Opalesque Real Estate Briefing

Canadian house prices edge higher in April

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 19:02:25 +0000

Canadian home prices rose in April from March as three strong cities in Western Canada more than offset weak showings elsewhere, while the annual gain in prices slowed, the Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index showed on Tuesday. The index, which measures price changes for repeat sales of single-family homes, showed overall prices rose 0.2% in April from a month earlier, but the weak...
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Canada: Flaherty dismisses worries over housing market amid �healthy� correction

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 19:02:25 +0000

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is dismissing fears about Canada�s housing market, saying the current slowdown is welcome news and that there is no need for further government intervention. While some observers are expressing fears that a steep correction is underway that will bring down housing values and possibly affect bank credit ratings, Flaherty said Tuesday that he believes government mortg...
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US: A reality check on real estate

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 19:02:25 +0000

New statistics on the real estate market show home prices have risen by about 9% over the past year. Does this mean that real estate is back? On April 30, the Standard & Poors/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices release showed that a composite of real estate prices in 20 major metropolitan markets had increased by 9.3% over the past year, the best annual gain since May 2006. Does that mean the h...
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Trulia: It's still a housing rebound, not a bubble

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 19:02:25 +0000

Home prices today are rising nearly as fast as they did during the peak bubble years of 2005 and 2006. Since that bubble helped push us into the Great Recession, we should all be on high alert for the next housing bubble. To track whether home prices are in or nearing bubble territory, today we introduce Trulia's Bubble Watch, which is based on the most recent price data from the Trulia Price Mon...
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UK housing demand and home prices rise strongly, surveyors say

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 19:02:25 +0000

The post-recession recovery of the UK housing market revival is in full swing, an industry survey has shown. New buying inquiries soared last month and home prices continued to rise as property investment sentiment benefitted from government initiatives that give potential buyers greater access to mortgages. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said on Tuesday, May 14 that the comb...
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Gov�t schemes boosting housing market: Rics

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 19:02:25 +0000

Demand for property rose to its highest level in over three years during April, as the government�s �Help to Buy� scheme began to make an impact on the UK�s housing market, the latest residential market survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has revealed. Last month, new buyer enquiries rose to their highest level in over three years, with 25 per cent more chartered surveyors re...
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George Osborne's housing market sweeteners set to leave a bitter taste

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 19:02:25 +0000

Boosting the housing market to provide a feelgood factor is unlikely to work in the long term � and an economic study from Denmark suggests it won't work in the short term either. George Osborne was adamant when he became chancellor of the exchequer three years ago that Britain's economic model had to change. Out would go an over-reliance on public and private debt, in would come the "march ...
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British Land to exit mainland Europe amid economic woes

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 19:02:25 +0000

British Land is looking to exit its £255m retail property business in mainland Europe after their assets lost almost a fifth of their value on the back of the economic crisis in Spain and Portugal. British Land said its mainland European properties, which account for 2.4pc of its £10.5bn portfolio, fell 17pc in value in the year to the end of March, hit by rental concessions and widen...
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German real estate funds in the Euro crisis: Solid returns in local markets

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 19:02:25 +0000

First quarter 2013 results for German institutional property funds and German retail property funds stood at 0.3% and 0.0% respectively. In both groups of funds, those vehicles invested in Germany substantially outperformed European-targeted funds. Daniel Piazolo, Managing Director of IPD, said, �We now receive data at least quarterly for 152 German funds with a Net Asset Value of EUR 105 bn. W...
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JLL: Good beginning to the year for the investment market in Poland

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 19:02:25 +0000

The period from January to the end of April of 2013 in Poland came in strong with an investment volume of �748 million. So far, the office sector has the largest share 2013 transactions (�424 million), followed by industrial (�184 million) and retail (�126 million), with the hotel sector rounding things off with �14 million. In terms of the number of transactions, 2013 outpaced the same period i...
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Real estate development in Moscow! What will those crazy Russians think of next?

