Fortunately for the shares listed below, they are missing out on today's mini meltdown due to being in trading halts.

Here's why they have been halted:

LandMark White Limited (ASX: LMW)

The shares of this independent valuation and property consultancy company's shares were placed in a trading halt on Monday pending an announcement relating to a new acquisition. This morning the company revealed that it intends to acquire industry peer Taylor Byrne for a total consideration of $10.3 million. This will be payable as $5.15 million in cash and approximately 8.6 million of the company's shares valued at 60 cents each. According to management, the acquisition is expected to allow for revenue growth between the two companies. It also believes the deal to provide material benefit to both sets of shareholders, whilst delivering a platform for further growth in market share.

MGC Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: MXC)

This diversified cannabis company requested a trading halt pending the release of an announcement regarding its Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) authorised prescriber application for use of CannEpil in Australia. CannEpil is CBD-based medication that is used as a treatment for people with refractory epilepsy. If the announcement reveals that CannEpil has been approved then it could be great news for the company. Especially given the recent appointment of Assoc. Professor Wendyl D'Souza to the MGC Pharmaceuticals Medical Advisory board. Mr D'Souza is an authorised prescriber of medicinal cannabis and has over 3,000 registered patients with drug resistant epilepsy from currently available anti-epilepsy medications.

ResApp Health Ltd (ASX: RAP)

ResApp Health shares were placed in a trading halt this morning pending the release of an announcement relating to its sleep apnoea clinical study. The digital health company has been running a double-blind, in-laboratory sleep apnoea clinical study with 600 patients in Perth. The study is testing a sound-based algorithm that identifies moderate and severe obstructive sleep apnoea using a smartphone placed on a bedside table. Management believes there is "a large clinical need for reducing the number of people with undiagnosed sleep apnoea and a scalable, accurate and easy to use smartphone-based screening test could significantly improve the health of a large portion of the adult population." All eyes will be on these results when they are announced in the coming days.

The post Why these 3 ASX shares are in trading halts today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

But more cracks are starting to appear in Sydney's property market.

Data from CoreLogic shows that the New South Wales capital city's house value dropped by 0.6 per cent over the past month and dropped 0.4 per cent in a week.

As a result, Sydney's house price growth has decreased to 1.9 per cent over the past year.

Those figures mean 2017 was the weakest calendar year for value growth since 2012, according to CoreLogic.

Sydney property investors weren't the only ones to suffer according to CoreLogic head of research Tim Lawless.

"From a macro perspective, late 2016 marked a peak in the pace of capital gains across Australia with national dwelling values rising at the rolling quarterly pace of 3.7 per cent over the three months to November," Mr Lawless said.

"In 2017 we saw growth rates and transactional activity gradually lose steam, with national month-on-month capital gains slowing to 0 per cent in October and November before turning negative in December."

Melbourne's house prices dropped by 0.1 per cent over the past month but prices in the Victorian capital are still up around 8.4 per cent over the last year, far outpacing Sydney's rate of growth.

The value of houses in Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide remained flat over the past week, according to CoreLogic.

Data from the Real Estate Institute of New South Wales also demonstrates signs of a slowdown for Sydney's property market.

"Sydney's annual rate of growth is now tracking at just 3.1 per cent, compared to the peak of 17.1 per cent seven months ago," the Institute stated.

"Despite the reversal in growth rates since August 2017, Sydney dwelling values remain 70.8 per cent higher than their cyclical low point in February 2012."

Sydney also continues to see an increase in the number of properties advertised for sale with volumes 26.5 per cent higher than a year ago, the Real Estate Institute of New South Wales stated.

And auction clearance rates fell 60 per cent for the final eight weeks of the year, much lower than a year ago, according to the Institute.

Amid the news of a dwindling real estate market companies affected by property price fluctuations, such as McGrath Ltd (ASX: MEA), Asia Pacific Data Centre Group (ASX: AJD) and LandMark White Limited (ASX: LMW), all saw their share prices drop on Monday.

The post More cracks appear in Sydney's property market appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The main reason is quite simple. A small cap company can generate huge growth more easily than say the likes of Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) or Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA). Both those behemoths are currently struggling to generate revenue growth of more than 5%.

Here are three companies that could grow up to be much bigger one day…

LandMark White Limited (ASX: LMW)

A small property valuation company with a market cap of just $19 million, LandMark White recently reported a 14% increase in revenues to $28.2 million and a net profit after tax of $1.7 million – up 113% compared to the 2015 financial year (FY15). The company also declared a fully franked final dividend of 3.25 cents, taking total dividends to 4.5 cents per share. On those numbers, LandMark White shares are trading on a P/E of 11x and paying a trailing yield of 6.5% – which grosses up to 9.2%. The future looks bright too with LandMark White saying it is well positioned to grow.

Schaffer Corporation Limited (ASX: SFC)

Schaffer is an odd, diversified industrial company with core operations in building materials, automotive leather and property. The Automotive Leather division is the largest and generates around two-thirds of revenues, with building materials generating most of the remaining third. Schaffer – with a market cap of $72 million – recently reported revenues of $187.2 million and a net profit after tax of $5.7 million. The company also declared a 25 cent fully franked dividend. On those metrics, Schaffer's shares are trading on a P/E ratio of 12.6x and yielding 4.9% fully franked.

Villa World Ltd (ASX: VLW)

A property developer, Villa World is the largest of the three companies with a market cap of $279 million at the current share price of $2.46. Today the company reported stellar 2016 financial year results, with revenues up 20%, earnings per share up 19% and dividends up 13%. The group has a good track record in the past few years of growth, with revenues of $387 million and NPAT of $33.7 million this financial year. That places shares on an undemanding P/E ratio of 8.3x and with an 18 cent dividend per share, a yield of 7.3% – fully franked – which grosses up to more than 10% when franking credits are included. Villa World expects to see at least 5% growth in NPAT in FY17 and a dividend of at least 18 cents again.

The post 3 cheap small caps with big dividends flying under the radar appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.