A cooler housing market isn’t all bad news, a major Canadian bank says. Lower prices could benefit young couples struggling to save for a down payment and also retirees who dream of moving to British Columbia, the report by CIBC World Markets predicts.
While slowing home sales will “take a bite” out of Canada’s economic growth, “less well understood” is the fact there will be winners and losers across the economy, the report released Thursday said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The signs of life in the U.S. housing market may be encouraging, but not all money managers are convinced that rising home sales and values can provide serious momentum to the U.S. economy in 2013.
The still unresolved issue of some 10 million underwater mortgages - where the amount owed is larger than the current value of the house - remains a key impediment, said speakers at the Reuters Global Investment Outlook 2013 Summit in New York………………………………………..Full Article: Source

In fact, the flood failed to materialize, even after the five biggest U.S. mortgage servicers reached a $25 billion settlement with federal and state regulators in February. Instead, the number of properties for sale shrank to the fewest in a decade, prices appreciated at the fastest pace since 2005, and the gradual healing of the housing market helped boost consumer confidence and the economy.
“We don’t have enough homes now to meet the needs of the market,” Paul Jacobson, a Stockton native and real estate broker for 22 years, said as he cruised the city’s northern fringe, where suburbia meets farmland. “People see a foreclosed home for sale in this area and they’re going to jump on it.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The housing market in Michigan was slammed during the recession and while it’s starting to make a comeback, the state is still home to some of the most affordable housing in the country.
Four of the 18 most affordable housing markets identified in Coldwell Banker’s new home price listing report were located in the state. And Redford, near Detroit and Ann Arbor, was named the most affordable housing market, with an average listing price of $60,490………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Looking to buy a home? You may want to skip these places. Prices are either so high or incomes so low that many families can’t afford to buy homes here, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index.
New York is a hell of a town, but not for homebuyers. Family income levels are barely higher than the national median of $65,000, but home prices are nearly two and a half times as much, according to the National Association of Home Builder/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Home sales and home prices are up, even as the stock of available housing shrinks, a trend that could get derailed if looming foreclosures and other new homes suddenly hit the market.
Existing home sales increased in October 2.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.79 million units, according to a report from economic forecasting and analysis company IHS Global Insight………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Single-family rentals will remain a long-term opportunity for private-equity funds and institutional money managers even as the U.S. housing market recovers, analysts and investors said.
“We think this is a multiyear opportunity and there should be growth,” Jade Rahmani, an analyst with Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc., said at conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, organized by Information Management Network. “There should be adequate supply.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Are Las Vegas and Reno turning into smart-money bets for real estate? After home value plunges that were among the steepest during the bust, could these two gaming and entertainment meccas be returning to more stable growth patterns?
From the latest multiple listing service (MLS) data gathered by Realtor.com, a sustained housing rebound appears to be well underway………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Owain Bennallack and Nate Weisshaar discuss Warren Buffett’s recent opinion piece in the New York Times about increasing taxes on the rich. They look at what investors can learn from Buffett, and if he is talking up his book or really giving good advice.
They also discuss Buffett’s exposure to the US housing market, and whether Berkshire Hathaway will be well placed to benefit. Other companies mentioned include Wells Fargo and Brookfield Asset Management………………………………………..Full Article: Source

As uncertainty continues to grip the European markets, identifying surefire investment opportunities has become increasingly difficult, if not impossible. However, one analyst argues that high-end European real estate may be a viable option for today’s investors.
Sabina Kaylan, European head of research at CB Richard Ellis, proposes that despite the influx into the luxury housing market in 2011 and 2012, there are still plenty of real estate assets—particularly in northern Europe—available for investment………………………………………..Full Article: Source

U.K. house prices were little changed this month and values may decline “modestly” over the next year because of subdued wage growth, Nationwide Building Society said.The average cost of a home was 163,853 pounds ($262,300) in November, the Swindon, England-based customer-owned lender said in an e-mailed statement today. From a year earlier, prices declined 1.2 percent.
“The predominant theme remains one of stability,” Robert Gardner, chief economist at Nationwide, said in the statement. However, “house prices are likely to remain broadly flat or decline modestly over the next 12 months.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Luxury-home prices in central London rose at their slowest rate in more than two years in November as investors delayed purchases ahead of possible new property taxes, according to Knight Frank LLP.
The average price of a house or apartment in the U.K. capital’s most expensive neighborhoods climbed 0.4 percent from September, according to an index compiled by the London-based broker. That’s the smallest increase since October 2010, when prices fell 0.2 percent………………………………………..Full Article: Source