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 19:02:25 +0000

Moscow is one of the world�s most expensive cities. It can vary a bit depending on who�s doing the ranking, but for the past several years Moscow usually comes in 3rd place after Tokyo, Japan and Luanda, Angola. It�s true that some of Moscow�s most ridiculously priced items are not housing-related, and it�s equally true that the Moscow real estate market is hardly the world�s most liquid or libera...
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S.Arabia: Residential construction industry 'very competitive'

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 19:02:25 +0000

Actual demand for housing in the Kingdom is huge and the supply doesn't meet the demand. "Saudi Arabia is a major player in the region both in political and economical terms; today the government is spending billions of dollars in infrastructure development, which is why we are noticing a new hub for infrastructure development in the region," says Hossam Al-Rashoud, CEO of Maskan Arabia....
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Doha residential realty market remains stable

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 19:02:25 +0000

The residential property market in Doha appears to be stable and may see steady growth both in outright sales and rentals in the upcoming quarters, according to Al Asmakh Real Estate report. Qatar�s population was at 1.92mn as of March 31, 2013 with year-on-year growth of 8.5%, which may realise higher demand for new housing units, especially from expatriate population. Doha and Al Rayyan munici...
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Demand for office space in Asia Pacific subdued

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 19:02:25 +0000

Leasing activity in Asia Pacific�s Tier 1 office markets remained generally subdued in the first quarter of 2013, according to real estate advisory firm Jones Lang LaSalle, in its latest Asia Pacific Office Index. Whilst take-up of grade A office space contracted in Singapore, Hong Kong, Australian cities and Beijing, it was steady in Japan, South Korea and emerging Southeast Asia; strong dema...
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China: Property market maintains stable growth momentum

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 19:02:25 +0000

Investment rises 21.1% in past four months, sales value eases to 59.8%. China's real estate investment growth quickened in the first four months of the year, but property sales growth dipped slightly due to the government's latest round of policy tightening. Property in-vestment, which affects more than 40 industries ranging from steel to furniture, increased 21.1 percent year-on-year from Janua...
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Hong Kong property investors switch search to overseas markets

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 19:02:25 +0000

A growing number of Hong Kong property investors are shifting their investment focus offshore - prompting local brokers to widen their sales' lists in order to capture commissions on deals taking place overseas. "There has definitely been a pick-up in buyer interest in overseas properties in recent months. Inquiries for international residential properties are up by 10 per cent since the gov...
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Coming soon to Singapore: Relief for home buyers, renters

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 19:02:25 +0000

A flood of new homes is headed toward Singapore and it will carry with it a buyer�s market, analysts say. Developers in Singapore are already offering discounts and freebies such as furniture vouchers and will probably give away more expensive �toys��maybe even cars�as new properties begin hitting the market in force, says Chris Comer, CEO of Castlewood Group, developer of Nikki Beach properties i...
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NZ housing market overcooked: IMF

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 19:02:25 +0000

New Zealand housing is already overvalued by about 25 percent and if it continues to rise may force the Reserve Bank to hike interest rates, according to the International Monetary Fund. Property in New Zealand has become less affordable in the past two decades with the median house price at about four times income, some 20 percent higher than the average of the past 30 years, it said...............
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Housing improvement may herald return of U.S. workforce mobility

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 19:02:25 +0000

While far from their 2006 peak, home prices in major metropolitan areas have been rising since early 2012. If that persists, it should make it easier for Americans to move and for employers to match job seekers with available jobs, lowering the jobless rate and increasing overall economic productivity and growth. "Until the real-estate market picked up, people wouldn't even consider a move...
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Distortions of US housing markets

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 19:02:25 +0000

Housing is usually more stable because the motivations of the buyers are for long-term occupancy rather than exclusively for profit. But by rigging the market toward speculators, the Fed may have queered the pitch. Sadly, once the money has fuelled a boom, you can�t just take it back. One of the brightest parts of the American economy is the housing market. It is considered the strongest proof o...
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