged on the Philippine capital's main bayfront Tuesday for a unique "sunset watch" protest aimed at stopping what they said would be a disastrous reclamation project.

The Israeli defence ministry on Sunday confirmed it had given the green light for the construction of 346 new settler homes in two settlements in the southern West Bank, a statement said.

Lithuanian tax authorities said Thursday they would use the Baltic state's recently launched Google Street View platform to track tax cheats by identifying the real value of property holdings.

British house prices dipped in January from the level in December, but climbed on an annual basis for the first time for 27 months in a sign of improvement in the property market, a key survey showed on Wednesday.

Former premier Silvio Berlusconi vowed Sunday to refund the money Italians have had to fork out for an unpopular property tax if his coalition wins this month's elections.

China's house price increases picked up pace in January on the back of a recovery in the overall economy and signs of looser policy controls, an independent survey showed Friday.

Spanish bank Santander, the biggest in the eurozone by market value, said Thursday its net profit plunged in 2012 as it wrote off nearly 19 billion euros ($26 billion) for dodgy loans and for property assets in Spain.

European stocks drifted up on Tuesday as traders awaited key data and looked ahead to a US Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting.

US home prices fell slightly in November from the previous month but were still 5.5 percent higher from a year earlier, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index released Tuesday.

Moody's on Monday downgraded the long-term credit ratings of six large Canadian banks, citing concerns over record high Canadian consumer debt and soaring home prices.

US pending home sales dipped in December as inventory remained tight, but the upward trend in the housing market continued, the National Association of Realtors said Monday.

Around 1,000 people took to the streets of Hong Kong Sunday to protest against the city leader's policy speech, which they said offered nothing new on tackling a housing crisis and poverty.

Sales of new homes in the United States fell in December from November, the Commerce Department reported Friday, but the entire year came in nearly 20 percent over 2011, as the housing sector recovers from a deep crash.

Israel's new government will prioritise domestic socio-economic issues, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged on Wednesday, a day after he won a narrow election victory.

US existing-home sales dipped in December, capping a year that saw the briskest sales pace in five years as the housing market recovers, a trade group said Tuesday.