After a period of revival, the Polish residential market has started to feel the impact of the general economic slowdown. However, the downturn could well turn out be a time for some good deals on the property market.
A report by real estate services company REAS, which specializes in the residential market, shows that the number of new projects brought by developers onto the market in the third quarter of 2012 was much smaller than in the previous quarter, while the number of transactions stayed at a similar level. After 10 quarters of uninterrupted growth, the number of homes offered by developers dropped………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Despite the economic slowdown, the Polish office market is still experiencing a boom. One million square meters of office space is now under construction across the country.
According to experts from international real estate services firm CBRE, Poland is one of the most dynamically developing markets in Europe when it comes to office space. This is chiefly due to Poland’s good macroeconomic indicators and its ability to attract a growing number of international tenants………………………………………..Full Article: Source

With austerity measures cutting deep into consumer spending and construction, the Greek housing market has taken an especially big hit, with an 80 percent decline in building in the last five years, since the country’s recession began.
Unable to pay even necessities, most Greeks aren’t even thinking of new homes, resulting in developers staying out of the market until demand returns. Making it worse, property taxes have been doubled in a new avalanche of tax hikes and Greeks are avoiding buying homes, while many have defaulted on their mortgages during the crushing economic crisis………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Portuguese property investment funds returned an annual total return of 0.6% in September, according to the APFIPP/ IPD Portugal quarterly property fund index, which tracks annual performance of Portuguese property investment funds on a quarterly basis.
Despite remaining in positive territory in the third quarter, the annual overall performance of the APFIPP/ IPD Index contracted by 0.3% from June 2012 and by 1.5% year on year………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Uganda, a 92,000-square-mile republic in east Africa housing 35 million residents, is booming in some of its real estate pockets but going down the drain in other sectors, according to mixed media reports in recent weeks. Bankers and developers are jittery. Loan defaults are mounting.
The Africa Report.com notes “financial institutions, already worried about their high level of exposure to the real estate industry, have cut back on the loans. Banks are also selling off property to recover their loans - posing new questions about the direction the property market is taking and whether house prices are over-inflated.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The key to the success of individual real estate projects in Dubai and the future performance of the overall market will be the adoption of a realistic phasing strategy in line with market demand, said an expert.
“We are definitely seeing a return in confidence to the Dubai real estate market,” said Alan Robertson, CEO of Jones Lang LaSalle Mena, a global real estate services firm……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Real estate investor sentiment in the Asia-Pacific property sector remains relatively positive, despite continuing global economic uncertainty, according to Emerging Trends in Real Estate? Asia Pacific 2013, a real estate forecast jointly published by the Urban Land Institute and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
However, while steady economic growth, rising incomes and stable or increasing property values are contributing to an overall sense of optimism, the outlook is tempered by concerns among investors that prime assets in key real estate markets in the Asia-Pacific region are becoming overpriced………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Indian real estate market, despite its opportunities, has seen a sharp drop in foreign investments over the past two years, and in future, global investors may be more cautious investing in markets that lack international standards, says Sean Tompkins, global chief executive officer of UK-based Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), a professional qualification and standard setting body for land, property and construction sectors.
The country’s real estate sector saw close to $20 billion in investment between 2006 and 2009 but only about $2-3 billion of that has seen an exit yet, after over six years of investment. India, he says, hasn’t really delivered since 2005 on the promise that it held as an investment destination and today most of the capital finding its way into Indian real estate is really domestic capital………………………………………..Full Article: Source

