• Propertyfinder buys Hotproperty for GBP5.6 million [Global edge]
• Taiwan property set for boom [Forbes]
• Navigating the storm: Asia’s real estate [The Star]
• Global housing worries hit Ikea [Blogging Stocks]
• UK Commercial property shows biggest fall in activity since 2003 [Guardian]
• Buyer interest low, prices high in China [Asia Property Report]
• Property sales up in Shanghai [China Daily]
• Rising prices paralyse Middle Eastern construction industry [BI-ME]

Estate Agent vs Analyst

If anyone, either in the U.K or the U.S.A needed an incentive to look overseas for their next property investment, recent reports released in both counties should provide it.

Rightmove, an online U.K estate agent recently released a report that shows UK asking process have dropped for the third month in a row.

In the last month, the average asking price for a house in the UK dropped 0.8 per cent to £230,428, bringing the annual rate of increase down to 3.4 per cent – the lowest since December 2005.

Read the rest of this entry »

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SHANGHAI and Beijing office properties are on top of the world - and that’s official.

The two cities led the way with an average eight percent return on investment ratio among the world’s top 12 real estate markets last year, according to a definitive report by a respected international property adviser.

In its inaugural edition of Global Investment View, CB Richard Ellis also said investment in office buildings continued to surge, with Asia and Europe recording the most significant increases in activity.

In particular, Beijing attracted 29.8 billion yuan (US$3.8 billion) in office investment in 2006, as compared to 16.7 billion yuan in 2005.

Shanghai secured 22.6 billion yuan (US$2.8 billion), an increase of 3.2 percent from a year earlier.

A substantial rise in cross-border investment activity was also recorded, as competition among investors, yield compression, and a limited pool of desirable assets have led investors to broaden their geographic search for opportunities.

According to the report, Shanghai led the Asian market with nearly 6.4 billion yuan last year, more than twice the three billion yuan recorded in 2005. American investors were responsible for 2.5 billion yuan, up from two billion yuan a year earlier.

“The increasing volume of global office investment activity over the past five years reflects the abundant institutional and private-investor capital that has been allocated to real estate and the migration of this capital across borders in pursuit of opportunity,” Gregory S. Vorwaller, president of CBRE’s investment properties group, said in the report.

“Diversification across both geography and property types will continue to drive investment portfolio decisions around the world.”

Generally, China’s mainland real estate market, which includes residential, office, hotel, retail and industrial properties, continued to be in the global investment spotlight last year.

Market Office investment Return on volume in 2006 investment rate

Beijing                  US$3.7b      8%

Shanghai              US$2.8b      8%

Toronto                US$1.4b      6.5%

New York              US$23.3b     6.3%

Chicago                US$8.1b       6.3%

Los Angeles          US$8.3b       6%

Sydney                 US$1.8b       5.5%

Singapore             US$2.7b        4.9%

Hong Kong*          US$1.9b        4.5%

Madrid                  US$2.7b        4.25%

Paris                    US$21.2b       4%

London                US$27.6b       3.75%

*Hong Kong investment totals are for the 12-month period December 1, 2005 through November 30, 2006.

Source: Shanghai Daily

Source: Evening Times

Also read: Australian firm Stockland makes first move into Europe

• Foreign property investors purchase whole villages in Bulgaria [Sofia Echo]
• Goldman Sachs and Indian-based real estate company Unitech are close to jointly setting up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for investments in India’s real estate sector [Economic Times India]
• Vietnam: Real estate projects in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) numerous, but are having difficulty finding investors [VN Economy]
• Sofia is Europe’s Cheapest City for Luxury Apartment Buyers [Sofia News Agency]
• Japan Real Estate Shares Rise ASIA MARKETPLACE [Bloomberg]
• India: Citigroup Property plans US$100 mln luxury hotel in Bangalore [Antara News]
• Malaysian partners sought for green property projects [Business Times Malaysia]

On Friday the 19^th of January, overseaspropertymall.com & bulgarianpropertyblog.blogspot.com were both featured in an article on the International Herald Tribune titled “Real estate goes beyond the Internet listing“.

The article written by Nancy Beth Jackson talked about how emerging and new web technologies (Web 2.0) are rapidly reshaping the real estate industry worldwide. She discussed about the vast amount of value added information and interactivity that blogs, opinion polls, podcasts, videos & forums offer against traditional online property listings on portals that shook the property industry back in the 90s.

