Pending U.S. home sales declined in December for the first time since August, showing uneven progress in the housing market. The index of contracts for the purchase of previously owned homes fell 4.3 percent to 101.7 after a revised 1.6 percent increase, the National Association of Realtors reported today in Washington.
The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey projected no change in the gauge. Compared with a year earlier, pending sales before seasonal adjustment climbed 4.9 percent………………………………………..Full Article: Source

More than 50 percent of economists in a recent poll indicated the U.S. housing market is poised to push an economic recovery in 2013. In more or less a tie for second place, economists also cited increased energy production, help from the Federal Reserve and consumer spending as drivers of a recovery this year, CNNMoney reported Monday.
In the survey sponsored by CNNMoney, economists pronounced housing as ready for a comeback. ……………………………………….Full Article: Source

A large majority of estate agents were upbeat about the outlook of the property market thanks to a better mortgage situation, a survey has found. Property website Hometrack said 79 per cent of estate agents were more optimistic about the housing market the coming year than they were 12 months ago as they believed the number of sales will pick up fro current levels.
The study, which asked around 6,000 estate agents and surveyors about achievable selling prices in their area, found that house prices were flat month-on-month across England and Wales in January following six months of falls………………………………………..Full Article: Source

While it’s been a perennial rite of spring for some economists to predict that housing markets would hit bottom, very few at the beginning of 2012 foresaw the housing rebound that many U.S. housing markets experienced last year.
A few analysts, of course, did offer housing forecasts at the beginning of the past year that turned out to be largely correct. What’s more: some of these analysts had also accurately forecast the housing sector’s slowdown as the market neared its peak in 2005 and 2006………………………………………..Full Article: Source

U.K. house prices stagnated in January and the number of new buyers looking for homes fell as concern over the euro-area debt crisis and the impact of the government’s fiscal squeeze hit demand, Hometrack Ltd. said.
Prices in England and Wales were unchanged from December, after declining for the previous six months, the property researcher said in a statement today. The number of new buyers registering with agents fell 9.9 percent from a month earlier, while the number of properties listed for sale fell 6.8 percent………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Dubai’s office sector has remained broadly stable during the final quarter with average CBD lease rates flat at AED1,450/m²/annum. However, over the course of the year rents have fallen marginally by around 4.0%, due to an increase in tenant movements away from ageing properties to newer, better quality accommodation.
Despite a minor decline in the average rate, some prime properties around the CBD have actually managed to grow their headline rents over the past 12 months, aided by the limited supply of good quality and efficient office spaces. (Press Release)

A U.S. housing-market revival may prove illusory and the threat of further weakness remains, said Robert Shiller, a professor at Yale University and co-creator of the S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values.
“The housing market has been declining for something like six years now, it could go on, that’s my worry,” Shiller told Tom Keene in a Bloomberg Television interview today in Davos, Switzerland. “The short-term indicators are up now, it definitely looks better, but we saw that in 2009.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

New Yorkers in all regions are viewing the real estate market positively for the first time in three years, including increased optimism about housing values and market conditions. A Siena College real estate sentiment report released Thursday found that for the fourth quarter in 2012, the overall confidence score about the housing market increased by 11.9 points from last quarter.
“For the first time in this study’s history, dating back to the first quarter of 2010, New Yorkers as a whole and in every area of the state say that the market has turned and that values over the last year have improved,” said Don Levy, director of the Siena Research Institute, in a statement………………………………………..Full Article: Source

In 2012, the market has brought discouragement for the developers in real estate which is why it is now a big question on how the market performance would be in 2013. This article speaks about the insights of India’s real estate market in 2013 from real estate expert, Ashutosh Limaye, Head- Research & Real Estate Intelligence Service, Jones Lang LaSalle India.
This New Year, developers are hoping for an optimistic future for real estate segment with the government’s plan to give realty sector an industry status and favourable policies, after a long wait………………………………………..Full Article: Source

