The Association of International Property Professionals has recently completed it’s 2007 consumer survey and, perhaps not surprisingly, the biggest fear of British overseas property buyers is the fact they feel a high chance of being mislead, either by an agent or a developer.
According to the AIPP’s survey, 69% of consumers are worried about being given unreliable or misleading information and 44% said that being unable to independently check information is a concern. Only 17% are worried about being pressured using hard sell techniques and only 34% were worried about overpaying for property.
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London retains the number one slot as the most expensive office market in the world, with occupation costs reaching as much as $329 per square foot in the West End and $181 per square foot in the City. Rents at the top of the market have been inflated by demand from hedge funds and financial boutiques competing for the best buildings.
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The upcoming CityScape Asia exhibition in Singapore promises to be a spectacular event, with a golf tournament, cocktail parties and a number of conferences and workshops organized to allow visitors the opportunity to claim, “It was all work.” Last year’s event was a resounding success, attracting 4,600 industry professionals from 53 countries, showcasing 125 exhibiting companies.CityScape Asia will be held in Singapore, between 15th and 17th April, 2008. According to CityScape, Singapore was chosen as the venue for the following reasons:
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Tags: CityScape
Demand for property has increased dramatically in Vietnam since the government issued new laws that allow the lease of land for 70 years and then extensions without any payments. Thai developers are looking to bid for land plots in Vietnam for development. The Hanoi government’s issue of Decree 84 earlier this year brought Vietnam one step closer to opening up its real-estate market to foreign ownership, effectively leveling the playing field for international developers.
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Build your own city is the tag line. Ourbania.com is offering you the opportunity to build your own city. Ourbania is a web 2.0 community of real estate enthusiasts with a passion for creating urban architecture – as real or surreal as you like. Basically, how the system works is you sign up and start creating urban developments using a combination of Flickr photos, manually inserted information regarding the developer, financier, architect etc, and build a theoretical development. These are the basic instructions:
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Tags: real+estate+web+2.0, ourbania, google, flickr
Despite the strength of the upper echelons of the property markets, concerns about the spreading effects of the US sub-prime mortgage crisis are having effects further and further afield.
Asian bond spreads widened in Hong Kong this week, with the popular iTRAXX Asia ex-Japan high-yield index widened by 20 basis points, in turn raising the costs of protecting investors against defaults or restructuring.
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The Bank of Thailand admitted it had intervened in the currency market late last week, after a sudden weakening of the Baht, caused by foreign investors shifting their money out of Asia, worried that Citigroup would be downgraded when the full effect of the US sub-prime mortgage crisis took hold.
One potential upside of the situation at the moment is to make Thailand’s property market a far more attractive investment opportunity. The baht reached 34 baht to a US dollar this week. Combined with political uncertainties over the upcoming election causing softening prices the Thai property market seems to be shifting into overdrive.
Clayton Wade, managing director of Premier International, a Thailand-based residential and commercial property consulting group, made some interesting comments in a recent interview with The Bangkok Post. “With the recent downturn in economic indicators and consumer confidence, many local investors have switched money from the stock market to a more secure sector - the Thai property market.”
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Tags: thailand+property, bangkok, thai+condos
Despite the many billionaires created by property investments in the US, the US domestic housing market is in a bad way right now – with more doom and gloom predicted, at least in the short term.
The latest Case-Schiller Index reports further drops in house prices, by as much as ten percent in some states. California and Florida are leading the price declines with prices in San Diego dropping by 8.3 % this year-to-date. House prices are at a six year low across the country and the average drop was 4.4%, with no end in sight.
“I think the housing market has got another year of very weak sales, falling construction and lower home prices. And all of that assumes that the economy holds together reasonably well and we don’t have a recession,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com. The Joint Economic Committee estimates there will be 1.3 million foreclosures from mid-2007 through 2009 in subprime mortgages, loans provided to borrowers with weak credit histories, which will wipe out an estimated $71 billion in housing wealth directly and another $32 billion indirectly by lowering the values of neighboring homes, according to the report by the JEC’s Democratic staff.
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Football legend, Sir Bobby Charlton, one of the most well-known figures in English and World football was in Dubai today, to officially launch the third season of Manchester United Soccer Schools as part of the Dubai Sports City project.
Details of the new program, which is expected to be the most successful to date, were announced at the launch event, which was attended by not only Sir Bobby, but also representatives of Dubai Sports City and presenting sponsor Milo. This is the third season of MUSS skills development sessions and is set to attract over 750 boys and girls from across the region, with over 60 nationalities creating a truly multi-cultural sporting environment.
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Tuesday, December 4th, 2007 
Posted by Overseas Property Mall in Buyers Beware, Property Industry News, UK Overseas Property Trends
