The world’s housing markets are strengthening, according to the latest survey of global house price trends released by the Global Property Guide. House prices rose in 24 of the 41 housing markets in our latest survey, which includes all countries which have so far published their housing statistics for the year 2012.
The U.S. housing market recovery continues. House prices continue to rise strongly. Construction activity is up. Delinquencies and foreclosures are down. The FHFA’s seasonally-adjusted purchase-only house price index rose by 3.51% during 2012, the highest growth seen since Q1 2006………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The international luxury real estate market remains relatively immune to the economic and political trends that drive the general housing market and is off to strong start in 2013, according to a report from high-end real estate affiliate network Christie’s International Real Estate.
The report compared 10 top property markets around the world: London, New York, Hong Kong, Paris, San Francisco, France’s Cote d’Azur, Toronto, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Miami. The company, a subsidiary of Christie’s auction house, also rolled out a new index, the Christie’s International Real Estate Index, which ranks markets across metrics such as record sales price, prices per square foot, percentage of non-local and international purchasers, and the number of luxury listings relative to population………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Canada’s housing market has been a source of angst for many, for industry players who have watched it cool over the past half-year, and for policy makers who are trying to engineer a soft landing and believe they have done so.
The market has cooled significantly since Finance Minister Jim Flaherty brought in his fourth round of mortgage restrictions last summer, and credit growth has slowed. So much so that last week, the Bank of Canada removed from its policy announcement a warning that it could hike interest rates to stop borrowers who have push their debt to record levels………………………………………..Full Article: Source

A severe economic shock, such as the kind that hit Japan in the early 1990s and California and Nevada in 2006, could knock Canadian housing prices down by 44%, according to a formula devised by Moody’s Investors Service to rate securities linked to mortgages. Such a decline would be driven primarily by the phenomenal upswing in Canadian home prices over the past decade, Moody’s said.
While house prices in Spain could plummet by a more severe 52%, Canada joins Spain, as well as the United Kingdom and Australia, in the ratings agency’s assessment of countries where growth in housing prices over the past 10 years has driven their values away from sustainable market fundamentals and into “overheated” territory………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Firms are buying up foreclosed homes and renting them out, hoping to profit from the appreciation. Individuals can do better, if they can buy a foreclosure that justifies itself in rent alone. Don’t look now, but some of the real estate markets that skyrocketed during the housing bubble and then crashed are heating up again.
Median housing prices in Las Vegas were up 20 percent in 2012, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Cape Coral, Fla., once the nation’s foreclosure capital, saw 26 percent price appreciation last year………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Most U.S. real-estate markets are past the worst of the housing bust, but homeowners—especially boomers—are still citing real-estate scams and mortgage frauds among their biggest complaints to federal regulators.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, real estate and mortgage issues were both in the top 25 categories of complaints for 2011 and 2012. And those in their 50s had the most to complain about, accounting for 23% of all fraud complaints………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Borrowers who lost homes to foreclosure during the housing bust are starting to buy again. Since the housing bubble burst, 4.8 million borrowers have lost their homes to foreclosure, and another 2.2 million gave them up in short sales, according to RealtyTrac.
While many are still struggling to recover financially, a growing number are starting to bounce back — and they are looking for a new place to call home………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The lack of homes for sale in the US is leading to a puzzling increasing demand from buyers and renters. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) says it is surprised since the two sectors generally compete against each other, but they are currently growing in both areas.
That’s because house prices are low, coupled with low interest rates at an historic low, which makes buying real estate competitive………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Spring is not the only thing returning to the Washington region this month. Home sellers appear to be coming back as well. New listings increased more than 13 percent across all property segments in February compared with the previous month, according to a report released Monday by RealEstate Business Intelligence and the George Mason University Center for Regional Analysis.
The uptick in homes for sale is a welcome sign in a housing market that has been as dormant the past several months as the area’s flowers and trees. Threats of the fiscal cliff and sequestration coupled with many homeowners owing more than their homes are worth led to months of historically low inventory………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Blackstone Group is betting heavily on residential real estate, Chairman and CEO Stephen Schwarzman said. “Blackstone is now the largest owner of individual houses in the United States,” Schwarzman said, pointing to his company’s $3 billion portfolio of residential real estate.
But given the nascent recovery in the housing market, they’re not buying and selling them quickly but rather renting them out. “It’s a good business for us. It’s a new thing, but it’s also good for America,” he said……………………………………….Full Article: Source

