Halifax real estate market 'unbelievably hot', realtor says

Halifax’s housing market is roaring ahead as low inventory and strong demand push up prices.

The average price of detached bungalows in the city increased 7.3 per cent to $285,833 over the second quarter of last year, according to a Royal LePage house price survey released Tuesday.

In addition, the average price for standard two-storey homes was up 5.1 per cent to $317,167, and average condominium prices increased 5.1 per cent to $205,500.

“The housing market is unbelievably hot,” Matt Honsberger, a real estate broker with Royal LePage Atlantic, said in an interview Tuesday.

He said some houses in Halifax’s core are receiving multiple offers, pushing up prices and in some cases setting off bidding wars.

However, outside the urban core, Clayton Park and some areas of Bedford, Honsberger said the housing market has been steady.

While the uptick in prices coincides with the blockbuster shipbuilding announcement last fall, the major factor shaping the housing market in Halifax is inventory, he said.

Inventory levels are down roughly 10 per cent year-over-year, which has put upward pressure on average home prices and reduced the average number of days on market, Honsberger said.

The inventory in shortage could stick around, at least in some segments of the housing market, according to the latest data on housing starts released by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. on Tuesday.

The federal housing agency recorded a decrease in new residential construction in Halifax last month compared to June 2011.

There were 157 housing starts recording in June compared to 202 last year.

“The decline in total starts in June is attributed to fewer multiple starts breaking ground,” said Matthew Gilmore, senior market analyst with the agency’s Atlantic business centre.

“In the single-detached segment, starts increased for the third consecutive month, climbing to 97 units from 92 last year.”

Although some observers expect a slowdown in housing sales due to a tightening of mortgage rules, Honsberger said these changes will likely have a minimal impact in Halifax.

“It will have some impact but not huge,” he said of changes that will see the maximum amortization shortened to 25 years from 30.

He added that the amount homeowners can borrow against their income has increased to 39 per cent from 32 per cent, which he expects will greatly offset the change in amortization length.

Honsberger also noted that low interest rates and strong employment levels continue to play a major role in Halifax’s market and will be a vital driving force for the remainder of the year.

(bbundale@herald.ca)

Source: http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/115703-halifax-real-estate-market-unbelievably-hot-realtor-says

Dubai real estate sector shows signs of recovery

Prices of apartments and villas have gone up by up to nine per cent and 16 per cent respectively here during the first half of this year, indicating that the real estate market is on the way to recovery after three years of decline.

According to a report by the property management firm Asteco, apartment rents have risen by up to 10 per cent and sales prices by 9 per cent in Dubai, while villa rents and sales prices increased by up to 13 and 16 per cent respectively during the first half of the year.

This is positive outlook for H2 especially for quality developments.

Quality residential developments in Dubai bounced back during Q2 2012 after a stable first quarter, with average rent increases of 6 per cent for apartments and 9 per cent for villas.

Sales prices recorded double-digit increases in three developments, with rises of 6-8 per cent elsewhere, according to the latest H1 2012 report from the leading UAE property management company.

"After three years of declining rates and limited sales activity, the real estate market is on the way to recovery, with established quality communities showing increases in values and higher transaction volumes," said Elaine Jones, CEO at Asteco.

Rental rates for apartments were relatively stable through Q1 with minor declines in low quality/ poorly managed buildings in certain areas. Towards the end of H1 2012 rates in established quality communities achieved average increases of 6 per cent.

"Tenants are relocating in search of value-for-money, one- and two-bedroom apartments as well as three- and four-bedroom villas are the preferred unit types. In terms of rates, quality well managed developments, will continue to set the pace," Jones said.

Leasing rates for villas followed a similar trend, stable throughout Q1 2012 with an average increase of 9 per cent through the latter part of Q2 2012.

"Looking ahead to the 2012 year end, sales prices will continue to rise for quality developments, especially villas. The number of owner-occupiers rose steadily in line with improved financed options offered by banks, which we expect to continue.

"Further demand will also be evident from overseas buyers escaping economic woes in the Eurozone and political instability in other parts of the region," said Elaine Jones.

