04 | INDUSTRY Buyer news
NEWS IN BRIEF The World up for sale
www.opp.org.uk | JUNE 2010 Brits pile £30m into Brazil
UK INVESTORS looking for cheap deals sent a record £30 million to Brazil for property sales last year – and agents are scrambling to cash in. Despite the recession, investment in
THE owner of one of The World islands in Dubai claims to have found a way around the project’s no-fl ipping rule. The 20,000 sqm island is on the market for AED42 million and is the fi rst to be made available on the secondary market, according to Streamline Real Estate Brokers. Developer Nakheel says investors are not allowed to fl ip The World islands but analysts have speculated that off shore companies may be able to transfer shares and therefore ownership to another party.
Portal searches double THE number of Brits searching online for foreign property has doubled in the last year, according to portal Primelocation International. Enquiries on the site were 95% higher in March 2010 than a year earlier, with the top three locations of Spain, France and the US recording increases of 108%, 153% and 105% respectively. Searches also increased on a monthly basis for all top ten countries except Bulgaria.
South Florida stock down
UNSOLD resale stock in South Florida has reached its lowest level in 18 months. The number of condos and townhouses for sale in the region has fallen by 23% year-on-year to under 40,000 units, according to data from the National Association of Realtors and distressed agent CondoVultures.
Canada leisure market up
ALMOST 80% of recreational property markets in Canada saw an annual sales increase for Q1 2010, according to RE/MAX. The franchise’s annual recreational report showed 43% of leisure property in nearly markets rose reported a nominal increase.
Brazil from the UK rose by 50% last year – it was up from £20 million in 2008 and £4 million in 2004, according to Central Bank of Brazil fi gures obtained by Moneycorp. The currency broker launched a dedicated Brazilian exchange service in October 2009 and has seen a 40% annual rise in enquiries about property in Brazil so far this year. “A lot of our clients one or two years
ago were big investors but now we’re seeing more £20,000 land deals with people for whom that is a large part of their savings,” said the fi rm’s Brazilian account manager, Dean Roe. Agents have jumped on the shift towards cheap development land plots
Cheap land in Brazil’s northeast helped attract £30 million of investment last year.
fuelled by promises of rapid price growth, with many focusing on the less- developed northeast of the country. But the window for cheap investment
may not last long thanks to the country’s housing shortage, growing middle class demand for holiday homes and the attention brought by the upcoming Brazilian World Cup and Olympics. “We could fi nd if the exchange
rate keeps going up and prices rise enough that there comes an equilibrium where Brazil is as expensive as closer destinations such as Bulgaria and Turkey,” said Clive Hawkes of Bond International – which has sold Brazilian property for seven years. New-build prices rose by 25% year-
on-year in the third quarter of last year, according to Global Property Guide.
Values crash and Florida surges
FOREIGN buyers attracted by huge price falls are continuing to drive a Florida sales surge, according to data from Realtors associations. While parts of the state have seen
the worst year-on-year price falls in the USA, NAR fi gures show the number of sales in the fi rst quarter of
the year increased by 35% on a like- for-like basis. Areas popular with foreigners have
seen the best improvements, with Orlando and Miami reporting strong growth and Gulf Coast locations such as Sarasota also recovering. South Florida (including Miami) has
now seen seven consecutive quarters of growing sales, despite state-wide volumes falling back at the start of the year as the timeframe for the fi rst-time buyer tax credit was extended. Foreclosures and short sales helped
Foreign buyers account for 30% of sales in South Florida, according to Realtors
to push down the region’s prices in Q1 but sales were up by 28.6% year-on- year and foreigners made up almost a third of the market.
ISRAELI ATTRACTION
FOREIGN buyers are snapping up coastal apartments in Tel Aviv, according to an Israeli- American property fund. Over half the units in one of the city’s most expensive blocks have gone to overseas residents, reported Faire Fund. Chairman Shlomo Grofman said foreign residents seem to like the seafront projects best of all.
“South Florida is the top area in
the country for international buyers,” said Terri Bersach, chair of the Miami Realtor group RAMB. “In contrast to other parts of the
country where foreign buyers play minor roles or sometimes none at all, interest in South Florida real estate was not solely generated by fi rst-time and existing homebuyers taking advantage of the recently expired tax credit.” Carla Rayman, international business director at Prudential Palms Realty, said: “Foreclosures are still up but are not on the market long. They are receiving multiple offers within the fi rst few days of being listed and are selling for more than list price.”
CHINA BUBBLE BID FAILS
ATTEMPTS to avert a property bubble in China appear to have stalled as prices rose at a record rate in April. Values increased by 12.8% year-on- year across 70 cities in China, beating March’s 11.7% jump that was the highest since records began in 2005, according to the country’s National Bureau of Statistics.
INDUSTRY
NEWS
TICKER
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60