The gap between rent and house prices has narrowed to the lowest margin in nearly five years, according to an industry report Friday, which indicates the latest symptom of a freefalling property market, The Korea Times reported. According to Real Estate 114, a housing market research firm, the average ``jeonse’’ prices in Seoul are now measuring up to 39.77 percent of purchase prices as of September, the highest level since 41 percent in the fourth quarter of 2005.

Premier David Bartlett has expressed confidence in processes to approve loans under the $100 million Tasmanian Industry Support Scheme, The Mercury reported. The reassurance comes despite the likely loss of $1 million lent to Devonport carpet-maker Tascot Templeton in March and the loss of $2 million lent to Hobart-based educational software firm E-tech. Mr Bartlett said about $8.9 million had been loaned to eight companies under the support scheme, which was set up in November 2008 to help companies through the global financial crisis.

Japan’s ruling Democratic party plans to introduce a supplementary budget of up to $55bn to pay for further stimulus measures aimed at combating the impact of the strong yen and kick-starting the flagging economy, the Financial Times reported. The move highlights growing concerns that the Japanese economy is stagnating in the face of weakness in export markets and a strong yen and that more needs to be done in spite of the government’s September 15 currency market intervention.

Takefuji Corp. shares are poised to drop by their daily limit after a report Japan’s third-biggest consumer lender was preparing to seek bankruptcy protection in what would be the country’s second-biggest filing this year, Bloomberg reported. Takefuji, with 430 billion yen ($5.1 billion) in liabilities as of June 30, is in final talks to file for bankruptcy at the Tokyo District Court, the Nikkei newspaper said, without saying where it obtained the information.

New Zealanders are continuing to turn their backs on credit in an effort to pay off their debts, credit bureau Veda Advantage said, The National Business Review reported. "Consumer appetite for credit is down, people are moving to consolidate debt and mainstream banks are, in part, stepping into the void left by the finance companies via personal loans," managing director John Roberts said. Veda believes the most significant shift in people's attitudes to credit in the last 20 years is under way. There was a "radical change" in the lending market, Mr Roberts said.

Creditors of Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. Friday launched the sale of their 34.88% stake in the construction firm, in a deal that could fetch them $3 billion and potentially set the stage for a fight between Hyundai Engineering's former sister companies, The Wall Street Journal reported. The creditors, in a public announcement published in a local newspaper, said the deadline for letters of interest in the stake will be on Oct. 1. The deadline for the formal bids is Nov. 12, and they seek to name a preferred bidder in December.

South Korea's National Pension Service, the world's fifth-largest pension fund, has committed to invest $300 million in troubled real estate through Townsend Group, the latest sign that foreign investors increasingly are venturing into the down-on-its-luck U.S. property market, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The pension fund has committed to invest the money in a separately managed account with Cleveland-based Townsend. It primarily will focus on snapping up stakes in distressed private-equity real-estate funds and recapitalizing these funds.

The Westin Hotel is "making the best of a bad situation" as a dispute between the owners and receivers of the hotel's management company rumbles on during one of its busiest booking weeks of the year, The New Zealand Herald reported. The Westin is doing a fraction of its normal trade and has had to turn away several NZ Fashion Week guests after half of the hotel was made off limits earlier this month. Owners are seeking to cancel the leases of a further 19 rooms at the five star hotel in the next two weeks.

Goanna Print has gone into administration, with managing director Phil Abbott saying the award-winning company had struggled to remain competitive because "we didn't want to drop quality". The Canberra-based printer entered voluntary administration with Frank Lo Pilato from RSM Bird Cameron Partners on Monday. Lo Pilato told ProPrint he had identified "cashflow problems" at the company. It is continuing to trade, and Abbott told ProPrint he was "quietly confident" the administrators would be able to sell the business as a going concern.