It was a different picture for commercial space which, despite an increase in leasing enquiries in H1 2012 as the regional situation improved, creating renewed interest in Dubai as a hub for business, was hampered by oversupply and tenant-dictated contract terms.

Source: http://www.business-standard.com/generalnews/news/dubai-real-estate-sector-shows-signsrecovery/27220/

REAL ESTATE: Smart Riverside, smart home sales?

Riverside was selected as the Intelligent Community of 2012, besting 400 cities around the world in an annual competition to pick the city with the best practices involving infrastructure for the digital age.

It was the first time in the history of the Intelligent Community Forum in which an American city has been picked by the New York-based think-tank for its multisector approach to channel high-tech growth into a community.

How will this smart-designation bode for the real estate market in Riverside? “I most definitely would use that as a selling point,” said Gabriella Hanson, a real estate agent with Keller Williams Realty in Riverside. “It’s a city I’d want to live in.”

The city’s fiber network, connecting its operations to University Research Park, a free WiFi network through 1,600 access points, College 311, and a computer and software program for families got high marks from the forum, which set up the competition to give communities incentives to close the digital divide.

“It helps us, as real estate professionals, to market the city,” said Doug Shepherd, immediate past president of the Inland Valleys Association of Realtors and owner of Shepherd Realty Group in Riverside. “We compete against surrounding communities, and we want to put forth Riverside for what it is, a premiere city in the region.”

“The website, universities and SmartRiverside help us, as a business, connect with the customer,” Shepherd said. “It helps sell the city as a place to be.”

New Management Team for Springboard Subsidiary

Springboard Nonprofit Consumer Credit Management, a Riverside-based financial counseling agency, last week announced a new subsidiary, Springboard Housing, to acquire, own and manage rental properties.

Springboard Housing set up a $25 million investment vehicle to acquire the multifamily housing properties in five states, as a move aimed at preparing for a predicted shortage in rental property by a growing number of people who have lost their homes to short-sale or foreclosure.

On Tuesday, Springboard added another layer to the rental housing template. It announced the creation of Springboard Management, to operate a range of residential and social service needs for tenants of the communities.

Springboard tapped Chris Stevens as president and Lyle Lansdell as executive vice president.

Stocks Rise for

Positive first-quarter profit reports by the struggling new home market industry helped boost trading activity on Wall Street last week.

Kicking off some of the positive gains was K. Hovnanian, which reported its strongest April home sales month per community that the company has seen since 2006, outside of the September 2007 Deal of the Century event.

Homebuilding stocks jumped mid-week and stayed in positive country as of Friday and Monday. But pundits warn against a rush to judgment that the industry is out of the woods.

Analysts are keeping an eye on the latest consumer confidence reports, the fate of Spanish banks and a new report that West Coast residents have been noting since the recession began: Income levels are lower than they were one year ago.

Reach Debra Gruszecki at dgruszecki@pe.com or 951-368-9425

Debra Gruszecki

Residential Real Estate

Source: http://www.pe.com/business/business-columns/commercial-real-estate-headlines/20120612-real-estate-smart-riverside-smart-home-sales.ece

Real Estate competition heats up

If you think the perfect way to kick off summer is with a move to Manhattan, you might want to reconsider your plans.

For apartment hunters looking for a new place in the city, this spring and summer are set to be one of the biggest real estate rat races in recent memory, according to experts. Coming off an unusually mild winter that saw a higher flurry of activity than usual, rental prices have skyrocketed. They were 6.5% higher in February than the year before, according to real estate firm MNS. So now the warmer months - the real estate market's busiest time of the year - will have fewer apartments up for grabs and more renters fighting over slim pickings.

Now or never

Lauren Weitz thought that she had the perfect moving plan. Coming from Oceanside, Long Island, she would take the first few months of this year to look around and see what's out there. By April, she would have seen plenty of places and picked the best one, and by May, she'd be ready for a summer move to the city.

So her head was spinning when she was suddenly forced to whittle down what she expected to be a months long process into two weeks. She put down a deposit on a West 98th Street pad that she viewed that same day and made the move in the middle of March - two months sooner than she expected. It wasn't necessarily because this place was her dream home and she was sold the second she saw it. It was because if she had waited until May like she planned, the competition for apartments in Manhattan would be so fierce that her chances of scoring a place at all could have been dashed.

