IPIN Live - Archived posts for September 2010

The results themselves seem to show that investors are really looking towards property now as an income generation tool, rather than just hard asset acquisition. For example, wind the clock back 5 years...

A large majority of institutional investors are expecting the global real estate sector to pick up in the coming years. According to the recent JP Morgan Asset Management survey, a number of speculators are now allocating a proportion of their portfolios to alternative assets....

Investment commercial real estate around the world is set to reach USD300 billion by the end of the year, Jones Lang LaSalle has predicted. According to the real estate consultancy, the sector is likely to enjoy a 40 to 50 per cent increase compared to the previous 12 months....

Globally, commercial property values and rental yields have been starting to rise once again as economies around the world return to strength. Following a turbulent two years the sector appears to be going through the early stages of recovery....

There has been a marked recovery in the performance of institutional European pooled property funds over the 12 months to June, it has been claimed. The International Property Databank (IPD) reports that the funds delivered an 8.3 per cent local currency return over the period....

An increasing number of property investors are looking to Asia for favourable returns on real estate. Indeed, recent Global Property Guide data suggests that the region has been one of the best performing over the course of the year....

A significant percentage of independent financial advisors (IFAs) believe that their clients could benefit from investing abroad. Indeed, 71 per cent were in favour of the investment option, according to research commissioned by the Belek Golf Club....

International investors have continued to support the prime central London property market, the latest report claims. As a result of a hiring spree in the financial and professional services sectors foreign buyers are still flocking to the UK capital, the September 2010 market update report from Black Brick said....

Latin America's office market is poised for a decade of strong growth, it has been claimed. According to a Jones Lang LaSalle report, economic growth and a thriving jobs market will help to boost real estate in the region....

A new report has suggested that the outlook for real estate in Latin America is positive. Consultancy firm Jones Lang LaSalle has made the predictions based on the region's sustainable economic growth....

The commercial real estate sector is enjoying a run of good fortune of late, with stronger leasing volumes, more property-management work and increased investment sales, it has been claimed....

Weakening global market conditions expected to emerge in 2011 are likely to have a profound effect on Asian real estate prices, it has been suggested. Analysts have expressed fears that the region's property markets are in a prime position to feel the full force of any potential downturn....

The European debt crisis has passed. The introduction of austerity measures, tax hikes and public sector pay cuts by eurozone governments has helped to successfully quell worries and slash public deficits in the region....

The recent global economic crisis has caused a number of real estate investors around the world to reconsider their appetite for risk. Speaking ahead of the Cityscape Global Real Estate Investment and Development Conference, Ethan Penner, president of CBRE Capital Partners, has claimed that many buyers are now a lot more realistic about their potential returns....

The global property market recovery is continuing apace. The latest figures released by Knight Frank suggest that 61 per cent of countries surveyed by the real estate agency recorded positive value growth in the 12 months to mid 2010....

The weakness of the British pound against the Euro is helping to attract foreign investors to the UK market, it has been suggested. The claims follow the recent influx of Russian and Middle Eastern buyers to London's prime property market....

Following the global financial crisis which sent property prices around the globe spiralling downwards, some real estate markets have begun to fight back. Indeed, Maktoob has revealed its top ten cities worthy of investment....

The latest data from Rightmove and Moneycorp suggests that investors have been following the sunshine when it comes to searching for property. Indeed, the organisations reported a 12 per cent growth in searches for homes compared to July....

International investors are likely to become more interested in UK commercial property due to the country's weak economy, according to Hugh Best, head of investment management at London Central Portfolio....

New research has found interest in buying overseas property to be at its highest level since April this year. The study, conducted by UK-based Worldwide Property Group, found that 72 per cent of respondents are of the belief that now is a good time to purchase real estate....

After a difficult few years, commercial property made a comeback in early 2010. 2008 saw decreasing values for the asset class but Q2 2010 saw a rise in both values and interest from investors....

Real estate markets around the world are set to slow considerably in 2011 following the post-crash bounce. According to the Global Residential Market Forecast from estate agent Knight Frank, prices are likely to remain fairly static in the coming 12 months....

Acquiring real estate is one of the best investment opportunities left in 2010, it has been claimed. An article for personal finance website Helium has claimed that property is currently one of the most lucrative options available....

Commercial real estate investors have been enjoying a return of market confidence, it has been claimed. Writing for the Scotsman, Rachel Aird, investment director of real estate at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, explained that the past few years had been turbulent for the sector....

A leading figure in the property industry has warned developers that speculative building is not an option in the current economic climate. Speaking at the Resi conference earlier in the week, Gerald Ronson, chief executive of Herald International, has recommended that developers are selective of projects....

A new study, conducted by Ficci and Ernst and Young, has suggested that a regulatory body is set up for real estate and granting infrastructure status to housing. The study, entitled "Realty Decoded: Investing Across Borders", is due for release next Thursday (September 23rd)....

