PROPERTY values in the coastal town of Mandurah are skyrocketing – with some block and house prices doubling in value in the past six months.

David Green, principal agent at Century 21 Mandurah, said prices had steadily increased over the past few years, but had “gone through the roof” in the past six months.

He said Mandurah’s real-estate boom was driven by interstate and overseas investor interest, the resource sector boom, easy access to Perth and an attractive lifestyle.

In the past 15 years, Mandurah has grown from a population of 13,000 to a city of more than 60,000.

“The resource sector boom in WA means we get plenty of cashed-up, fly-in/fly-out workers who are buying in Mandurah so they can spend their time off in a relaxed lifestyle-focused area,” Mr Green said.

“As well as the Perth and baby boomer market, we get huge interest from interstate and overseas.”

The shortage of land in the region was also driving prices up.

“Every time there is a land release, people camp out for days and it has even got to the stage that people are pre-empting land-release announcements and camping out,” he said. “There is simply more demand for blocks than there are blocks.”

Mr Green said a 600sq m block bought six months ago for $135,000 in the Halls Head development of Seascapes sold three months later for $198,000. The buyer put the block on the market six weeks later and it fetched a staggering $270,000.

“These sorts of stories are pretty common in the Mandurah region at the moment,” Mr Green said.

“Blocks that were sold for $85,000 two years ago now sell for $230,000 and you would be lucky to find a home anywhere under $400,000.”

The recent sale of a $3.6 million canal home set a new record for Mandurah real estate. Mr Green said the Hong Kong buyer represented a new breed of international investors who recognised the seaside town’s potential.

“I took the man out on the canal in my boat and he picked out which home he wanted and negotiated a sale with the owners,” he said.

“The owners had no intention of selling, but he paid well above what would have been the asking price because he was keen to secure a place. You couldn’t get a canal home for under $1.5 million now and they rarely come on to the market.”

Elders Mandurah agent Renee Hardman said that despite the soaring values, Mandurah was still an excellent place to buy and invest.

“It is really good value for money and the canal and beachfront properties, especially, have been undervalued for a very long time,” she said

Source: Sunday Times Australia

‘Since 2001, the share of home buyers using the Internet as an integral part of the home buying process has nearly doubled to 70 per cent’, said CAR.

But while the characteristics of Internet buyers and their traditional counterparts have started to converge, the estate agents have noticed ‘important distinctions’ between the two groups. ‘Internet buyers were younger, wealthier, better educated and more likely to be married than traditional buyers’, said CAR. ‘Internet buyers also reported greater satisfaction with the home buying process compared with traditional buyers’.

The comments come in 2006 Internet versus traditional buyer survey. ‘The Internet is changing the dynamics between buyers and their agents, as well as the way business is conducted throughout the real estate industry’, said CAR president Vince Malta.

‘More and more consumers have high speed Internet access at home, enabling them to gather information on all types of products and services both quickly and easily. This trend has carried over to the process of buying a home. As a result, home buyers are more informed, have a greater sense of control over the process, and hold high expectations concerning how quickly they receive information’.

• Overseas property investors should research the area in which they are thinking of buying well before visiting the country, according to the organisers of Property Investor and Homebuyer Show North.

Their ‘top tips’ on reducing the risk involved in overseas investment include:

Know your objectives
Know why you are buying and what you are hoping to achieve with the purchase. If it’s for investment, is it for short term capital gain to provide a one off profit over a particular time, or is it to provide long term regular income?

Sort out your finances
Work out how much you can afford to buy and arrange your finances, such as your mortgage, before you travel abroad to search for your property. This will ensure that you are ready to act immediately if you find the right property. Also ensure that all finances are arranged before signing any contracts and paying over a deposit.

Do not be hasty and stay focused
Stay focused on what you originally had in mind and stick by your objectives. See your chosen area at different times of the year to ensure that you like it whatever the weather. You could also give yourself a cooling off period to help ensure you are making the right choice.

Check the transport links and local facilities
Make sure there is a choice of airline routes and access points to your chosen area. People who rent property will want somewhere that is easy to get to and will often gravitate to those places with a nearby airport served by low cost airlines. People will also want to be near basic facilities such as restaurants and shops. Proximity to areas of natural outstanding beauty or tourist attractions, for example, will add to the property’s rental attraction.

Talk to fellow investors
Speak to people who have purchased in the area that you are interested in. If you are opting for a buy to let investment, you can learn a lot about rental success in your area and get a realistic idea of the likely income that will be generated.