As her broker told her: In this market, it's either now or never.

A tight squeeze

Realty firm Citi Habitats projects that a total of only 2,230 new apartments will hit the Manhattan market in 2012 - the lowest figure since the company began tracking it in 2005. In a city of 8.2 million, that serves less than 0.1% of the population.

A report by StreetEasy.com out this week showed that asking prices for new apartments for sale in the city rose 12.4% this past year to an average of $1.46 million. The demand for housing is at a fever pitch. Meanwhile, inventory in the buying market dropped nearly 8%, according to the StreetEasy report.

When Weitz was looking earlier this year, she felt the pinch.

"One [apartment] I liked was gone before I even had a chance to see it," said Weitz, 31. "I thought I would have a couple leisurely months to look around." "Those days are pretty much gone," said Gary Malin, president of Citi Habitats. Vacancy rates in the city are the lowest they've been in years - less than 1%, he noted. "An apartment literally could be gone while you're [viewing the listing online]," Malin said. "The market moves so fast."

Be prepared

One thing he said renters should do if they're dying for a Manhattan home is adjust their expectations. If they can be flexible on what they're willing to pay or when they're willing to move in, it will widen their options.

Morgan Turkewitz, an agent at Citi Habitats who helped Weitz score her Upper West Side pad, has seen cases where clients come to apartment viewings at 11 a.m., and when they call at 2 p.m., the apartment has already been scooped up.

"The scary thing is it gets even tighter over the summer," Turkewitz said. So she tells her clients to come prepared with the paperwork ready to sign a lease on the spot if they find an apartment they like. "The one thing they can control is the paperwork."

Source: http://www.amny.com/urbanite-1.812039/real-estate-competition-heats-up-1.3669198 "You can't wait on the market," she added. "It's New York - thousands of people are looking for apartments."

Foreign real estate investors silently prepare for a new landing in Vietnam

VietNamNet Bridge – The foreign direct investment (FDI) capital flow into the real estate sector has been slowing down recently. However, experts believe that this is just a necessary period of rest before the foreign investors prepare for a new landing in Vietnam.

Analysts have predicted a new wave of FDI capital flow into the real estate sector which would be seen in the next few months. They say that the Vietnamese real estate sector now shows all favorable conditions for foreign investors to earn money.

A lot of real estate projects have been delayed due to the lack of capital, caused by the tightened monetary policies. Therefore, the developers of the projects are trying to transfer the projects, which is really a golden opportunity for foreign investors to buy back the projects at low prices.

Meanwhile, in the first two months of the year, Vietnam received only one FDI project in the real estate sector with the registered capital of 100,000 dollars – a modest sum. The figure represents a sharp fall from the FDI capital in the golden age of 2008, when the registered FDI capital in the sector reached 23 billion dollars.

Phan Huu Thang, Director of the Foreign Investment Research Institute, a unit of the Hanoi National University, has noted that the lack of capital for project implementation has been badly affecting not only domestic, but foreign investors in Vietnam as well.

“The worsening real estate market has forced foreign investors to interrupt the investment or lengthen the implementation period, while waiting for their opportunities,” Thang said.

The decline in the FDI capital flow into the real estate sector has been attributed to the fact that foreign investors have to deal with their own problems caused by the global economic crisis. The investors do not have enough money to implement a lot of projects at the same time.

Besides, as the Vietnamese real estate market is facing many problems, including the low liquidity, few transactions and the credit tightening policy, foreign investors need a time of rest to think about what they should do in the next steps. Meanwhile, the oversupply has been warned for the high end apartments and resorts – the market segment in which foreign investors have advantages.

However, analysts believe that foreign investors do not intend to abandon the plan to invest in Vietnam. They are still waiting for the opportunities to penetrate the market which they believe have great potentials.

The US Las Vegas Sands has expressed its willing to pour billions of dollars to the resorts in Hanoi and HCM City. Most recently, Thai Trinity Company has opened a 30 million dollar fund which would disburse for the low cost investment projects in Vietnam.