Commercial property investors in the US who have not witnessed the expected deluge of distressed real estate enter the market are focussing their attention on quality assets. This is according to PriceWaterhouseCoopers' (PwC) Korpacz Real Estate Investors survey....

Government cooling measures in China, designed to curtail the red hot real estate market in the country, could prompt investors to look elsewhere for buying opportunities....

Real estate investment may not be everyone's cup of tea but those who have tried their luck know that it can be a lucrative business and can earn you maximum returns...

Over the past year, an increasing number of Asian property investors have been snapping up real estate in the burgeoning London market. Estate agent Knight Frank claims that in total buyers from Asia have poured GBP 761 million into the market, a figure which is up from the GBP 250 million invested in 2009....

A booming and stable economy has long been associated with a strong property market. Indeed, more often than not trends in house prices and commercial rents tend to mirror the performance of the economy, with the buoyancy of the housing market closely associated with the strength of domestic demand....

Overseas buyers continue to be tempted by the prospect of quick returns in Asian property markets, despite fears of bubbles forming. Official figures show that foreign direct investment in China grew for the 13th straight month in August....

Property investors in Europe had the highest volumes of cross-border activity during the first half of 2010, new research has found. Financial and professional service firm Jones Lang LaSalle claims that over 54 per cent of all European transactions conducted in the first six months of the year were cross-border....

The significant increase in global commercial real estate investment witnessed in 2010 compared to last year was bolstered by cross-border buying, it has been suggested. Research from Jones Lang LaSalle has found that commercial investment during the first half of 2010 totalled USD 132 billion - almost double the level seen in the period during 2009 (USD 76 billion)....

Falling values of commercial real estate in the US could lead to an increasing number of investors looking at the sector....

New data has revealed that commercial property prices increased at their lowest rate for more than six years during August....

An increasing number of international investors are looking towards Asian property markets for returns. In particular, Japan is proving to be a favoured destination, with over USD 2 billion in deals already agreed this year....

Both real estate investors and savers in the UK are of the opinion that the bank base rate will rise in the next 12 months. Research has found that some 69 per cent of those questioned believe that by August 2011 the rate will rise....

House prices in August suffered their most widespread falls since May 2009 as more properties were put up for sale and demand fell among potential buyers.

Following the downturn in the industry, commercial real estate is experiencing an upturn in fortunes, CB Richard Ellis has predicted. Speaking to the LA Times, the company's chief executive Brett White explains that the future is looking bright for the sector, especially in the US....

Property prices in some European cities are continuing to grow at a rapid rate, with some destinations boasting gains above the levels seen before the economic crisis. Real estate in Paris, for example, has reached a record high...

With interest rates at historic lows, interest-only mortgages might be appealing, but what happens when the mortgage term ends?...

The collapsed social housing company Connaught will lose a further 400 jobs, administrator KPMG has announced.

Fund managers are remaining cautious about the prospects of property equities, it has been claimed. The news is reflective of the property market dependence on the scale and sustainability of the economic recovery, with the outlook for the rest of the year unclear....

The value of Dubai buildings that saw their construction conclude in the second quarter of 2010 jumped more than 45% to Dh11.07bn compared with Q1 2010 when buildings worth Dh7.61 were completed...

Demand for high calibre professionals within the real estate sector in the Middle East region is set to increase in 2010...

New rules aimed at making the global financial system more stable mean the end of cheap loans and mortgages, Britain's banking industry has warned.

Property investors in the UK have been urged to consider the possible implications of future rate rises following the Bank of England's decision to hold the base rate a 0.5 per cent for the 18th month in a row....

The number of European individuals who had their portfolios managed sustainably during 2009 rose, new figures show. According to the European Sustainable Investment Forum (Eurosif), 11 per cent of high-net worth individuals in the region are now having their investments managed in an environmentally-friendly manner....

Emerging markets across the globe are likely to continue to lead the real estate sector's recovery. This is according to the recent HSBC Global Investment Perspective for August 2010 which revealed that property investment in emerging Asia and Latin America is improving....

The retail space is predicted to boom in the next few years, with an increase of three times higher than the total areas available in the market at present.

With supply outstripping demand, New Zealand property prices are slowly sliding, while the city of Christchurch looks forward to rebuilding from a recent earthquake...

About 700 people are to lose their jobs after services firm Connaught collapsed and went into administration.

Chinese property buyers look set to replace Russians as the largest set of investors in the prime central London market, it has been suggested. CB Richard Ellis has made the prediction on the back of the recent success of numerous currencies against sterling....

Asian property markets are booming. A number of real estate indices and surveys have suggested that the region is growing at a fast pace. However, while the spiralling prices are sure to please early investors in the sector, fears have been raised about the formation of a bubble in a number of countries....

A recent report from the UK based National Housing Federation claims that buyers who purchased property in 2007, at the height of the property boom, are likely to remain in negative equity until at least 2014...

