Design & Construction Week, the massive annual expo combining the International Builders’ Show with the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show, wrapped last Thursday with record attendance and multiple award programs. Resilience, wellness and sustainability dominated the trends in this largest show of its kind in the world. According to the National Association of Home Builders, which owns IBS, more than 124,000 residential design and building pros visited more than 2400 exhibitors across the four Las Vegas Convention Center halls. This was the 12th year that the two trade shows were combined. Here are my initial trend impressions, based on three…

Shares of City Developments Ltd. (CDL) tumbled as trading resumed Monday following a three-day halt amid a boardroom battle for control of one of Singapore’s most valuable publicly traded real estate companies. Despite assurance from CDL that “business operations remain fully functional and unaffected” by the ongoing dispute between executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng and his son Sherman Kwek, the company’s CEO, the stock slumped as much as 7% in the morning, heading for its lowest close since March 2009. It had recouped some losses by midafternoon but was still down 3.5%. “We downgrade the stock to a hold in…

Hotel tycoon Ong Beng Seng plans to plead guilty to one charge related to the offences of former transport minister S. Iswaran, who was convicted in October of breaking the law for receiving gifts from the businessman. Ong, 79, also consented to have a second charge taken into consideration for the purposes of sentencing at a court hearing scheduled on April 2, according to a statement from Hotel Properties, in which the tycoon serves as managing director. In October, prosecutors charged Ong for abetting ex-transport minister S. Iswaran over two flights, a night’s stay at the Four Seasons hotel in…

Houzz just announced Houzz the Best of Houzz 2025 Awards, which celebrates the most popular designs and home pros. With 65 million homeowners and design enthusiasts in its community, along with 3 million residential construction and design professionals, Houzz tends to accurately predict trends, so I’m always excited to see their announcements. Some of the many 2025 trends reflected in the Houzz awards include kitchen features that enhance entertainment, inviting home offices, powder rooms that pop, quiet places, and more. Houzz gave me photos of some of the award-winning designs, along with commentary from a Houzz expert who explains the…

There are more than 320 million search results for “heat pump” on Google today. It’s likely that this energy-saving technology didn’t garner a fraction of that response before 2022. What’s changed – and why might you want heat pump technology for your home? There are more model and feature choices today, and financial incentives for changing your water heater and home heating-air conditioning systems that can offset some of their upfront costs. The federal incentives were built into the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. State incentives vary. Even if rebates didn’t exist or disappear, there are additional financial, safety and wellness…

Malaysian billionaire Lim Kok Thay is stepping down as CEO of Genting Bhd after nearly two decades at the helm of the casino-to-power conglomerate that he put on the global stage with properties across Asia and the U.S. Tan Kong Han—who has been the president, chief operating officer, and executive director of Genting for 18 years—will replace Lim as the company’s CEO, while Lim will remain executive chairman of the the company’s board, Genting said in a statement on Thursday. “On behalf of the board, I would like to congratulate Tan Kong Han on his promotion and new appointment,” Lim…

Investing in real estate feels more like a dream than a reality for many people right now. With cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Miami being more expensive than ever, the days of starter homes are over. As people rent for longer periods, by the time they can afford to buy a home, it may no longer meet their needs. Many renters are now opting to become landlords themselves. While this might sound impossible given the current market, according to Kearvyn Arne, being a first-time investor—even in today’s market—isn’t quite as much of a dream as many people think.…

Recently, we’ve been analyzing ZIP codes in terms of their home values. Not long ago, we identified the most expensive ZIP codes in Wisconsin. For this iteration, we decided to analyze Minnesota in terms of its ZIP codes. Through our analysis of monthly home values, as well as financial data from the Census Bureau, we’ve identified the most expensive ZIP codes in states such as Arkansas, Virginia, and Delaware, among others. Now, it’s time to turn to Minnesota as we break out west of the Mississippi. So, read on to find out the most expensive ZIP codes in Minnesota in…

In a recent study, we analyzed and identified the most expensive ZIP codes in New Mexico. During that process of conducting that research, we decided that we should evaluated its neighbor to the west — Arizona. For this article, we wanted to breakdown the most expensive ZIP codes in Arizona. Read on to find out the most expensive ZIP codes in Arizona in 2025, based on the latest data from Zillow’s home value index. The Most Expensive ZIP Codes in Arizona In order to identify the most expensive ZIP codes in each state, we turned to data from Zillow’s home…

Kuok Meng Wei, whose grandfather was once called the world’s shrewdest businessman by Forbes, is leading his family into what the 41-year-old describes as the hottest industry in decades. By Jonathan Burgos, Forbes Staff The roots of Kuok Group, the conglomerate founded by legendary business tycoon Robert Kuok, go back to 1949 in Malaysia’s Johor state, where he and his brothers started a business trading everyday items such as sugar, rice and flour. More than 75 years later, once-sleepy Johor, cashing in on its plentiful land and proximity to Singapore, has transformed itself into a booming tech hub. There, in…