These new platforms in my opinion are definitely new channels in the internet marketing mix that were not exactly fully emergent two years ago when I started researching the industry. Today, any serious player in international property should have a blog, participate in industry podcasts, practice reputation management through interacting in forums and have videos online that constitute interviews, virtual tours and general information. There is no doubt we are living in an information dependent era where people want more and more information from a diverse range sources ranging from their mobile phones or off the iPods.

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DRYANOVO: British families are buying houses and settling down in the picturesque region of Dryanovo in central Bulgaria as local inhabitants escape abroad in search of work. At the foot of the Balkan mountains that give their name to this part of southeastern Europe, former army pilot Keith Davis and his wife Angela have made a traditional house in the village of Gostilitsa near Dryanovo their home. Under Bulgarian law, only foreign enterprises, as opposed to individuals, can buy land so the Davises founded a company called Outdoor Adventure and they hope to set up an adventure sports school and have horses for hire. “It is a beautiful country. We sought to live in a place that is more natural, more unspoiled, where people are not corrupted by Western values,” Angela said as, surrounded by her three dogs, she went about restoring faded pictures on an old chest.

The couple will have to wait to use the diving pool they had built however, as the old infrastructure more often than not fails to bring running water to their place. “When we have running water, we do not have electricity and vice versa,” Scottish gallery owner Joice McGlone added with a smile rather than a frown. She and her husband Peter believe they have found a home away from home in their house with a vast courtyard and a panoramic view high up in Gostilitsa. But the spot reserved for the McGlones’ pool is also waiting for better days and Peter has had to buy plastic containers to fetch water from a nearby spring for daily household use. Their Bulgarian neighbour, Desislava Dianova, is happy to be able to practice her English and make her young son learn the language. They are helping the McGlones renovate their house and keep an eye on the property while the Scottish couple is away.

“Foreigners bought more than 70 houses here, mostly the British, but also Italians and one Belgian who runs a biodiesel farm,” according to village administration official Diana Stefanova. A government report released Thursday showed that 1,152 British nationals applied for long-term stay permits in 2005, half as many as the year before. “Interest in buying property in Bulgaria dates back to two or three years ago as a result of more competitive prices than in Spain, Portugal and Croatia,” said Julian Georgiev, a co-owner of the Bulgarian-British company SimpliBulgaria, which is now building a complex of holiday houses outside the village of Gesha. The houses are built in a traditional Bulgarian Renaissance style but British owners can still feel at home with separate hot and cold water taps on sinks rather than the usual single tap.

“We are responding to a worldwide trend of growing interest in eco tourism. Investment project analyses in Europe show that prices for this type of tourism are two times higher than for traditional seaside vacations,” according to Georgiev. Some 200 workers are helping to build the complex and between 60 and 70 people will then work in it, which does not count for nothing in a region with 12 to 13 per cent unemployment. In the regional centre of Dryanovo, employment is suffering from lowered production capacity at the waggon manufacturing plant, formerly the town’s main employer.

“Many people have sought work abroad… but we are counting on tourism to reverse the trend,” Mayor Daniel Dankov said. “One out of ten inhabitants is in Greece, Spain, Italy or the United States,” according to Iliana, who also used to work in Greece as a caretaker for elderly people, but who has come back to care of her grandchildren. And for Vassil, a plumber who spends half the year working in Italy, especially in the vineyards, going abroad has made a great difference. “What I earn here is not enough to live on so I go with my wife and son, who has to skip school. In two years, the work abroad earned us enough to renovate our house and buy a car,” he said.

Source - AFP

This country has the world’s fastest-rising house prices, so move quickly to buy a slice of the action.

Stephen Barrett, a property investor, was surprised on his last property-hunting trip to Estonia. “I went to buy a town-centre apartment and came back with a 45-acre forest with bears and elk,” he says.

Barrett’s forest in Parnu, a beachside town of colourful wooden houses, is an hour and a half’s drive south-west of the capital, Tallinn, and cost £59,000. He has also invested in a £45,000 villa at Parnu’s Tahkuranna Beach and a £65,000 apartment in Tallinn, both through Churchill Oü.

“Once I get planning permission, I could sell the land for £100,000 profit. Or I could divide the land into 80 plots and sell them for £20,000 each, or develop it myself as a rural resort, which would be popular with holidaying Scandinavians,” he explains.

Estonia is enjoying an economic boom, with 9.2 per cent growth last year and 30 per 1cent property price rises over the past year. It has the fastest-rising property prices in the world, according to the estate agent Knight Frank’s global house-price index.

