U.S. house prices rose 7.1 percent in the year through February, said the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) on Tuesday, indicating an increasingly confirmed recovery as many other housing indicators also suggest that the rebound in homebuilding activity is on firm footing.
The overall U.S. economic activity, however, signal some moderation in the first quarter of this year, partly due to the impact of government spending cuts under the sequester………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Real-estate agents in Hong Kong are diversifying their business portfolios in a bid to survive and thrive in a slowing property market.
International consultant Savills, which until now has focused on broking big-ticket property transactions in Hong Kong as well as introducing overseas properties to Hong Kong buyers, is expanding its sales force to enter the mass housing market in the city………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The property market is a slow moving beast and when you are able to pick up on the trends and get on board, it allows you to make better investment decisions.
BIS Shrapnel’s emerging trends in residential market demand report released this week picked up on one of the most powerful trends driving the property market………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Stocks have been sliding. Goldbugs are reeling. China’s growth is slowing. Speculation is flying that France and Germany may face credit downgrades. And the hefty offshore accounts of rich investors, particularly Russians, face seizure in Cyprus as bailout looms.
But one market continues to thrive on the steadfast barrage of economic uncertainty: luxury housing………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Our nation’s housing finance system is broken. Yes, it looks as if the housing market is slowly beginning to recover from the recession. And, yes, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac turned a sizable profit last year. But these positive developments cannot mask the fact that far too many Americans still cannot buy or refinance a house.
The solution is not to be lulled into a false sense of complacency, but rather to refashion the system to preserve access to long-term credit for working families.Today, the federal government is effectively the sole credit allocator for housing finance, backing about 90% of new single-family loans…………………………………………Full Article: Source

ANZ senior economist Mark Smith warns that the increasing number of people moving to New Zealand will put pressure on the housing market - particularly in Auckland and Canterbury.
Official figures from Statistics New Zealand show 1200 more people permanently moved to the country in March than departed………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Buoyed by the U.S. economy’s slow but seemingly steady recovery, the residential real-estate market is starting to rebound in many parts of the country — including central Ohio.
Here, demand is up and supply is down. In fact, in some particularly desirable neighborhoods, the transition from buyer’s market to seller’s market is all but complete………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The luxury property boom in London is unsustainable, according to Grosvenor Group, the £5.8 billion investment group. It told Reuters that the rate of luxury home price growth in London looks shaky after years of foreign investment in the safe-haven market.
Luxury home prices there have increased 53% since 2009 compared to 25% in the rest of Greater London, according to Knight Frank………………………………………..Full Article: Source

After finishing his MBA at Columbia University in New York, Luis Sanz decided not to return home to Spain to launch his Web startup, Olapic.
Sanz says he stayed in New York because his homeland lacks an entrepreneurial culture and has virtually no venture capital industry. Last year, he raised $1 million for Olapic, which helps companies collect photos posted by their customers on social-networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Zimbabweans working outside the country are contributing to a property boom and investors are banking on them purchasing in high-end suburbs. On her desk in a newly furnished office in suburban Harare, realtor Nicolette Ncube lays out the blueprints of an ambitious new property estate just north of Harare.
“Over here will be the lake, and these houses here,” she motions to drawings of a cluster of homes, “these homes will be overlooking the lake; pretty neat.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Ultra-prime homes in some markets outside the region have become dearer, with values doubling over the last seven years, as the ultra-rich are shifting their capital to income-generating residential unitsAnalysts have noticed a shift in investor behaviour. Whereas before billionaires used to seek safe haven in real estate, they are now seeking to set up homes in locations that pay dividends.
Last year, huge pickings were noted in places like New York, Moscow and London, where gross residential yields ranged between 5.2 and 6.4 per cent“The motives for real estate acquisition have shifted………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Foreign investors have a prominent and growing influence in the luxury real estate markets of Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto, a realtor survey by Sotheby’s International Realty Canada suggests. Half of the luxury home buyers in Montreal are from other countries while in Vancouver it’s 40 per cent, the Sotheby’s Top Tier Trend Report found.
The company, which specializes in high-end real estate, surveyed around 30 Sotheby’s realtors responsible for the firm’s biggest deals in a dozen Canadian markets………………………………………Full Article: Source