New home sales in 54 Chinese cities surged 30.6 percent month-on-month in November according to research institution Centaline, a national house brokerage. The real estate consultancy said 236,295 new homes were sold in the first 25 days of November, surging to a two-year high.
In the first three weeks of November, newly-added homes climbed to 6.41 million square meters, in 22 cities, far higher than the 4.58 million square meters added in October………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Smaller is better, or at least more affordable, as land prices and construction costs rise for single houses and townhouses next year, while consumers’ budgets remain unchanged, the Bangkok Post reported.
Soonthorn Sathaporn, managing director of the small developer Chalerm Nakorn Co, told the newspaper, consumer purchasing power cannot catch up with unit price rises due to the soaring cost of development. Just as condos have shrunk, so will single houses and townhouses………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Although the government has been attempting to stop house prices from rising rapidly, academics yesterday said that it was actually the government’s policies that had led to skyrocketing real-estate prices and urged it to take a turn in its policy direction.
“Although the government has implemented some policies — such as building low-cost or social housing projects, giving subsidies on mortgages and granting loans with favorable interest rates — none of the policies are helping to reduce real-estate prices,” Taipei Association for Development of Real Estate and Land chairman Chen Kuang-hsiung said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

More than 4 million people flocked to DiverCity in its first two months. The complex’s developer, Mitsui Fudosan, expects 25 million visitors a year, the same number that went to Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea combined last year.
Successes like DiverCity are giving investors confidence that the post-financial-crisis slump in Japanese real estate is turning around. “The recovery trend in land prices has become clearer,” Mitsui Fudosan President Masanobu Komoda told reporters in September………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Nearly a third of residential lots released by big land estate developers on Melbourne’s fringes are being returned by mid-sized home building companies, who can’t find smaller home builders and or end-use homebuyers.
The statistic has been uncovered as part of The National Land Survey Program carried out by jointly by Research Four and property consultants Charter Keck Cramer. According to the Melbourne chapter research of the National Land Survey Program, 30% of new land activities for the September quarter were cancellations………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The global assets in exchange traded funds (ETFs) linked to benchmark FTSE EPRA/NAREIT real estate stock indices have jumped by over 90% in the past year to $7.1 bn (EUR 5.4 bn), according to research from the European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA).
ETFs, which are passive investments linked to a specific market or index and can be bought and sold on stock exchanges like ordinary equities, have experienced organic growth in recent years as they allow investors to gain exposure to a wide range of investment assets by tracking underlying market indices at a relatively low cost………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The chief U.S. housing regulator on Wednesday expressed optimism that the deep downturn in the nation’s property market was finally over, but said the future of the government’s role in housing finance needed to be settled for long-term health.
“I am cautiously optimistic that the signs of stability - and in some areas, strength - that have started to emerge in certain sectors of the housing market are signals that it is beginning to recover,” Edward DeMarco, acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Trulia‘s Chief Economist reveals the latest findings from the Trulia Housing Barometer. In October, the housing recovery made the biggest three-month jump to date, putting it near the halfway point now.
Each month, Trulia’s Housing Barometer charts how quickly the housing market is moving back to “normal.” We summarize three key housing market indicators: construction starts (Census), existing-home sales (NAR), and the delinquency+ foreclosure rate (LPS First Look). For each indicator, we compare this month’s data to (1) how bad the numbers got at their worst and (2) their pre-bubble “normal” levels………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The U.S. housing market may be in a recovery after a long decline but the difference in price between the most expensive and affordable regions remains as stark as ever. The city with the most expensive average listing price was Los Altos, Calif., according to real estate firm Coldwell Banker, which released its annual home listing report Wednesday.
In Los Altos, about 40 miles south of San Francisco, the average listing price of a four-bedroom, two-bathroom home is $1,706,688………………………………………..Full Article: Source