Allow for the extras
The costs of buying a property abroad (for example, taxes, conveyancing, lawyers’ fees, agents’ fees and VAT) can be much higher than in the UK, so make sure you budget accordingly. Also ensure that you are aware of the costs charged by the legal and government authorities for purchasing a property in your chosen country.

Check the taxation and inheritance laws
Ensure you understand the tax implications for when you decide to sell in the future. You should also check the inheritance laws of the country where you are buying, as you many need to compile a separate Will.

Weigh up risk versus returns
If buying for investment, it is important to understand how comfortable you are with risk and investment accordingly. You need to be well informed and comfortable with the risk factor.

‘Property investment overseas can be hard work but the rewards are there for those who do the research and are willing to put in the effort to succeed. However, our overarching advice for overseas property investors can be applied to many things in life; use your head, do your research, seek professional advice and don’t act on impulse’, said managing director of VEF French Property Trisha Mason.

Source: fly-2let.co.uk

For many people Turkey has other advantages too: a friendly, exotic culture, great shopping and some of the best-preserved archaeological sites in the world. The Government’s successful economic reforms have also encouraged investors, and new laws make it easier for UK citizens to buy Turkish property and tourist numbers are rising by 25 per cent a year.

Turkey’s accession to the EU is still a decade away, however. David Cox, director of Property Frontiers, a UK-based agent, says: “Turkey is an interesting market. It has the potential to be the ‘new Spain’ — it has the fundamentals, a great climate and is a place people want to go on holiday to and retire to, but some of the supporting factors, politically and economically, haven’t happened yet. That is the gamble — that is the risk for the investor.”

The property boom is concentrated on the coastal resorts along the Aegean and Mediterranean seas, namely the fashionable Bodrum peninsula, Dalaman and Fethiye as well as the traditional seaside towns of Kas, Kalkan and Altinkum. In some resorts, prices are said to have risen by 100 per cent in the past two years. A more realistic guide would be 20 per cent per annum. On some developments the spectacular price rises are being driven by speculators rather than genuine holiday-home buyers. “Flipping” — when investors sell on off-plan contracts before the development is finished — is also occurring. When the speculators move on to a new market, house prices may stagnate or even fall.

Dennis Phillips, of John Howell & Co, the international property lawyers, says: “In our view the trend of year-on-year appreciation will last one to two years before plateauing off.”

Plenty of new developments mean lots of choice for buyers but may also depress prices when it comes to selling or renting. Most visitors also come on package tours and access is still an issue. “Rental is still not that good in Turkey because the price of a flight is nearly as expensive as a package holiday,” Zena Ozguler, accounts manager at The Turkish Property Centre, says.

Investors are hoping the budget airlines will come to their aid, but they may have a long wait. EasyJet serves Istanbul, but not the coast and Mr Phillips says that most buyers will struggle to rent on a “decent commercial basis”. He advises: “Don’t expect to have a really strong market for a couple of years.”

In spite of this, Turkey deserves serious consideration, especially if you are looking for a property to use as a holiday home as well. If you have less than £40,000 look at Altinkum. Ms Ozguler says: “This is a great place to buy. It’s an up-and-coming, family-friendly beach resort that is attracting lots of new investment.”

The Turkish Property Centre recommends its own development, Miranda Gardens, just 500 metres from the beach, with apartments starting at £33,000. Property Republic, a London-based estate agent, is offering apartments from £58,000 in Yalikavak, a new upmarket holiday development zone about ten minutes’ drive from Bodrum.

Sources: Sunday Times

Related Links: Turkey Tourism

According to AME Info (as at the 23rd of May 2006)

Land sales worth more than $38.4m were concluded in Dubai on Monday, according to figures from the Lands and Property Department. The biggest deal was for a plot in Al Safouh-2 that changed hands for $25.9m. Mortgages worth $77.4m were also registered.

Source: AME Info

The Irish have shaped the landscape of Dubai like few other nationalities.

Back in the 1980s, Dubai was a blank canvas, ready to be painted by the kingdom’s ruling family, the Maktoums. Since then, the city has become one of the most metropolitan places in the world, with Irish pockets dotted around every corner.

Walking around the Irish village next to Dubai’s Aviation Club, you could be forgiven for thinking you were in Ireland, if it were not for the blazing sun.