Cluttons, the real estate specialist which has enjoyed a dedicated Middle Eastern presence since 1976, today releases its Q1 2013 property market report for Oman. The Sultanate’s economy continues to perform well and recent government figures indicate that the national GDP grew by 13.2% during the first three quarters of 2012. According to ratings agency Standard and Poor (S&P), the government budget will remain in surplus for the next two years, although it is strongly reliant on sustained oil prices. Fortunately, sector analysts are forecasting that oil prices will remain stable or even show a small increase this year.
Government spending on development and infrastructure projects during the eighth Five Year Plan (2011 - 2015), part of a long-term development strategy set out in the ‘Vision 2020, will now amount to RO 16 million compared with the initial projection of RO 12.1 billion. It will include a 45% rise in expenditure on housing, from RO 323 million to RO 469 million during 2013. The economic outlook for the country remains positive but reliant on sustained oil prices and production. (Press Release)

Perhaps nothing is as emblematic of the Canadian housing boom of the past decade as the hundreds of high-rise condo towers currently under construction across the country. Indeed, the story of Canada’s decade-long explosion in housing is to a large degree the story of a construction boom in the condo sector.
But that boom now appears to be coming apart at the seams leaving many wondering what’s in store for the condo markets in Canada’s largest cities…………………………………..Full Article: Source

Nationwide home prices are up 8% over the last year, according to the Case-Shiller housing index. This isn’t surprising. The supply of existing homes for sale is at a seven-year low. Construction of new homes is still well below the rate of household formation. Prices will almost always rise in that situation. It’s simple supply and demand.
And it’s pulled millions of homeowners out from being underwater on their mortgage and brought new hope to the housing industry, boosting shares of D.R. Horton and NVR as the outlook for construction rises. ………………………………….Full Article: Source

With the U.S. housing market recovering, some investors are looking across the Atlantic for opportunities in the U.K. housing market, as well. U.S. investors contributed more than 50% of the £200 million ($307 million) raised last month in an initial public offering by Countrywide PLC, the U.K.’s largest residential brokerage, according to people who worked on the deal.
Oaktree Capital Management LLC is now a majority shareholder of Countrywide, which relisted on the London Stock Exchange after a six-year stint as a private company…………………………………..Full Article: Source

Grosvenor Group Ltd., the real estate company owned by the Duke of Westminster’s family trusts, said it’s looking to buy rental properties for middle-income tenants as London’s five-year luxury-home boom may be ending.
Grosvenor will target rental-home purchases because the value of luxury properties may climb at a slower rate, Chief Executive Officer Mark Preston said in a telephone interview today. The London-based company may partner with pension funds in the investments, he said……………………………………Full Article: Source

The property market boom in Switzerland, driven in part by historically low interest rates, leaves the economy highly vulnerable and needs to be carefully monitored, Swiss National Bank Vice Chairman Jean-Pierre Danthine said Tuesday.
“Swiss real-estate prices have been increasing since 2000, and at an accelerated speed since 2008, reaching levels about 40% to 60% higher than 12 years ago,” Mr. Danthine said in a speech to be given Tuesday. The vice chairman’s speech was largely concerned with the risks of rapid credit growth in Switzerland, rather than the SNB’s current monetary policy……………………………………Full Article: Source