A real estate company says the average four-bedroom, two-bathroom home is more expensive in Hawaii than any other state in the nation. Coldwell Banker said Wednesday says the average listing for a house that size is more than $742,000 in Hawaii. That’s well above Massachusetts, which ranked second with an average listing price just over $489,000.
The company’s U.S. Home Listing Report analyzes the average listing price of four-bedroom, two-bathroom properties on coldwellbanker.com between January 2012 and June 2012………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Housing values are poised to outpace expectations, real estate whiz Barbara Corcoran said Wednesday on CNBC. “You have 30 percent reduction in sale price. You have cheap money around,” she said, adding that in nine out of 10 real estate markets, buyers are likely to be outbid on a housing purchase at least once. “You don’t think that until you go shopping for a house.”
In response to a question from “Fast Money” pro Tim Seymour about whether people should borrow as much as they can if they can, Corcoran said she agreed with the premise. Multifamily housing wasn’t Corcoran’s first choice………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Hurricane Sandy made it painfully clear how fragile a city composed mostly of low-lying islands can be, and that reality has put New Yorkers in an uncharacteristically insecure mood. The New York Times expressed these anxieties this weekend in an article titled “Is This the End?” which pondered the mortality of America’s largest metropolis.
Of course all good things — even New York City — must come to an end at some point. But in the meantime, what will a world filled with higher sea levels and more extreme weather mean for New York City and other coastal communities?……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Detached homes have seen the smallest rise in prices of all property types in England and Wales in the last year, figures suggest. The typical home rose in value by 1.1% in the year to the end of October, according to the Land Registry.
But the typical detached house only increased by 0.1%, the latest data suggests. The typical detached home was valued at £254,378 compared with an average of £161,605 overall………………………………………..Full Article: Source

As 2012 draws to a close, national estate agent Strutt & Parker looks forward to what is in store for the property market next year and its agents predict an increase in migration to counties outside of London as sellers in the capital take advantage of one of the widest price gaps between London and the country in history.
The expected influx of foreign investment in London, particularly from France and Italy, whose own national housing markets are looking less and less stable, will keep prices in the city high. Some of the eye catching prices that London sellers will be able to obtain next year, compared with the relatively low prices in the country will be too hard to resist for those who have been considering making the move………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The capital’s property market serves the demands of the wealthy and global speculators, rather than the needs of the majority. London’s housing market is already strained by the needs of its residents. Too many are priced out of a secure, affordable home, whether they want to buy or rent.
More supply is always given as the answer, but can we ever meet the demands placed on London, including those of foreign buyers?……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Nordic property fund returns improved slightly in the third quarter of 2012, delivering a 1.9% return compared to 1.7% in Q2 2012, according to the IPD Nordic Quarterly Property Fund Index.
Over the last 12 months the Index has returned 8.2%, although the continued depreciation of the euro continues to contribute positively to the overall return. Of the 10 participating funds, seven continued to produce positive returns for this quarter and nine recorded positive returns in the last 12 months………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Turkish property market continues to go from strength to strength and its plans for future growth are even more ambitious. GYODER is the country’s Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts. The association issues a monthly index of new home prices in the country, which has shown double digit annualised growth month-in-month-out for over 2 years.
The latest index is no exception, with new home prices up 0.73% on the month and 10.25% on the year in October according to the report. This follows September’s performance of 0.32% month on month growth and 12.23% growth on the year, and Augusts’ of 0.32% and 11.78% respectively………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Saudi Arabia is witnessing significant activity in real estate auction mainly in the Eastern region, where development plots sold in auction netted about SR3 billion ($800 million) during the last five months, up 20 per cent over last year, said an expert.
The Eastern Province and Riyadh are expected to unlock more lucrative prospects in the Saudi real estate market in 2013, given the rapid population growth and increasing number of businesses that are in continuous search of full-service projects to provide housing for their employees, remarked Omar Al-Kadi, the CEO and managing director of Injaz Development Company………………………………………..Full Article: Source

For all the talk of an economic slowdown and sluggishness in consumer spending, housing prices continue to rise. Barring Kolkata, home prices have continued to rise in most big Indian cities in the past seven quarters.
Prices have increased although absorption of residential property declined by 16% in the first half of the year to March from the preceding fiscal and absorption of commercial real estate by 29% in the same period, according to Citigroup Inc. “This is attributed to the slowdown in economy, rising interest rates and affordability issues,” Citigroup economists said in their latest macro survey………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Reserve Bank has turned down banks’ demand for restructuring stressed real estate loans without providing for potential losses, a move that could mount pressure on builders to lower prices as banks push to recover loans.
The central bank believes that if banks are permitted to restructure the loans without providing for losses, they will lose the urge to insist on prompt payments from builders, who in turn would continue to hold onto prices even if sales are slack, two bankers familiar with the discussions said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