The cobblestones in the area are every bit as Irish as those in Temple Bar, Dublin, having been specially imported. The shop fronts look as authentic as those in villages here, with the frontage of ‘‘Ballinasloe Post Office’’ being particularly impressive.

The Irish pub in Dubai Airport has an authentic feel, as do several other bars scattered around the region. But pubs are far from the only sign of Irish influence. The Irish Celts GAA club, formed in 1995, is another emblem of the vibrant Irish ex-pat community in Dubai.

As well as Gaelic games, each year, the club enters a Dubai Rose into the Rose of Tralee competition.

Among the most influential Irish figures in Dubai are the head of Dubai Duty Free, Colm McLoughlin, and the head of the Jumeirah Hotel Group, Gerald Lawless. Between them, McLoughlin and Lawless control two of Dubai’s most powerful companies. Dubai Duty Free owns a host of assets, ranging from pubs and restaurants to Dubai’s tennis tournament, while the Jumeirah Hotel Group employs 11,000 people, 10,000 of whom are based in Dubai, and has assets believed to be in excess of €1 billion. ‘‘When you think about it, as individuals they [McLoughlin and Lawless] really did contribute to the organisation of Dubai,” said Sheikh Ahmed al-Maktoum, the uncle of Dubai’s ruler and the head of the region’s Civil Aviation Authority, which controls Dubai Airport, Dubai Duty Free and Emirates Airlines.

‘‘I’m sure there are many others here doing lower-profile jobs who have contributed too.

“We hope that we will be able to attract more Irish people.”

Historically, Dubai has attracted highly-qualified Irish people in sectors such as engineering and technology. More recently, however, younger people have begun flocking to its sunny climes, working in Irish pubs and bars or teaching English. Dubai has also taken off as a destination for Irish tourists, particularly since Aer Lingus launched direct flights to the city on March 28.

‘‘Hopefully, the Aer Lingus flight to Dubai will bring more people from Dubai to Ireland, which is a beautiful place,’’ said al-Maktoum, who added that Emirates Airlines would soon launch flights to Ireland.

‘‘I’m sure Emirates will start flying to Ireland,” he said. ‘‘I think we have to give Aer Lingus more chance to build up the network and to have a good operation. I think we’ll see Emirates - I hope in the very near future - flying to Dublin.”

Dubai and Ireland are also linked by investment. The Maktoums keep racehorses worth millions of euro in Ireland.

Sheikh Ahmed said he expected Dubai investment in Ireland to grow.

‘‘The Dubai people will always look for opportunities, but we need to do more in Dubai to tell them what’s happening in Ireland,” he said. ‘‘I’m sure there will be some opportunities for somebody to invest in Ireland.”

Irish people have also been buying up property in the city, while trade between Ireland and Dubai has been increasing, with Irish exports to Dubai increasing from€155million in 1991, to over €600 million in 2004. A regional Enterprise Ireland office was set up in Dubai in 2002. Junior minister for Labour Affairs Tony Killeen led a delegation there last year, which was aimed at strengthening trade links.

Source: THE POST.IE - The Sunday Business Post

British investors are chasing a Dubai developer who has £2m of their money, reports John Arlidge. Britons who bought property in a flagship development in Dubai face losing more than £2m in deposits after the developer abandoned the scheme and fled the country. Some 40 Britons have paid deposits on “off-plan flats” in the Light House(pictured), a 15-storey block planned for Dubai Marina, one of the most popular developments in the emirate.Emad Ayoub, 52, who has dual British and Egyptian nationality, had sold the project on the basis that it would have been ready by last month. So far, however, only the foundations of the 94-flat block have been completed. Ayoub left Dubai last month, and work has stopped.

Buyers contacted by The Sunday Times said they did not know what had happened to the deposit money they had handed over and whether their properties would ever be built.

“We could lose our money, our flat, our future — everything,” says Roger Blakeley, 46, from Lancashire, who has put down £90,000. “We chose Dubai because Sheikh Mohammed (the emirate’s ruler) assured western investors their money would be safe. It’s time for Dubai to show that foreign buyers have rights and are protected when things go wrong.”

The “Light House Affair”, as it is known in Dubai, is the first such scandal to hit a country that has undergone a multi-billion-pound building boom since first allowing foreign investors to buy places there four years ago.

