News - Archive for March 2012

Hong Kong Leader-Elect Announces Resident-Only Developments

As the Chinese housing market continues to "cool", the newly elected leader of Hong Kong has stated his intention to go even further to cool the Hong Kong housing market, by building middle-class housing for residents only...

Despite concerns that announcements made by chancellor George Osborne in his Budget speech last week (March 21st) will deter high net worth individuals (HNWIs) from investing in prime London property, one real estate expert does not believe the tax changes will have a significant impact...

Paris is now the biggest real estate investment destination in Europe, having overtaken London in the second half of last year according to new data released by CB Richard Ellis...

The UK's private rented sector (PRS) offers numerous property investment opportunities, particularly as one in five households is expected to be leasing their home by 2016...

Irish house prices are still falling and worse, they are falling faster. According to official data from the central statistics office residential property prices in Ireland were down by 17.8%...

Student property could be one of the most lucrative real estate investment opportunities available at present, with the sector continuing to exhibit strong rental growth, largely due to an imbalance in supply and demand...

The outlook for global commercial real estate markets appears to be brighter, while there are indications leasing activity is picking up around the world...

US Foreclosures Falling Says NAR

According to the NAR foreclosures fell across the country from 2.8% in July 2011 to 2.7% in December, but the drops were much more pronounced in the areas...

The UK's hotel market is expected to remain broadly stable over the course of 2012, although establishments in London will outperform their regional counterparts, due in part to the anticipated boost from both the Olympic Games and the queen's diamond jubilee celebrations...

Proof that one of the top men in banking in the UK has no idea on how the housing market works. A man that is responsible for advising the government on mortgage lending policies and yet has repeatedly made outlandish statements to the press, the government, and is still employed at the Bank of England...

The 2012 budget revealed by Chancellor George Osborne contained relatively little that would affect the housing or property market, because this was all covered in an earlier housing strategy document...

Nigeria is one of the MINT economies, and while its economy was affected by the international financial crisis, the effect was minimal, and the effect on the property market even smaller...

Government Announces Stamp Duty Changes

In his Budget speech yesterday (March 21st) chancellor George Osborne announced changes to the stamp duty land tax (SDLT) regime...

Amsterdam is to be a hotel investment hotspot in 2012 according to international real estate consultancy Savills, as a stream of new hotels are set to come online across all cost sectors...

Prime yields across all UK commercial property sectors remained stable in February, with the current levels expected to be supported this year by an imbalance in supply and demand for the most sought-after real estate assets.

The Chinese housing market and wider economy will descend into a soft landing according to a senior official with the International Monetary Fund with in-depth knowledge of the Chinese economy...

Turkey suffered like practically everyone else as the international financial crisis first rolled in. In fact the Turkish economy contracted by almost 5% in 2009...

The cost of leasing retail space in the prime areas of Europe's major cities is stable, despite deteriorating consumer sentiment as a result of the eurozone sovereign debt crisis...

The housing market is in a right old state in the UK at the moment and try as they might, the comedy coalition government just don't seem to be able to get it right. Not that this is a particularly new feature of a UK government...

Mexico emerged from the financial crisis well. The recession officially ended with a 2.3% quarter on quarter growth in Q4 2009, although GDP was still down 6.5% year on year...

There are growing regional disparities between European office markets, with the central business districts (CBDs) in cities such as Athens, Dublin and Madrid...

The fact that many first time buyers have been forced to rent has helped fuel the recent rent rises, but as with all similar policies to get them back, the stamp duty concession brought a short term rush...

US Sunbelt Economies ''Set to Improve''

Locations in the US sunbelt are expected to outperform other US destinations in terms of economic growth and their real estate markets over the next six to 12 months...

In the latest release of its Market View report Cushman and Wakefield have predicted that the performance of commercial real estate in 2012 will be a reverse mirror image of 2011...

The serviced apartment market in the UK is performing well and has the potential for future growth, making it an attractive property investment opportunity...

Commercial real estate continued to outperform all other sectors at the pan-European level in 2011 according to the latest release of data from CBRE's European Valuation Monitor (EVM)...

The second half of 2012 will be much better for global real estate markets than the first six months of this year, demonstrating a reversal of the trends witnessed in this sector over the course of 2011...

According to the latest data from CB Richard Ellis, commercial property values in the UK fell slightly in February over January, but experts believe it is more likely a short-term blip...

The picture in regional office markets in the UK will begin to improve over the course of 2012, following a largely poor 2011...

This week has seen the launch of the government's latest attempt to get beleaguered first time buyers buying again, or rather at this juncture we should say to turn some of the young long-term renters back into first time buyers...