Oliver Smith, Investment Director of Trinity, has noted that the opportunities are awaiting foreign investors at this moment, when the market is quiet and many investment funds plan to quit the market.

He said that a lot of investment funds, which are holding big volumes of properties, now want to sell the assets when they are about to close the funds as scheduled.

Marc Townsend, General Director of CBRE Vietnam, also thinks that the FDI capital flow into the real estate sector would increase rapidly in the time to come, because 2012 is believed to be the end to the recession period.

One of the signals showing that the FDI capital would return is that the real estate market recently has witnessed a series of the merger and acquisition deals.

CBRE has predicted that the FDI capital into the real estate sector in 2012 would be triple that of 2011, with the presence of 20 foreign investors.

Source: TBKTSG

Real estate's top end doing it tough

Update If you thought selling your ordinary home in an average suburb last year was hard, spare a thought (or not) for your wealthy neighbour.

Economic woes in 2011 hammered million-dollar-plus suburbs across Australia, cutting the number of suburbs in that top-tier price range by about one in seven, or 14 per cent.

Australia's most costly suburbsSydney's top 10 suburbsMelbourne's top 10 suburbs

Property analysts RP Data recorded 225 suburbs with median property values in excess of $1 million in 2010. By the end of 2011, after a year of falling property prices, that figure had shrunk to 194.

Last year, seven of the top 10 most expensive suburbs in Australia (Point Piper, Tamarama and Bellevue Hill among them) were in Sydney, only two were in Melbourne (Deepdene and Toorak) and one was in mining boomtown Perth (Dalkeith).

A significant factor affecting super-expensive suburbs last year was a drop in the number of luxury homes sold - pushing them off the list of the nation's priciest.

Some suburbs like Peppermint Grove in Perth that normally feature on any million-plus list, dropped off because they recorded fewer than 10 sales in the year.

Squeezed out

Low sale numbers can also affect the reliability of median results because of extreme highs or lows at either end of the price bracket.

In Melbourne, Alphington, St Kilda East and South Melbourne were squeezed out of the million-dollar suburb bracket last year, according to RP Data.

Sydney’s Dawes Point and Chiswick also dropped off.

Point Piper recorded a median house price of $5.21 million from just 14 sales, Tamarama's $4,337,500 median was from similar volumes and Deepdene’s $2,495,000 median result was from just 15 sales.

The paucity of sales may explain why the tiny enclave of Deepdene knocked Melbourne's blue-blood Toorak off its most expensive suburb perch for the first time.

Real estate sale volumes across Australia last year were at their lowest levels since 1996, RP Data analyst Cameron Kusher said.

Over a ten-year period, the number of suburbs with a median house or unit price of $1 million or more increased from 43 nationally to a peak of 225 neighbourhoods in 2010.

Last year's decline was only the second time in a decade that the number of million-dollar suburbs fell.

In 2008, during the depths of the global financial crisis, the tally of rich suburbs eased back by just three - underscoring how much the market came off the boil last year.

A widely-known combination of factors including sliding prices, debt-shy households and a slowing jobs market were behind last year’s decline.

‘‘It’s concentrated more in top-tier suburbs because since the financial crisis people aren’t getting the same sort of bonuses in the banking and finance sector as they used to before 2008,’’ Mr Kusher said.

‘‘All the stats we have show the top end is much weaker than other areas of the market,’’ he said.

Source: http://www.wellingtontimes.com.au/news/national/national/general/real-estates-top-end-doing-it-tough/2491065.aspx?storypage=0

Real Estate Prices Deal A Double Blow To Small Businesses

Randy Truckenbrodt has just as many headaches as he does properties. The co-owner of Randall Industries, an Elmhurst, Ill.-based company that rents and sells construction equipment, has spent more than 20 years acquiring personal, investment and business real estate, including a home in Indian Head Park, Ill., an investment property in New Buffalo, Mich., two small farms in Lockport, Ill., and three business properties in Florida.

This growing empire has become not an asset but a drag on his business as many of these properties are now underwater, with some vacant and others tied up in major disputes with banks. Like many small-business owners, Truckenbrodt has used his properties to leverage his business, and since his assets have lost value, he's unable to rent them out to raise money for his business. "What affects me personally affects the company," Truckenbrodt said.