Problems have already emerged. Several projects are behind schedule and some buyers claim that, in the race to build tower blocks and villas, standards of workmanship are slipping. Prices, which have been rising by more than 10% a year, appear to be levelling off, amid concerns about oversupply, especially of flats.

Ayoub began marketing the block two years ago with a sales brochure promising prospective buyers that it would “add comfort, security and joy to your life”. About 90 local and overseas investors bought flats “off-plan” after seeing press advertisements. Nearly half were British.

Buyers visited the sales office in central Dubai, handed over downpayments of an average £50,000 per flat, sat back and waited to see their new homes soaring above the stylish marina. And waited. And waited.

In spring 2005, one year into construction, buyers living in Dubai reported the development was behind schedule. When contacted by investors, Ayoub conceded progress was slow and blamed unforeseen technical issues, but insisted the project was on course for completion last month.

By last summer, the foundations of the block were underway, but progress was still sluggish. Ayoub continued to assure buyers the building would be completed on time. By January, the foundations were largely completed, but it was clear that the block would not be completed by the April deadline. Then, two months ago, all work abruptly stopped.

The first most investors knew about the stoppage was when newspapers in Dubai reported that labourers had refused to turn up for work after not being paid. To add to their concerns, Lieutenant-Colonel Rashid Al Jumeiri, a senior official from Dubai’s Permanent Committee of Labour Affairs, was quoted by a Dubai newspaper as saying that Ayoub had fled after emptying his bank accounts.

When telephone calls to Ayoub’s office in central Dubai went unanswered, buyers contacted the police. Officers could not find the developer, and his office was sealed. A notice on the door of the company’s office announced that it was closed “by order of Dubai Court in favour of the Case No 361”.

Since March, the gates of the Light House site have been padlocked. The only person there during a recent visit was Abdul Wadoob, a security guard sitting in the 40C heat in a wooden hut with no water or air conditioning. Wadoob, who is employed by a private contractor, confirmed that work on the site had stopped two months ago, but didn’t know why.

The disgruntled buyers have hired Shahran Safai, an emirate lawyer, to put pressure on the Dubai authorities to sort out the mess. Buyers are also considering a criminal action against Ayoub for fraud.

Such legal manoeuvrings are the first test of Dubai’s investor-protection regulations and the outcome is being watched closely by people planning to invest in the United Arab Emirates. “There is no precedent,” says Safai. “No investors have found themselves in this situation before.”

If they do not achieve satisfaction in the courts, the group plans to approach Emaar, Dubai’s biggest property firm, and ask it to take over the site and finish the project. Emaar was “master developer” of Dubai Marina but had no direct responsibility for the Light House.Emaar last week denied any liability for the halt to the work at the site, but confirmed the company had held “meetings with the legal representatives of third-party investors … in the (Light House) project”.

The Sunday Times last week traced Ayoub to Earls Barton, a village in Northamptonshire. Ayoub admitted he had fled Dubai, but said he had done so because he feared he would be imprisoned after getting into financial difficulties.

The developer denied that he had deliberately emptied his bank accounts, but said he ran out of cash and stopped paying his workers in March after a local bank refused him further credit facilities. The £5m of investors’ money had been swallowed up by the unforeseen construction snags and delays, he said, claiming he had tried to complete work with £1m of his own money.

Ayoub said he sympathised with buyers and was still trying to negotiate with Dubai-based subcontractors to restart building; the remaining £5m money due from investors, together with the proceeds of selling commercial premises in the building, would be enough to finish construction.

He also vigorously denied claims that he had engaged in fraud. “Not one single dirham (the local currency) invested in the Light House has left my accounts in Dubai. It was all invested in the project,” he said.

Blakeley was not impressed. “Now that we know where Mr Ayoub is, we will take steps to pursue him in the British courts,” he said.

Source: Times Online

Related Links:

• Construction images of The Lighthouse Dubai

Praia, Cape Verde, 24 May – A group of 12 Chinese business people are visiting Cape Verde this week looking for investment opportunities in the tourism and real estate sectors, the local press reported.

The business people, who chose not to speak to the local press, are particularly looking at the possibility of investing in the construction of hotels and houses on the archipelago, according to Cape Verdean newspaper, A Semana.

The four-day visit began on Sal Island, the archipelago’s tourist center and where the main international airport is located, and continued Wednesday in the capital, Praia, with a round of meetings with the local authorities.

Recently, Macau businessman David Chow said he would invest some US$130 million by 2009 in building a tourist complex on the islet of Santa Maria, of the coast of the Cape Verdean capital, which would include a hotel, marina, restaurants and swimming pools.