The gap in rental and sales prices between the UAE’s capital Abu Dhabi and Dubai is narrowing in the first quarter of 2013, reflecting that Abu Dhabi’s property market is following Dubai’s growth path, a report said Sunday.
According to the report released by Dubai-based real estate agency Asteco Property Management, average rental rates in Abu Dhabi rose by eight percent in the first three months this year, while sales prices in upscale areas soared by 13.5 percent………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China’s land transfer revenue, a major source of income for local governments, totaled 770 billion yuan ($124 billion) in the first quarter of the year, up 46.6% from a year earlier, the Finance Ministry said Monday. Land sales revenue dropped 34.6% in the first quarter of last year, the ministry said in a statement on its website.
China began a campaign in the then-red hot property market three years ago in a bid to check speculation and head off potential social unrest. But the drive against spiraling prices, which included an outright ban on purchases of second and third homes in some areas as well as curbs on credit, took a toll on local government revenue collection last year………………………………………..Full Article: Source

U.S. homebuyers are getting an unexpected boost from the Bank of Japan. As Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s efforts to spark inflation by doubling the central bank’s bond purchases shrinks the available debt in his country, traders are betting that will bolster demand for U.S-owned Ginnie Mae’s mortgage securities, pushing up prices and lowering yields that guide home-loan rates.
Japanese investors venturing into the U.S. home-loan market typically favor debt from Ginnie Mae, which helps finance borrowers with down payments as low as 3.5 percent, because it carries an explicit government guarantee, unlike Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac notes………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Forecasters Item Club say chancellor’s Help to Buy scheme will get people moving but broader economic outlook still gloomy. The housing market will finally return to life this year with more than a million people expected to move home – the highest number since the financial crisis struck.
The Ernst & Young Item Club, which uses the Treasury’s economic models, predicted that housing transactions this year will rise by 7.5% to 1m. In its spring forecast the respected economic forecaster said the chancellor’s plan to use £12bn of taxpayer funds to underwrite up to £130bn of mortgages will push home moves up a further 7.8% next year to 1.08m………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Australian residential market could be on the road to recovery with pre-conditions now existing for the market to grow, according to CBRE. The Australian Residential MarketView report for the December 2012 quarter shows an improvement in sales volumes but suggests previous significant growth cycles are unlikely to be seen in the immediate future.
“A low interest rate environment, modest improvement in building approvals, an increase in population growth, improving rental yields, expanding buyer enquiry levels, sales volumes improving and recent equity market growth are all necessary for a market geared towards recovery,” says CBRE’s regional director of residential valuations Tom Edwards………………………………………..Full Article: Source

They’re calling it the great “senior sell off” and it’s scaring suburban America. Still recovering from the housing market crisis of 2007-09, America’s latest concern is a looming glut of unsellable suburban homes as ageing baby boomers seek to downsize.
Respected demographer Arthur C. Nelson, Director of the Metropolitan Research Centre, University of Utah, has analysed data from the American Housing Survey, finding that over the past 30 years, 80% of new homes built in the US were detached single family dwellings. Much of this new construction was of the McMansion variety, exceeding 230 square metres in size, as the post war baby boomers (born in between 1946-1968) raised their families………………………………………..Full Article: Source

From boom to bust and back again, residential real estate has seesawed back to multiple offers and bidding wars. It’s not just scattered markets. Across the U.S., real estate agents and analysts report solid home price increases and high demand.
However, home prices across the country are still far below their peak at the end of the boom in 2006. But market watchers say prices are likely to continue to climb in 2013. It’s good news for sellers and a relief for some distressed sellers, whose mortgages were once underwater but may not be anymore. So real estate agents are getting busy………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Fannie Mae put an exclamation point on the housing rally with last week’s announcement of its largest-ever annual profit. The news comes soon after Fannie’s cousin, Freddie Mac, announced its own record high. These results may seem like cause for celebration after years of losses at the two taxpayer-backed mortgage giants.
But they also underscore the urgent need for reform to ensure that the next real estate boom doesn’t end as badly as the last one………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The latest stats from the National Bureau of Statistic shows apartment rental rates have increased by some 3.7-percent in March across China. CRI’s Wang Xiao has more on the rental market in the major cities, including Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing.
Tang Zhisheng, manager of Shenzhen Jia Shun Real Estate, says the apartment rent has increased by 10 percent or more in March this year. “Take Futian district for example. An apartment with one bedroom and one living room cost you about 2700 yuan a month last year. But now you have to spend 3500 yuan on it.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Sentiment in Hong Kong’s residential property market remains sluggish following a series of real estate tightening measures imposed by the government, according to the latest monthly report from Knight Frank.
Data from the Land Registry show that residential transaction volume slumped 28.1% month on month, with only 4,534 sales recorded in March………………………………………..Full Article: Source