Tallinn, a burgeoning IT hub, is the focus of much of the investment. Once the new commercial and residential Twin Towers building goes up in the business district, apartment prices are expected to hit £5,000 per sq m.

Many people believe that Parnu will be the next Tallinn. “Tallinn’s market is very tight but Parnu is the place to be,” says Chris Tonkinson of Crichton Developments, which is selling apartments on a golf resort near a white-sand beach in Valgeranna, and in Audru, from £50,000.

Investors can buy shares in Crichton. “It’s for people who want to make money from new developments in Estonia without the worry of owning a property,” says Tonkinson. For each multiple of £7,500 up to £30,000, you get a 1.25 per cent share in the firm.

“I’m guaranteeing that investors will get their money back after one year and retain their percentage share in the development company,” Tonkinson explains. “Then you are looking at returns in excess of 250 per cent within three years. You can only sell your share once it’s built.”

Plots of land are also being snapped up in Parnu. “You have to be here to get in quickly,” says Stephen Barrett. Lee Williams, the MD of Churchill Oü in Parnu, reports that nearly all of his clients are British and most are after plots of land. He recently sold two hectares beside the river to a British buyer for £45,000 - its value should rise by 36 per cent a year.

“The land registry here has a sophisticated system that allows you to see aerial photos of the plot, so you know what you are buying,” says Williams. “The house-buying process is quick and transparent, and it’s so cheap to borrow money, with mortgage rates from 3.1 per cent, that most of our clients borrow up to 75 per cent. With prices starting low and rising fast, there is little to lose.”

Although Tallinn has seen impressive property price rises since it joined the EU in 2004, David Laity of Property in Estonia predicts another big lift before Estonia adopts the Euro, provisionally in 2008.

“Money is flooding into Tallinn, but given the old town is a world heritage site, property is still reasonable, with starting prices of around £50,000 for a small studio in the centre,” he says.

The snag, he adds, is that demand is so high that new apartments sell out as soon as they hit the market, mainly to Estonian buyers.

If you intend to rent out your apartment, being within a short walk of the old town is vital. Ilmarine is a new development in a prime position on the disused harbourside, which is being transformed into a cultural zone. The current phase, with studios from £31,000 for 31 sq m studios, has sold out, but the area is due to see more development. At Luha Street, a 10-minute walk to the old town, 34 sq m one-bedroom apartments start at £48,500.

“Estonia is seeing a boom without a big element of speculation,” says Laity. “In five years, it will be one of the richest countries in Europe.”

Source: The Independent

IRISH overseas buyers were accused yesterday of putting little or no thought into purchasing property abroad.

The claim was made after it emerged that Irish buyers were increasingly signing foreign-language documents without knowing what they mean, and buying apartments without legal advice.

A legal adviser said Irish investors were playing ‘Russian roulette’ when it comes to overseas property.

Most people at home would not consider buying without seeking the advice of a solicitor but they are doing it abroad, according to Catherine O’Sullivan of Overseas Property Law (OPL) in Dublin.

Problems

“We have already seen a number of cases where investors have signed documentation without taking any legal advice, and have subsequently run into problems.

“While some buyers bring their contract to their own solicitor, Irish solicitors cannot be expected to carry the required overseas local legal knowledge to enable them to properly assist Irish clients,” Ms O’Sullivan said.

An Irish solicitor may be able to give a broad overview of the contract, but they will not be able to do the necessary searches to ensure that the seller owns the property and is entitled to sell it.

OPL warned all SSIA account holders who are considering investing their money in overseas property to seek independent advice before they leap into bricks and mortar in foreign lands.

As property prices in Ireland soar on a daily basis, many Irish people are choosing to invest in property abroad in a bid to get on the property ladder.

But OPL said it fears that many people will not investigate the legal and tax system accurately of the country they have chosen, and may experience major pitfalls along the way.

Ms O’Sullivan added: “It is imperative if you are considering buying property abroad that you thoroughly investigate both the tax and legal implications of your purchase.

“The best way to do this is to enlist the help of an independent adviser who has knowledge of the area you are buying in.

“We have already seen overseas investment horror stories that could have been easily avoided, if the investors had done their homework properly before they purchased.

OPL said some investors have even been forced to undervalue the property when the final transfer deed is signed, simply to reduce stamp duty.

However, this practice can actually lead to a higher tax liability further down the line.

Overseas Property Law offer legal and tax services to Irish investors considering buying in the Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Romania, Italy, Turkey , USA, Dubai, UK and Poland.

Source: Unison.ie