Chow also plans to make over US$390 million in investments in Cape Verde, particularly in the country’s capital, over the next ten years.

According to sources contacted by Macauhub, a Portuguese-Chinese owned group is also looking to invest in the archipelago in tourism and casinos.

Tourism in Cape Verde has seen strong growth in the last few years and is now one of the main driving forces behind the growth of the economy.

Last year, Cape Verde’s hotels welcomed 233,000 tourists to the archipelago, 26.4 percent more than in the previous year, with Sal Island as the main destination, according to figures from the country’s National Statistics Institute. (macauhub)

Source: Macauhub

Related Links: Wikipedia Cape Verde

EMPEX Originally uploaded by kunlay.

FACTS & FIGURES

Dates:
26th to 28th of June

Location:
Barbicane Exhibition Center, City of London, UK

Exhibitors:
120

Exhibitors from:
Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey & International companies, Serbia & Montenegro, Cyprus

Visitors:
2000

Visitors from:
USA, Israel, Japan, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, Sweden, Republic of South Africa, Canada, Australia, Britain and Holland

Accompanying Events:
Numerous banquets and business-mixers during the event

Conference Participants:
600

General Concepts:
EMPEX Ehibition has to present emerging property markets in Europe to investors. During the event, there will be presented investment offers of particular cities, regions and private corporations. During the conferences we will introduce the most important information about emerging markets and investing possibilities.

Organisers:
The Report - team of proffesionals with over 10 years experience in exhibitions and publishing for real estate industry.

Website: http://www.empex.pl/

Looking East Originally uploaded by China Chas.

BEIJING will adjust lending and other policies to cope with surging real estate prices, reacting to a potentially destabilizing scarcity of affordable housing and rising financial risks from property speculation.

China’s top leaders met Wednesday and ordered stricter enforcement of curbs on lending and tax policies aimed at discouraging property speculation, State media reported Thursday.

The government has been seeking for nearly two years to rein in excess investment in construction of upscale and luxury housing, warning that a speculative surge in prices could lead to financial problems.

Meanwhile, conflicts over housing have prompted sporadic protests, making real estate a sensitive political issue.

Lending policies will be adjusted to curb demand, the official newspaper People’s Daily cited Premier Wen Jiabao as saying after a Cabinet meeting. The government will also restrict land for expensive housing and offer easier credit for low-cost homes.

The central bank recently raised its one-year benchmark lending rate by 27 base points to 5.85 percent, signaling its desire to cool lending.

Last year, some cities, including Shenzhen, imposed a business tax on sales of property less than two years after purchase. Local governments nationwide were ordered to more strictly control land use rights, to limit credit for property deals, and limit real estate developers’ profits to a maximum of 3 percent.

Property prices rebounded this year as the impact of new taxes and higher mortgage rates imposed in 2005 wane. Home prices in Shenzhen have risen about 25 percent in the first quarter of this year over the same period last year. Average home prices in Beijing jumped 14.8 percent, and those in China’s northeastern Dalian City rose by more than 10 percent, government data showed.

Despite some progress in curbing investments in the sector, prices in some big cities have continued to rise too quickly, the newspaper said, adding that the industry had a “bad supply structure and messy market rules.”

“The government tried to rein in property prices last year and obviously this goal has not been met,” said Zhao Qiang, an analyst at China Everbright Securities Co. in Shanghai. “Prices will continue to soar if nothing is done.”

The government will use tax measures and boost supervision to curb the amount of land used to develop luxury homes, a CCTV report also said Wednesday.

“Local governments will probably issue measures, including raising down payments for purchase of a second home to at least 40 percent of its value from a minimum 20 percent” after the Central Government’s announcement, said Li Huiyong, an economic analyst at Shenyin Wanguo Research and Consulting Co. in Shanghai.

The government aims to cool the market because “soaring” prices have become a focus of public complaints, Zhu Zhixin, deputy commissioner of the National Development and Reform Commission, said in Beijing. There is “serious market disorder” in some regions, Zhu said.

The government may restrict overseas investment in real estate to help cool prices, analysts including China Everbright’s Zhao said. Overseas investors bought at least US$500 million of completed income-producing property in China in the first quarter, compared with US$1.2 billion in all of 2005, according to property agency CB Richard Ellis Group Inc.

Source: Xinhua