U.S. home prices climbed 5.6 percent in the 12 months through November as buyers competed for a dwindling inventory of properties, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
Prices rose 0.6 percent from October on a seasonally adjusted basis, the FHFA said today in a report from Washington. The average estimate of 15 economists in a Bloomberg survey was for a 0.7 percent advance. The index is 15 percent below its April 2007 peak and about the same as the August 2004 level………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Construction starts leaped to a 54-month high in December. Starts were at a 954,000 annualized rate, up 12% month-over-month and up 37% year-over-year. That’s the highest level since June 2008. Looking at all of 2012, starts were up 28% compared with 2011, led by construction in Texas and the Carolinas and by a rebound in multi-unit building construction. Construction starts are now 47% of the way back to normal.
Existing home sales slipped slightly in December. Sales dropped 1% to 4.94 million — still the second-highest level since November 2009. That puts sales 68% back to normal. Year-over-year, sales were up 13%………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Teranet-National Bank index of Canadian housing prices continues to show effects from cooler demand for residential properties in most big markets. The December price index was up 3.1 per cent in 2012 — the lowest increase in three years.
On a month-to-month basis, the index was down 0.4 per cent from November — marking one of the weakest Decembers on record going back 13 years………………………………………..Full Article: Source

UK house sales increased last year to the highest levels seen since 2007, according to figures published by HM Revenue & Customs. Lenders hailed the figures as evidence that the “shutters are coming up” for mortgage borrowers.
There were 932,000 completed transactions last year, marking a 5pc increase on 2011, according to HMRC. Meanwhile, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) outlined evidence of why it believes the mortgage market is improving………………………………………..Full Article: Source

A senior economist has questioned the credibility of the Central Statistics Office’s house price statistics, and said the decline in house values is much higher than the CSO estimates. Conall MacCoille, chief economist with Davy, said the launch of the national property price register “has added to the evidence that the CSO index is increasingly unrepresentative of true market conditions”.
The latest CSO house price index shows that, after an increase of 1.1% in November, residential prices fell 0.5% in December………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China’s home prices extended their slow rise in December, the fifth month in the last six to show an increase despite the government efforts to temper prices. Average home prices in 70 major cities across China rose 0.4 per cent in December from the previous month, after a 0.3 per cent rise in November, according to Reuters’ calculations based on data released by the National Bureau of Statistics.
Real estate investment - which accounted for 13.8 per cent of China’s GDP in 2012 — rose 16.2 per cent last year from a year earlier, slowing from an annual increase of 16.7 per cent in January-November………………………………………..Full Article: Source

U.S. existing-home sales last year rose to their highest annual level in five years and registered their largest annual jump since 2004, the latest sign that more housing markets hit bottom last year amid ultralow interest rates and strong investor demand.
The National Association of Realtors reported Tuesday that an estimated 4.65 million previously owned homes were sold in 2012, up 9.2% from 2011. Total home sales were higher than in any year since 2007, when 5.04 million homes were sold; at the time, that was the lowest annual tally since 1998………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Sales of U.S. existing homes unexpectedly fell in December as supply shrank, underscoring the hurdles for an industry seeking to strengthen its recovery even as it completed its best year since 2007.
Purchases fell 1 percent to a 4.94 million annual rate last month, figures from the National Association of Realtors showed today in Washington. The reading was still the second-highest since November 2009. The median forecast of 79 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a gain to a 5.1 million rate………………………………………..Full Article: Source

One of the great economic success stories of 2012 was that the housing market finally found a bottom, and even began to show signs of a nascent recovery. But even as positive data on the real estate market began to trickle in early last year, not everyone was convinced.
The main reason for skepticism were millions of homes that had not yet hit the market, but probably would soon — either because they were already in foreclosure or because the homeowners were so far behind on payments that foreclosures were imminent. These properties, which last year were estimated to range anywhere from 3 million to 10 million in number, were dubbed the “shadow inventory” of homes………………………………………..Full Article: Source

National home prices were up 5.9 percent year-over-year in 2012, according to Zillow’s latest real estate market report. This was the largest annual gain since August 2006, and home prices were up for four straight quarters.
Meanwhile, the Zillow Home Value Index rose to $157,400 in the fourth quarter. “We expected 2012 to be a good year for housing, and it delivered in spades. Strong demand paired with limited inventory in many markets helped fuel a robust and often rapid recovery in overall home values, good news for homeowners after years of poor performance,” said Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries in a press release………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Irish house prices fell for the second time in three months in December, dropping 0.5 percent month-on-month and suggesting that any stabilisation in the property market will be gradual.
Average residential property prices had risen in four of the five previous months, narrowing the annual rate of decline to 4.5 percent in December from 16.7 percent a year earlier, data from the central statistics office showed………………………………………..Full Article: Source