New Zealand house sales rose to the highest in almost six years as prices surged, adding to a property market boom that Finance Minister Bill English said might trigger an earlier increase in interest rates.
House sales climbed 11 percent from March last year to 8,128, the most for a month since May 2007, the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand said in an e-mailed statement. House prices advanced 8.6 percent from a year-earlier, led by a 16 percent jump in Auckland, home to a third of the nation’s 4.4 million people………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The commercial real estate industry continues to show robust and consistent growth, despite a sluggish economy and the indecision of governmental sequestration, according to the latest CCIM Quarterly Market Trends report. The report shows that in 2012, commercial real estate investment sales increased for the fourth consecutive year, with an uptick of 18 percent year-over-year in sales of properties less than $2.5 million. In fact, the year ended with a deal frenzy of $98 billion in total 4Q12 sales, setting a post-2007 record for the greatest amount of fourth-quarter investment activity.
“The numbers speak clearly, particularly the figures besting recession-era data, demonstrating dependable progress that investors can act upon, and fundamentals are expected to steadily improve,” said George Ratiu , manager of the National Association of REALTORS qualitative and commercial research. “With moderate gains in employment and consumer spending, absorption for office, industrial, and retail spaces will continue to grow, driving availability rates lower.” (Press Relese)

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Canada’s commercial real estate sector and REIT investment market appear set to outperform for a fifth-straight year, according to CIBC World Markets Inc. “All of the fundamentals seem to be supporting [the] continuation of [an] extended recovery” from the market lows of 2008, says Allan Kimberley, Vice-Chairman, Real Estate Investment Banking at CIBC.
In a series of notes released today at the bank’s 18th annual real estate conference in Toronto, CIBC says low interest rates, the continued availability of equity and debt, and healthy supply-demand fundamentals have set up Canada’s real estate capital markets for another strong year. These conditions are relatively unchanged from 2012 which saw “record levels of new issuance, total returns exceeding those of the broader S&P/TSX Composite index, a growing list of IPO and M&A activity, against a backdrop of declining volatility,” says Mr. Kimberley. (Press Release)

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Although real estate firms focused more on project execution and debt reduction in the March quarter, high inventory, a lull in approvals and a drop in the number of launches may still hurt their performance for a while.
South India-based developers such as Prestige Estates Projects Ltd and Sobha Developers Ltd may outperform companies from other regions because of improved absorption and better affordability, while India’s largest developer DLF Ltd needs to boost sales, a Mint poll of four brokerages showed………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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For years, thick clouds hovered over the nation’s housing market, casting a pall of gloom over homeowners and sellers. But recently, the sun has broken through with mortgage rates being at an all-time low and prices appreciating again.
That is good news. But don’t get too excited, cautions J. Andrew Hansz, director of the Gazarian Real Estate Center at California State University in Fresno. Hansz says it will be “a very long time” before prices return to 2005 levels, and warns that the market is likely to see many ups and downs in the future………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Chinese people have developed a new craze: real estate investment. The sale of “one-dollar villas” in the United States as a result of the subprime crisis a couple of years ago prompted some Chinese investors to go bargain hunting across the Pacific. Now Detroit, which is on the verge of bankruptcy, has lured Chinese “realty hunters” with its “low property prices”.
But the enthusiastic comments and conjectures that online discussions have generated over the development are devoid of a real understanding of the situation. Even if the annual property tax charged by the US government is ignored, the socio-economic factors involved in such ventures make investing in real estate in Detroit a “no deal”………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Australian home prices will see a modest improvement as consumers remain conservative about their level of indebtedness, Westpac Banking Corp. (WBC) and National Australia Bank Ltd. (NAB) forecast.
“We’re not looking for another huge surge in prices or activity that we saw in, say 2009, or that we saw in 2001,” Bill Evans, chief economist at Westpac, said at the Bloomberg Australia Economic Summit in Sydney today. “The housing market will improve but it won’t improve to the point that people are becoming over-leveraged or we’d start to see real issues in our loan book.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