Abu Dhabi government departments have issued tenders worth hundreds of millions of dirhams during the last two weeks, reflecting that the government is still the main driver of the economic growth.

Real estate sales in Australia jumped by 11 per cent during August, official figures reveal. The property market in the country received a boost as homebuyer confidence strengthened and first-time buyers returned to the market....

Nearly one in eight shops is now vacant as the recession holds its grip on the UK, according to a new report.

Real estate sales in the US climbed dramatically during July giving the sector a much-needed boost, it has been revealed. The news comes after it was reported that sales in the country during June stood at a nine-year low....

Investors are increasingly looking towards the eastern European property markets for reasonable returns. Total property investment volumes in Poland, for example, have soared by as much as 50 per cent over the past year, with no signs that buyer appetite is decreasing....

Investors with a stereotypical view of the Italian property market could be missing out on a good investment opportunity.

Analysts have lamented the traditional view of the market as being risky and dogged with bureaucracy....

Investment grade residential property in the UK is on track to deliver solid returns to buyers, new research has shown. According to the first IPD UK bi-annual Residential Investment Indicator, the sector delivered....

Dubai, which was No 12 in the world last year in terms of most expensive cities in the world for expat living, now ranking No 31st in the EuroCost International's Worldwide City Ranking 2010

We are all well aware that there is a recession going on in a fairly sizeable section of the world at the moment. The things most people want to know is "when will it be over?"....

Buy to Let investors may be interested to learn that Turkey has been named as the favourite destination for travellers this year.

The prestigious accolade was presented to the country on behalf of the Conde Nast Traveller awards and represents the first time that Turkey has been recognised in such a way....

Social housing firm Connaught, which employs 10,000 people, has gone into administration after failing to raise extra funding from lenders.

Real estate prices in the UK fell by the greatest amount in six months during August, the latest property index has found.

The news is likely to mean that investors to the country will benefit from having more bargaining power....

Demand for residential apartments has surged over the past few weeks, with purchases by Jordanian expatriates fuelling the upward trend...

Value of the Kuwaiti investments in the real-estate sector in Egypt is estimated at USD 10 billion, according to a report released on Monday.

The Chinese government needs to increase interest rates and introduce a real estate tax if it hopes to curb house prices, it has been claimed.

A conference in Shanghai was told that the market is currently in a "very big bubble" and current tightening measures are not working....

A number of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) are benefiting from the recent austerity measures put in place by various governments.

In particular, Asian property securities have benefited from the measures, with investors finding new confidence in the funds....

Expectations of a deluge of distressed property coming onto the market in coming years is keeping transaction levels down as investors wait patiently on the sidelines, it has been claimed.

IPE has reported that an increasing number of real estate investors in the US are becoming "more diligent" when it comes to parting with their money and waiting for the right opportunities to present themselves....

Government ministries and agencies have submitted a record-high budget request of 96.75 trillion Yen for fiscal 2011, topping by 1.8 percent the corresponding 95.04 trillion Yen figure for fiscal 2010...

Performance in emerging destinations and Asian real estate markets are among the best in the world.

The latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Global Commercial Property Survey has highlighted that destinations within the two regions are comfortably outperforming more developed countries....

Home sales reports continue to paint a very mixed picture of the current market, and prospects of a housing recovery remain murky at best...

The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) has hired Kishore Gotety, who was most recently at RREEF, as country head for India real estate...

Economic recovery in various destinations around the world is having a positive effect on property markets.

As the world begins to exit the global economic crisis many countries housing cycles are starting to turn around and record positive growth....

With the majority of its gross domestic product comprised of financial services and tourism, the British Virgin Islands has just begun to recover from the effects of the global recession...

House prices are continuing to slide downwards in Northern Ireland according to the latest industry research...

A Dutch company will design a model of a low-cost houses in Missan, a coordinator of the Dutch companies in Missan said on Wednesday.

House prices have fallen for a second month in a row - the first consecutive drop since February 2009, according to Nationwide.

According to the latest survey of house prices by Global Property Guide, there has been an uneven recovery in worldwide real estate markets during the first six months of 2010.

The figures show that east Asian countries have been leading the recovery and enjoying booming house prices....

Head of the Lebanese Banks' Association Joseph Torbey signed on Tuesday an agreement protocol with the president of the judges' pension fund....

As we all become more environmentally responsible and more focus is placed on climate change through the government and media, then more "green" investment ideas and products come on the market...

Realty firms and consultants have expressed satisfaction on the proposal to retain income tax exemption on interest up to Rs 1.5 lakh a year on housing loan...

The listed developer Univentures Plc (UV) is confident of achieving 90% occupancy for its new Park Ventures office building on Wireless Road in 2012 with an initial rate of return of at least 13%.

Rising mortgage delinquency rates threaten to flood the US housing market with another wave of foreclosures...