Bloomberg Foreigners buying homes in Sydney will face a new property tax from next week when New South Wales becomes the second state in Australia to impose such a duty as soaring demand from China helps drive record prices. Australia’s most populous state plans to introduce a 4 percent stamp duty surcharge from June 21 and from next year …

  TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE A year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ratcheted up the pressure on housing officials across the country to do what has rarely been done in Houston: build affordable homes in well-off neighbourhoods. That is proving to be easier said than done. The court warned that concentrating public housing in low-income, high-minority neighborhoods could violate the Fair …

  ABU DHABI / WAM The UAE’s Ministerial Development Council, presided by HH Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, discussed the preparation of a global regulatory framework for Islamic finance as part of the UAE government vision to make the country a global centre for Islamic economy. The proposal includes setting comprehensive …