It was extremely difficult times for homeowners following the subprime mortgage implosion that helped to drag down the global economy in 2008. I recall how easy it was to get a mortgage without even having to provide an income or work history to the lenders. When an entry-level worker at McDonalds Corporation can get a mortgage with no questions asked, you have to wonder how long it might be before a housing bubble surfaces.
Luckily, after several years of the housing market being dragged through the mud, the current situation has vastly improved to the point where housing stocks are hot………………………………………..Full Article: Source

A recent survey shows that confidence in a stronger real estate market in 2013 is growing among US real estate professionals and homebuyers. Real estate agents in particular expect a more upbeat real estate market in 2013 while a high 71% of those surveyed predicted that home prices will go up or remain at the same level in 2013. The study also revealed that New Yorkers and Californians appreciate the recovery slightly differently.
Home sale prices and sales volume are expected to rise: Almost 1,500 homebuyers and real estate professionals nationwide were surveyed in December 2012 on a number of aspects concerning the real estate market in 2013: sale prices, volumes and inventories evolution, and also the factors that will drive the market.(Press Release)

Australia still has among the most unaffordable housing markets in the world, according to the 9th Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey. It ranked third to Hong Kong and Canada.
The last time Australia’s housing markets were classified affordable was back in the 1980s with no affordable locations found this time among the 39 chosen Australian locations. Even regional locations were dubbed as unaffordable including Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour, the Sunshine Coast, Shepparton and Mildura, according to the US-based property forum………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reported a stalling in the improvement trend in its Housing Market Index (HMI), which is produced monthly in conjunction with Wells Fargo (WFC).
The HMI measures the mood of builders, and has been steadily improving over the last year. In the case of the latest report, I think the pause in that trend reflects fear rather than reality, and so real estate enthusiasts can expect the good trend to continue at least for the near future………………………………………..Full Article: Source

UK house prices will surpass their pre-financial crisis peak for the first time next year, amid signs of improvements in the mortgage market, economists have predicted. By 2014, a typical house in the UK will cost 223,000 pounds, economists predict
UK house prices will surpass their pre-financial crisis peak for the first time next year, amid signs of improvements in the mortgage market, economists have predicted. Average prices this year are expected to edge up to £219,000 this year, marking a 0.8% increase compared with 2012, the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

London home sellers flooded the market in January and pushed up asking prices in the biggest new-year increase since 2008, Rightmove Plc (RMV) said.
Asking prices in the capital rose 3.6 percent from the previous month to an average 480,890 pounds ($764,000), the property website operator said in a report today. Prices rose 9.7 percent from a year earlier, the biggest annual increase since February 2010. Nationally, prices rose 0.2 percent………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Builders started work on homes in December at the fastest pace since the summer of 2008 and finished 2012 as the best year for residential construction since the housing crisis began.
The Commerce Department said Thursday that builders broke ground on houses and apartments at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 954,000. That’s 12.1% higher than November’s annual rate and nearly double the recession low of April 2009………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Jones Lang LaSalle announces 2012 results and an outlook for 2013 in Russian real estate investment market. Last year proved to be another stellar year for the Russian real estate investment market, total transaction volume amounted to $8.6 billion, with up by 1.3% compared to 2011. At the same time commercial real estate component of this investment volume reached $7.9 billion in 2012 (down by 4.8%).
Demonstrating significant growth in year-end activity we see that Q4’s investment volume of $3.5 billion was 42% above that of Q4 2011. Preliminary forecasts for 2013 are predicting an annual investment volume of around $7.5 billion………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The number of homes listed for sale at the end of 2012 stood at the lowest level in more than five years, a development that helps explain why home prices have rebounded so strongly over the past year.
The 1.57 million homes listed for sale at the end of December was down by 6.5% from November and by 17.3% from one year ago, according to data tracked by Realtor.com………………………………………..Full Article: Source