At the end of March, it was announced that the 20-city Case-Shiller Index was up 8.1% year-over-year. Nearly all housing experts declared that this was further confirmation that the housing recovery was firmly in place.
A few weeks earlier, Zillow had released its latest survey of 118 economists, strategists and other experts on the expected direction of home prices over the next five years. Every one expected higher prices with the most pessimistic prediction showing an average annual increase of 3%………………………………………..Full Article: Source

How, in any sensible accounting, could a home that went for one price in 2004 and 2009 go for more than twice that price for a short time in between? The 2006 level looks absurd. And yet Phoenix home prices rose 23% in the year to January. Three more years like that (and home-price momentum only appears to be building) and values would be right back at bubble highs. Is another round of madness following directly on the heels of the last, or is something else going on?
In a new NBER working paper, Edward Glaeser examines America’s long history of property booms and busts and reckons that the assumption of irrationality actually fits the data rather poorly. Wild property price swings are more consistent with great uncertainty about the future………………………………………..Full Article: Source

London’s commercial property market continued to boom in the first three months of the year but is becoming restrained because of a lack of both new and older buildings coming onto the market, a leading estate agent said.
According to Cushman & Wakefield deals worth £2.75 billion took place in the first quarter of 2013, down from the £3.98 billion of deals in the final quarter of 2013. The attractions of the capital as a safe haven for international investors was emphasised by the fact that overseas investors accounted for 71% of the value of all transactions………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The ongoing financial crisis may be hitting European economies hard, but the continent retains a good deal of interest for Russian customers looking to invest in property abroad. Reasons vary according to country, of course: prestige in Britain, skiing in Switzerland and Austria, warm climates in Spain, Italy and Greece, and a combination of the above - depending on region - in France.
Added to these, however, is a usual feature of economic cycles, that a crash in prices raises interest in property. The phenomenon is already being seen in Ireland, where the government is taking active measures to attract personal and corporate investment to revive the property market and the wider economy………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The latest research figures emerging from Spain suggest that the number of international buyers who are investing in Spanish properties is on the rise. Spain recorded an increase of 28.4 per cent in overseas buyers in 2012 when compared to the levels recorded in 2011. The increase in foreign buyers suggests that overseas interest in the country’s real estate market has reached pre-recession levels.
In 2012, 38,312 foreign investors purchased real estate assets in Spain – the figures are close to the 2007 pre-recession levels. Britons continue to lead the chase for Spanish properties, but a good section of the Asian market is stepping up interest in apartments and second homes in the sunny nation………………………………………..Full Article: Source