For years, the super-prime property market has appeared to defy gravity. In some places, such as central London, the boom continues almost unabated, while elsewhere, notably in Paris, there are signs that political activity can slow the rise.
According to the latest figures from Christie’s International Real Estate, for properties over $1 million, London costs more per square foot ($4,849) than any other city in the world. It is not simply a matter of scarcity, either; with 7,741 properties over $1 million listed at the end of September 2012 it has more inventory than any other luxury location. Only the Côte d’Azur comes close to that number. It is around twice the figure for New York, Paris or Hong Kong………………………………………..Full Article: Source

European commercial property pricing has reached its most attractive level in almost 10 years, according to research from DTZ, a UGL company. DTZ’s Fair Value Index offers quarterly insight into the relative attractiveness of current pricing in European property markets by grading them with a score out of 100.
The most recent figures show that in Q4 2012 the overall index score for Europe rose to 78 from 62 in the previous quarter - recording its highest score since September 2003………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors finds increased availability of cheaper home loans led to pickup in February. Property transactions in the UK reached their highest level in two and a half years as house buyers took advantage of record low interest rates, according to a survey of estate agents.
The monthly market survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) found that the increased availability of cheaper home loans as a result of the Bank of England’s funding for lending scheme (FLS) had led to a pickup in transactions………………………………………..Full Article: Source

UK house sales hit their highest level in more than two-and-a-half years in February, but the figures do not signal a housing boom, surveyors say.The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) said nearly 17 homes were sold per surveyor in the three months to February.
The rise in sales was set to continue, Rics said, even though inquiries from potential buyers had failed to pick up since January’s cold snap. Prices were also relatively unchanged………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Restrictive government measures and a fear of inflation are prompting investors to shift from residential to commercial properties. Research carried out by property consultancy firm Knight Frank showed that the value of transactions in the commercial property market has increased three times over the past four years.
This is in line with a global trend where more high net worth individuals (HNWIs) are investing in commercial property, according to Knight Frank’s annual Wealth Report. Said Nicholas Holt, regional head of research of Knight Frank Asia-Pacific: “In Hong Kong and Singapore, particularly, we are seeing more private investors who previously favoured residential investment looking at lower price point commercial property.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Between 2002 and 2007, Indian Real Estate witnessed historic boom, record numbers of projects were launched in the same period and the introduction of Real Estate Consultants came into limelight. The real estate consultants compared to property dealers were professionals, educated people and knew the presentation level required for the projects to the end users.
In term of trust there is still a lack as the dealings in Indian Real Estate are not based on transparency, in some areas there is always a demand of some percentage of cash money and on the other hand there is a concept of credit note been offered against discount to the buyer………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China has a housing problem. But it is much different than the problem we’ve had here in the U.S., or the one in the European Union.
For starters, when U.S. housing prices were rising, the government actively took part in inflating the real estate bubble by pushing rates lower and offering zero-down loans (subprime) to middle to low-income buyers………………………………………..Full Article: Source

It’s hard to look at recent headlines and come away feeling optimistic about China’s housing market. Tightening credit conditions, a fresh round of property-sale restrictions and renewed talk of “ghost cities” suggest the much-discussed China housing bubble may be nearing “pop” levels once again.
Or so it might seem. But in a note out today, Standard Chartered’s Stephen Green and Wei Li point to mounting evidence that the bubble is subsiding—if, indeed, there ever was one………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Luxury residential markets in the cities of Jakarta and Bali, Indonesia had been touted as growth markets in 2012, Knight Frank’s Prime International Residential Index (PIRI) indicated. Indonesia’s GDP growth that corresponded with the income of the middle class contributed to the 38% growth in the luxury residential market in Jakarta. Bali, a favourite tourist destination, also saw a 20% growth.
This positive spike in the residential luxury market in Indonesia could sustained if non-residents and foreigners could be given the chance to own property in the country, Knight Frank’s report said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

January’s slew of issuances from Chinese property developers belies the fact that Asia boasts a number of other real estate markets with favourable growth prospects. Indonesia, in particular, has excited analysts and investors alike. In the third quarter of 2012, the economy expanded 6.2% year-on-year, prompting Barclays in December 2012 to revise upward its GDP forecast for the year as a whole to 6.2%.
Nominal income growth exceeded 16% YOY in June 2012 and served as a strong conduit for consumer spending growth, which expanded 5.7% YOY - contributing 3.1% to overall growth. Per capita income nears US$4,000 in the beginning of 2013 and has exceeded US$11,000 in the capital Jakarta………………………………………..Full Article: Source