So far it’s looking like a soft landing for Canada’s housing market, analysts, economists and realtors generally agree, despite the fact home sales were down 17.4 per cent in December over a year earlier, according to figures released Tuesday by the Canadian Real Estate Association.
With prices up an average 1.6 per cent across Canada in December year over year — six per cent in Toronto — housing experts are looking to the spring market, the busiest time of year for home sales, as the best barometer of where the housing market is ultimately headed. So far it is “defying gravity and logic,” says Queen’s University real estate expert John Andrew……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Danish house prices rose in December for the first time in seven months and the number of homes for sale dropped as the nation’s property market shows signs of recovering. The Home House Price Index rose 1.9 percent last month from November, the real estate brokerage of Danske Bank A/S, said.
The figures are adjusted for seasonal swings and based on a three-month rolling average. Prices slipped 1.9 percent from a year earlier, it said. The number of homes for sale dropped 2.6 percent last month and sank 12 percent from a year earlier, according to a separate release published by the Association Danish Mortgage Banks………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The average asking sales prices for residential property in Bulgaria continued to fall, though slightly, in 2012, data of realtors shows. Even though prime neighborhoods had a negligible, average decrease of below 5% in an year-on-year comparison, 2012 was the fourth year in a row when residential property prices in Bulgaria edged down, according to a report of imot.bg.
The average asking sales prices in prime neighborhoods such as the Doctor’s Garden marked an average decrease of around 15%, but this is an exception, experts say. Most Sofia districts saw a decrease in the average asking prices of 4-6% year-on-year, Novinite reports………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Buying a property is a resolution for many Indians this year. People are seeking property not only for accommodation purpose but also as an investment option. Despite sluggish economic condition, investing in property has never lost its sheen.
According to a recent report released by global real estate consultancy Knight Frank, Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Pune, Chennai and Bangalore have emerged as the top five cities in India for investment in residential segment………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Timaru’s housing market continues to enjoy strong growth, with the median house price increasing by $12,500 last month. Latest statistics from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand show the median house price for Timaru last December rose from November’s $238,000 to $250,500. That puts it just above December 2011’s median price of $250,000.
There were 48 recorded residential house sales in the Timaru market for December 2012, compared to 65 in November. Houses are selling a lot quicker, taking a median of only 27 days in December 2012, compared to 65 in December 2011………………………………………..Full Article: Source

A measure of U.S. home prices rose in 2012 by the most in six years, buoyed by stronger demand, a lower inventory of unsold homes and fewer sales of bank-owned properties.
Real estate data provider CoreLogic says its home price index, which is based on repeat sales of the same properties, climbed 7.5 percent last year. That’s the biggest annual increase since 2006. CoreLogic forecasts that home prices will rise 6 percent nationally this year………………………………………..Full Article: Source

“One of the more positive developments arising from the uncertainty of the past few years has been the lack of willingness and/or funding to build property. Looming shortages globally are driving property company share prices higher, while the property sector continues to benefit from sustained low interest rates and inflation.
“With central banks around the world flooding the market with capital and Asian markets already awash with liquidity, the property markets are well supported despite the sluggish economic backdrop. Moreover, high-quality property companies have access to debt capital at historically cheap levels. This environment is supportive of material gains from the property sector in 2013.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

According to global real estate consulting firm Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), India’s property markets closed 2012 with a few notes of positivity as the inflation was below the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) projected levels and the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) growth increased in the last two months of the year, giving new hopes for 2013. Overall, 2012 remained inactive, affecting all the major sectors in real estate.
Office space absorption remained lower compared with 2011. Meanwhile, retail faced challenges of quality supply, affecting the overall absorption. The residential demand improved; however, developers continued to struggle with unsold inventories, yet expect moderation in inflation and strengthening policies………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The sharp year-over-year decline in national home sales that weighed on the housing market through the second half of 2012 persisted right through to the new year, the Canadian Real Estate Association is expected to report Tuesday when it releases December’s figures.
Observers now expect the softness to continue into 2013, and foresee the decline in sales causing price growth to stagnate. But many suggest this is a healthy phenomenon: if prices hold flat for much of the year while the economy and incomes continue to grow, that should remove some froth from the market, decreasing the chances of a more significant correction when interest rates ultimately rise and eat into affordability………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The global real estate investment volumes in 2012 represented a slight increase on 2011’s R3.7 trillion (approx. US $435 billion), and a 36% increase over 2010.
Global real estate investment volumes in 4Q 2012 rallied, with R1.2 trillion (approx. US $141 billion) transacted over the quarter to lift the year’s total preliminary volume to R3.8 trillion (approx. US $436 billion), according to Jones Lang LaSalle capital markets research from 60 countries………………………………………..Full Article: Source