There has been a rise in the number of expat property owners buying real estate for themselves in Dubai. More expats are becoming home-occupier purchasers in Dubai. There has been more 100-plus% increase in the last four years. This is due to the improving job market in the UAE encouraging homebuyers to stay.
Dubai-based property consultancy firm Unitas Consultancy revealed there has been a rise in the number of expats buying property rather than renting. Sameer Lakhani, Managing Director of Unitas Consultancy, said: “The growth of end-users indicates the maturing of Dubai real estate market as comparable to other international cities.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Head of industry association says cities such as Shenyang, Chengdu and Tianjin lack the businesses to move into new spaces. A bubble is forming in the commercial property markets of some of the country’s major cities, the head of an industry association warns.
Wang Yongping, secretary general of the China Commercial Real Estate Association, cited as examples Shenyang, Chengdu and Tianjin. “The supply is huge in these cities, but it is difficult for developers to find enough retailers and other businesses to lease to in the short term,” he said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The U.S. housing market has broken out of a deep slump, and prices are shooting up faster than anyone thought possible a year ago. For many homeowners, that is a cause for celebration. But the speed at which prices are rising is prompting murmurs of concern that the Federal Reserve’s campaign to reduce interest rates could be giving the housing market a sugar high.
Prices of existing homes rose 10% in February nationally from a year ago. They have been rising during the seasonally slow winter months—and they show signs of jumping further as the spring buying season gets under way. What’s going on?……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Insurers and pension funds are poised to spend £7 billion on rental homes in the UK because they believe that the current shortage of housing and mortgages is producing a generation of renters rather than owners.
About 30 institutions including British pension funds and American private equity firms plan to develop or buy blocks of homes to let, encouraged by stable returns compared with shops or offices and by government pledges of financial support, according to property consultant CBRE………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The attractions of central London for overseas investors were underscored in data showing commercial property sales of £2.75bn for the first three months of the year, more than two-thirds accounted for by international buyers. Foreign buyers made up 71 per cent of the sales figure, reinforcing London’s status as a property market favourite among US, Middle Eastern and Asian investors.
But the total value of transactions fell by 31 per cent on the previous quarter, when it reached £3.98bn, according to figures from Cushman & Wakefield, the property advisory group………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The facts are simple: Alongside Asia’s dramatic rate of growth lies the inherent problem of property prices skyrocketing. Even Singapore is trying to reverse a situation where the market was threatening to price itself over and above what its own citizens could pay. Meanwhile, buy-to-let property is simply not giving back the promised or indeed even the required returns.
Everyday investors are starved of available and affordable options for their dollar. Yet even here there are exciting options. Previous options that only the super-rich could afford are becoming available to the savvy investor. A case in point is buy-to-lease hotel rooms………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The demand for office space is likely to increase to 30.5 million sq ft this year, global real estate advisor DTZ said. “Fears of downside risks for the global economy have started to fade, which combined with local economic policy amendments including the opening of 51 per cent FDI in multi- brand retail, climb-down of repo rates by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and stronger economic outlook, have resulted in improved market sentiment,” DTZ India CEO Anshul Jain said.
These emerging positive indicators are expected to help stimulate the real estate sector. “Consequently, demand for office space is expected to increase and reach to around 30.5 million sq ft this year, representing an increase of nearly 12 per cent year-on-year,” he said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Properties in the former US industrial city Detroit started to fall to as low as $100, attracting Chinese investors who have found their investments in the Chinese property market becoming harder under the central government’s tightening policies.
As real estate hits rock bottom in Detroit, Chinese investors are planning to purchase properties there, the People’s Daily reported. There are more than a dozen properties priced lower than $100, with some extreme cases on offer for $1………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Chinese property developers are increasingly expanding their businesses abroad following Chinese people’s desires to purchase properties overseas. Shanghai-based property developer Greenland Group is to invest A$480 million ($498 million) in an Australian property project, becoming the latest Chinese developer to explore an overseas market.
Greenland said it has reached a deal with Canadian company Brookfield Asset Management Inc to buy two buildings in downtown Sydney. It is the largest single investment made by Chinese developers in Australia………………………………………..Full Article: Source

They’re calling it the great “senior sell off” and it’s scaring suburban America. Still recovering from the housing market crisis of 2007-09, America’s latest concern is a looming glut of unsellable suburban homes as ageing baby boomers seek to downsize.
Respected demographer Arthur C. Nelson, Director of the Metropolitan Research Centre, University of Utah, has analysed data from the American Housing Survey, finding that over the past 30 years, 80 per cent of new homes built in the US were detached single family dwellings. Much of this new construction was of the McMansion variety, exceeding 230 square metres in size, as the post war baby boomers (born in between 1946-1968) raised their families………………………………………..Full Article: Source