A land parcel sold at a record high price for the year in Shanghai’s property market on Tuesday, signaling China’s warming property market. The land parcel, adjacent to the Shiliupu Dock area in downtown Huangpu District, was sold for 2.77 billion yuan ($445 million), which equates to 36,000 yuan per square meter.
In the same day, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Land and Resources listed a residential land parcel in the Chaoyang district to be auctioned, setting the opening price at 2 billion yuan ($320 million) or 33,800 yuan per square meter of gross floor area, a new high for this year………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Property market buyers and sellers seen adopting wait-and-see attitude. A month after the Hong Kong government unveiled its toughest measures to curb skyrocketing home prices, the market is now at a stalemate as the transaction volume is stuck at an extremely low level while home prices are continuing to stay at record high levels, with both buyers and sellers adopting a wait-and-see attitude.
The stalemate is likely to stay for a few months, analysts believe………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Tackling the issue of rising property prices will take a while, but Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong felt it can be done. In an interview with Bloomberg, Mr Lee was asked if he would be addressing the issue of home prices here in his annual New Year’s address to Singaporeans.
“We have had a property boom, almost a bubble,” Mr Lee replied. “It’s because liquidity is sloshing around worldwide and real interest rates are negative … That’s a difficult problem for us on the overall property market.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The Philippines and Indonesia, emerging Southeast Asian economies, are showing resilience in the midst of weakening European economies. This is according to the most recent property report of Jones Lang La Salle (JLL).
With its 6.1% GDP growth rate for 1st quarter 2012, the Philippines — now with one of the fastest growing GDP rates in Asia — is also among the few in the region which has shown the most resilience. JLL’s 3rd quarter 2012 Asia Pacific Property Digest pointed out the resilience is evident despite falling demand in the West and China………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The housing market may trend down in the near future in terms of transaction units and prices, as more people become familiar with the government’s real-estate transaction price disclosure system, an economist said yesterday.
The comment from Chang Chin-oh, a land economics professor at National Chengchi University, came after the Ministry of the Interior’s latest data showed 47,174 housing units changed hands in the July-to-September period, down 11.8 percent from the second quarter. On an annual basis, the figure represented a 0.8 percent increase in the third quarter, the data showed………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Tokyo property is not going to offer ‘explosive’ growth any time soon but the time is right for international investors to become reacquainted with a strong, stable market that has been largely forgotten, PropertyEU’s recent Japan Investment Briefing heard.
Professor Lawrence Longua, director of New York REIT Centre, said during his presentation that Tokyo, relative to US, European and other East Asian markets, has gone relatively unnoticed as a source of real estate investment opportunities since the economic crash at the end of the 1980s………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Only a few years ago, buying a property in the UK was seen as a sure-fire way to make money. However, the property market is now seemingly stuck in a period of prolonged stagnation and buyers and developers are looking at other regions and countries to invest. It seems like a long time since the days of guaranteed returns and increasing values.
So where’s a good place to invest then? Virtually the entire Western world has seen house prices crumble since 2007 but Australia’s residential market has defied gravity……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The U.S. housing market, which plunged the economy into recession five years ago and was a persistent drag on the recovery, is now a key economic driver at a time when other sectors are slowing.
Economists project U.S. gross domestic product growth will slow in the final three months of the year from the sluggish 2% annual rate in the third quarter. Businesses, unnerved by the prospect of federal tax increases and spending cuts known as the “fiscal cliff” taking effect in January, have slowed their pace of investment spending. Defense spending also is expected to slow, further weighing on growth………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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Home prices rose in the year ended in September by the most since July 2010, showing the recovery in the U.S. real estate market is a source of strength for the economy.
The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values in 20 cities climbed 3 percent from September 2011, after advancing 2 percent in the year to August, the group said today in New York. The median forecast of 29 economists in a Bloomberg survey projected a 3 percent gain. Home prices from July through September climbed the most since the second quarter of 2010………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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Six years since the start of the greatest housing collapse since the Great Depression, one doesn’t have to look very far to see signs of a recovery. Nationally, home prices are rising after more than a 30% drop since mid-2006.
More good news arrived Tuesday, as the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index reported third quarter prices were up 3.6% from a year ago and September’s 20-city index reached its highest level in two years. Foreclosures have slowed in most of the country after having decimated hundreds of U.S. cities. Rather than being a drag on the U.S. economy, housing is now seen as a contributor to growth………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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