RE/MAX, one of the world’s largest residential brokerage organizations, recently reported the U.S. housing industry is staging a recovery with increasing sales and stabilizing prices.
This claim is based on the latest RE/MAX Market Insights report, which shows four out of five agents believe U.S. home prices won’t decline further. In fact, nearly 70 percent predict prices will go up, led by a strong demand for homes in the low to middle price ranges………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The 65.4% homeownership rate in the first quarter is down from 66.4% a year earlier, according to the Census Bureau. But recent data suggest the housing market’s outlook is promising.
High foreclosure rates and a strong rental market pushed the homeownership rate in the U.S. to a 15-year low, even as projections for the housing market grew brighter. The 65.4% rate in the first quarter is down from the 66% rate in the fourth quarter and 66.4% in the first quarter of last year, according to the Census Bureau. Before the housing bubble burst, homeownership reached a high of 69.2% in 2004………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Irish house prices were undervalued by between 12 and 26 per cent as of the end of last year, the Central Bank claims. Property prices could rise suddenly and significantly if the causes of the undershooting in prices were removed should the finding of new research by the bank be correct.
The main reasons cited for the continued fall in prices are a lack of investor confidence, negative future house price expectations and an uncertain macroeconomic outlook………………………………………..Full Article: Source

As debate heats up about the degree to which Toronto and Vancouver’s housing markets are overheated, there is a lot of talk about the role that foreign investment money is playing.
And it’s a bit frightening to realize that not even the government knows the answer. During a discussion with the Globe and Mail’s editorial board, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty acknowledged that Ottawa doesn’t have a good grasp on the amount of foreign money in the Canadian housing market………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Property rates in Latin America are set to rise by as much as 10% in 2012 following the substantial global losses experienced as a result of major catastrophes experienced in 2011, according to a recent report from global insurance broker Lockton.
Catastrophe-exposed countries like Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador and Venezuela are seeing rate increases of between 7.5% and 10%, states the report, while non cat-exposed regions are said to be seeing renewal terms of flat to 5%………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Over the next decade European office buildings face an increased risk of value depreciation and obsolescence as structural change in three factors will combine to accelerate risk according, to the Jones Lang LaSalle Offices 2020 research program.
The rate of increase of office obsolescence, where the building is no longer desirable or fit for use, will accelerate due to increasing sustainability legislation, advancing workplace technology and evolving employer requirements………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Pan-European property investment funds have been investing strongly in a number of key national markets over the last two years, albeit at levels considerably below those seen in the late 2000s, new research from IPD shows.
Through 2011, the lion’s share of net investment by pan-European funds was allocated to the UK, Germany and Central and Eastern Europe. These three locations accounted for EUR 961 mln out of the total EUR 1.2 bn of net investment that such funds undertook during the year………………………………………..Full Article: Source

High-end property sales dipped in March, the month that George Osborne announced a new stamp duty charge on houses worth £2m or more. New data released by the Land Registry today shows a 17% drop in sales of houses in this top bracket, from 147 to 121, between February and March.
Under the new rules, introduced in the Budget on 21 March, these properties are subject to a new 7% stamp duty charge, meaning that buyers must hand over at least £140,000 to the taxman………………………………………..Full Article: Source

U.K. house prices rose in April for a second month, according to Hometrack Ltd., which said gains may not be sustained as demand fails to keep up with supply.
Values rose 0.1 percent from March, when they increased 0.2 percent, the London-based property research company said in an e-mailed report today. An indicator of demand rose at half the pace seen in the previous month………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Storied French mutual insurer Groupama, battered by Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis, has put some prime Paris commercial real estate on the block. Fortunately for the firm, demand for top properties has stayed strong even as the crisis has raged on the Continent.
In the second half of 2011, more money flowed into Paris properties than in any other European city, according to a study by CBRE Group Inc………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Property prices have been in the spotlight since Spain’s real estate property bubble burst. Over the past five years, Spanish property prices dropped by 41.7%, according to a research study by Barcelona-based Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), which was published at the end of April.
The study has analysed the sales figures of Tecnocasa (a real estate company) provided from the end of 2006, when the highest housing prices were reached, until the end of 2011. The UPF economist and coordinator of the study, José García-Montalvo, pointed out that the decline in housing prices would continue if the credit market does not recover………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The retail sector is driving investment in Belgium, accounting for 50% of the €553 million total investment volume recorded in the first quarter of 2012, according to international real estate advisor Savills.
The firm notes that major retail transactions this year include the purchase of retail gallery Toison D’Or for €62 million by Prupim and the Westland Shopping Centre acquired for €80 million by AG Real Estate………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The volume of deals at secondary housing market in Baku has risen by 6,1%. The report from Public Organization ” Property Market Participants ” says that in March supply in Baku secondary housing market rose by 1,2%, and prices-by 2,7%.
In accord with research results , this is the first case of average prices’ growth at secondary housing market in the last 3 years. At that the dynamics of deals conclusion at the market rose by 6,1%………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Moscow’s office market saw a low volume of new supply, strong occupier activity, falling vacancy rates and a stabilization of rental rates during the first quarter of 2012, according to the latest research by CB Richard Ellis.
Just 111,300 m2 of office space were delivered to the market in Q1 2012, versus almost 190,000 m2 in Q1 2011. The total new supply for 2012 is expected to be as little as 700,000 m2………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Shanghai and Beijing, the two cities with Asia’s fastest-growing office rents, are set to lead a surge in commercial property transactions in China as more developers sell assets to raise cash for housing projects.
Sales of office and retail buildings in the two major Chinese cities will double this year to $10.4 billion, according to Cushman & Wakefield Inc., which doesn’t make nationwide projections. The number of deals being negotiated in Shanghai in the past six months rose 50 percent from a year earlier, Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Taiwan’s housing prices posted an average growth of 30.1 percent between 2006 and 2011, for the sixth-highest growth of its kind among the world’s 10 hottest property markets, according to a report released Monday by to U.S. cable business news network CNBC.
CNBC put together the top 10 list based on research by global real estate consultancy Knight Frank, which ranks countries according to highest average growth in housing prices from the fourth quarter of 2006 to the same quarter in 2011. The national five-year averages reflect mainstream housing prices in most major cities in all the listed countries except China, which only includes home prices in Beijing and Shanghai………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Australian house prices declined in the three months through March in the longest losing streak in at least a decade as the central bank maintained the highest borrowing costs among major developed nations.
An index measuring prices for established houses in eight major cities dropped 1.1 percent last quarter from the previous three months, when it fell a revised 0.7 percent, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said in Sydney……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The slide in Australian house prices isn’t over, with home values falling again last month. The RP Data-Rismark Index shows home prices are down in five of the eight capital cities, including the four biggest markets.
The less current Bureau of Statistics figures for house prices in the March quarter also show a solid fall. The figures contradict some analysts, who say the Australian real estate market has hit a bottom, and they’ve added to calls for an official interest rate cut this afternoon………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Australia’s housing market needs more than the Reserve Bank’s 50-basis-point cut in the official interest rate to stage a meaningful recovery. The headwinds in the property market are significant and not a one-rate-movement fix.
Any RBA rates decision must be mostly passed on by the big lenders to have an effect, and this is something the RBA has no control over……………………………………….Full Article: Source