U.K. house prices stagnated in December and may record a modest increase in 2013, Acadametrics Ltd. said. The average price of a home in England and Wales was 227,026 pounds ($366,000) last month, Acadametrics and LSL Property Services Plc (LSL) said in a monthly report published in London today. From a year earlier, values rose 3.2 percent.
U.K. credit conditions have eased and mortgage approvals have risen in a sign the Bank of England’s new credit program may be starting to have an impact………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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Italian house prices are likely to fall by between 3% and 5% this year on a national basis, Tecnocasa’s research unit said Wednesday, MF-Dow Jones reported from Milan.
The fall should be milder in northern cities such as Turin and Verona, and sharper in southern towns such as Bari, the Italian real estate agency said. Prices in Rome and Milan should be broadly stable………………………………………..Full Article: Source

High property prices, relatively higher mortgage rates and overall weak business sentiment resulted in residential launches declining by 30 per cent in 2012 compared to 7 per cent in 2011 in top six markets of Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai.
This was highlighted in the latest research report by real estate consultancy Knight Frank. Residential housing absorption in these cities also fell by 16 per cent during 2012 against 14 per cent in 2011. Among the top 6 cities, NCR led the residential market in terms of absorption as well as launches for the three-year period between 2010 and 2012………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China’s housing prices in 100 major cities averaged RMB9,715 per square meter in December 2012, up a marginal 0.03 percent from a year earlier, according to the China Index Academy (CIA).
Prior to December’s modest increase, China’s national property market had failed to record positive year-on-year growth for the previous eight consecutive months – largely due to government-led efforts to keep property prices in check………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China will have 4,000 shopping malls by 2015, a more than 40 percent increase over the present number, according to the latest report by the China Chain Store and Franchise Association.
The country had 2,812 shopping malls with a construction area of 177 million square meters by the end of 2011, said the 2012 Development Report on Cooperation between China Shopping Malls and Chain Brands, conducted by CCFA and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China will have 4,000 shopping malls by 2015, a more than 40 percent increase over the present number, according to the latest report by the China Chain Store and Franchise Association.
The country had 2,812 shopping malls with a construction area of 177 million square meters by the end of 2011, said the 2012 Development Report on Cooperation between China Shopping Malls and Chain Brands, conducted by CCFA and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Australian housing market is expected to be among the more stable global markets in 2013 but house prices won’t rise, according to forecasts from credit rating agency Fitch.
Fitch’s most favourable house price outlooks are for Germany, Australia and the US, which is “finally expected to turn a corner in 2013″. “Fitch expects stable house prices [in Australia] in 2013, although some areas may still continue to decline,” says the credit rating agency in its latest Residential Mortgage Briefing………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Though one of the biggest sighs of relief for the housing market last year was a decrease in foreclosure activity across the country, not every city followed the trend. As online foreclosure marketplace RealtyTrac noted, some metros actually experienced an uptick in foreclosure starts and foreclosure completions for the year.
And that means one thing: Those cities can expect an influx of foreclosure home sales in 2013………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Real estate related searches on Google have grown 253% over the past four years, according to a joint study from the National Association of Realtors in the United States and Google.
NAR president Gary Thomas said that it shows that as home sales and prices continue to trend up more people are regaining confidence to invest in their future through home ownership………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Ratings agency Fitch expects house prices in Ireland to decline by a further 20% from current levels. In its latest residential mortgage briefing Fitch outlines what it refers to as “substantial concerns” for the peripheral eurozone markets of Spain, Portugal, Greece, Ireland and Italy.
“Fitch anticipates depressed mortgage lending, continued declines in house prices and pressure on incomes and consumer confidence,” it said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

After enjoying strong rises in average prices and rents over the past 12 months, the biggest threat facing Dubai’s residential real estate market in 2013 is overconfidence, which could result in unsustainable growth, according to a new report by Jones Lang Lasalle.
Its fourth-quarter report on the emirate’s property sector said the market recorded a positive year in 2012, with the villa market continuing to outperform the apartment sector. However, while optimism returned to the Dubai market over the second half of 2012, the recovery has been very selective and focused on only the best quality projects, locations and developers, JLL said………………………………………..Full Article: Source