In an effort to encourage communication among worldwide real estate markets, FIABCI recently launched its first international webinar. Among those participating in the webinar included leaders from the United States, the Ukraine, Russia, the United Kingdom, Italy, Mexico, Canada, France and Germany.The primary goal of this webinar was to help determine how the Federation would go about assisting worldwide real estate markets with overcoming the devastating effects of the recession while also … [Read more...]

Strong economic growth, low interest rates and a continued housing boom make Latin America, far more appealing than other regions, according to a new report from Global Property Guide. Low valuations and under-valued currencies add to the investment opportunities there.Peru, Panama and Brazil lead the next wave of residential growth in Latin America. Factors such as rapid GDP growth, good yields, relatively low taxes, reasonably priced real estate, and reasonable round-trip costs put Panama … [Read more...]

United Kingdom real estate agents support scrapping Home Information Packs (HIPs). HIPS were introduced to negate the need for structural surveys by including Home Condition Reports in the packs. However, when the Home Condition Reports were not made a mandatory feature of HIPs, the new packs were viewed as an expensive addition to the house selling process.The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) has campaigned for HIPs to be scrapped, arguing they have failed to benefit home buyers … [Read more...]

Lack of mortgage financing for buyers has caused a sharp rise in unsold inventory in the United Kingdom’s property market, according to Rightmove’s latest report. There are twice as many new properties on the market as this time last year. Asking prices in May fell slightly by 0.4 percent.The annual rate of increase of asking prices decreased from 6 percent to 4.3 percent, suggesting that the real estate market is cooling after months of price increases. In comparison, demand in 2009 far … [Read more...]

The listing of 99,901 homes in April suggests balance is returning to what had been a sellers’ market, the Canadian Real Estate Association reports. The months of housing inventory available rose to 5.3 months on a seasonally adjusted basis, the highest level since May 2009. Meanwhile, Canadian home sales fell 2.6 percent in April from the previous month and 6.8 percent below the peak in December 2009."Canada's housing market has gone from full gallop to stately canter and is poised to … [Read more...]

The Canadian real estate market started 2010 with a 19.6 percent increase in prices. The average house price surged to $328,537 in January, compared with $274,711 a year ago, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) reported. Although home resales dipped 2.8 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis, home resales activity year over year was still up 58 per cent on an unadjusted basis from a year earlier.Scotia Capital economist Derek Holt predicted a rush to purchase to occur before new … [Read more...]

Continuing demand in the European commercial property market in the first quarter of 2010, increased confidence and spread interest to new areas, according to PropertyWire.com a recent report by Cushman & Wakefield. Foreign buyers were particularly active.Overall, analysts say the market experienced an all-around improvement in the early months of 2010. Even so, issues such as an increasingly polarized market bar a full recovery. For example, while the United Kingdom, Turkey and Sweden … [Read more...]

The Turkish real estate market is poised to recover more quickly than others because it is among the least leveraged and least negatively affected property market, reports Sunday’s Zaman, the highest circulation English-language newspaper in Turkey. Prices in Istanbul, and Turkey as a whole, did not drop as much as elsewhere due to the lack of a developed mortgage financing system. Most property owners own their property free and clear, so as prices dropped and bargain hunters came looking, … [Read more...]

Abu Dhabi is projected to be the strongest performing market in the MENA region (Middle East/North Africa) real estate market over the next two years, according to a survey of 200 investors for Jones Lang LaSalle’s Second Investor Sentiment Survey. MENA property investors are much more confident overall than they were six months ago. This has resulted in more buyers than sellers.Saudi Arabia and Qatar are also expected to be among the first to recover from the downturn. Abu Dhabi , … [Read more...]

Global foreign direct investment (FDI) flows have been severely affected by the economic and financial crisis. According to a new report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) The Celestine Prophecy psp , inflows are expected to fall from $1.7 trillion in 2008 to below $1.2 trillion in 2009, with a slow recovery in 2010 (up to $1.4 trillion) and gaining momentum in 2011 (approaching $1.8 trillion).The U.S., along with China, India, Brazil and Russia (the BRIC … [Read more...]