In recent years his company's employee count has dropped from 195 to about 115. The proceeds from his Florida business property rentals have declined from $15 million in revenue four years ago to $3.5 million.

Entrepreneurs like Truckenbrodt who own small businesses and real estate may be suffering from a one-two punch following the Great Recession, with declines in both their companies' income and their real estate's value. Many of these small-business owners might experience financial difficulty until the real estate market recovers.

And this involves a large majority of entrepreneurs. About 92 percent of small-business owners own some form of real estate, according to a study last month by the National Federation of Independent Business. About 89 percent of small-business owners own a home, while more than 20 percent own their place of business and 35 percent own investment properties, according to William J. Dennis, a senior research fellow at the federation and author of the report.

"What [entrepreneurs] have frequently done in the past is either mortgaged the proceeds and put that back into the business or collateralized it for business purposes," Dennis said. "When the housing market fell apart ... they took a huge nosedive. They lose an enormous amount of value, which means not only can't they borrow on it, but there's also a wealth effect, in that you tend not to spend when you don't think you have anything to back it up."

Truckenbrodt is feeling the pain. "Instead of investing in my business, I'm doing everything I can to pay debts down," he said. "I used to leverage [these properties] for business, and now I'm just trying to get out of the grasp of these banks."

Their grip has tightened as Truckenbrodt has tried to get a new mortgage on his home and keep up with his existing property loans through the recession. Though he previously owned his home outright, he wanted to take out a new mortgage but was turned down as a result of his company's losses.

"They almost do a strip search to get a loan approved on a mortgage," Truckenbrodt said. "It's unbelievable the information they're asking when you think just a few short years ago, people were walking in off the streets with virtually no verification of employment. It's gone totally in the other direction."

And the decline in real estate value and demand pose a huge burden. Truckenbrodt's commercial buildings were assessed at half the amount he bought them for four years ago. "We have an empty building," he said. "There are empty buildings everywhere."

Perhaps the most frustrating situation Truckenbrodt has encountered was when a bank wanted to charge him $85,000 in fees for a fairly standard loan covenant waiver and, when he balked, said it would raise the interest rate to 13 percent on his $5.5 million loan instead.

Though the bank eventually backed down, Truckenbrodt claims that being a business owner who meets his financial obligations in a punishing real estate market is a challenge. "The banks are coming in and whacking anyone who can pay their bills. If you can show any hint of staying power, they're going to come after you, raise your rates, try to hit you with penalties," he said.

"Banks have seen a lot of pressure from the regulators to address underperforming or underwater loans," said Scott Talbott, senior vice president of government affairs for the Financial Services Roundtable, a trade association representing 100 of the largest financial services firms. That pressure from regulators is part of the reason why banks are toughening their standards, he said.

"The reality is real estate, whether it's your home -- or the land on which your business is built -- has declined, and this decrease in assets makes it harder to get access to credit," Talbott said. "Financial services firms are working harder to help homeowners and business owners deal with the decrease in real estate, primarily through loan modifications."

When it comes to helping small businesses recover fully, politicians and bankers need to look at broader economic issues raised by the recession, said Dennis of the National Federation of Independent Business. "This is all tied together, and any single-minded approach really misses the point."

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/13/real-estate-prices-small-businesses-_n_1291867.html

Poly Real Estate home sales up 46% in Feb

BEIJING -- Poly Real Estate Group, China's second largest property developer by market value, said on March 11 that its home sales rose 46.29 percent year-on-year to 3.62 billion yuan ($574.6 million) in February.

Transaction area surged 69.53 percent from one year earlier to 377,900 square meters last month, the developer said in a statement filed to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

However, weighed down by the government's tightening measures, the group's home sales still slid 30.73 percent year-on-year during the first two months of 2012, while sold floor space slumped 29.84 percent.

The government has imposed a raft of measures since 2010 to curb the excessive growth in home prices, including higher down payments, higher loan rates, a ban on third-home purchases, property-tax trials and the construction of low-income housing.

Prices have seen slower growth as a result of the cooling efforts. In January, home prices in 70 major Chinese cities monitored by the National Bureau of Statistics all saw prices stabilize.

Premier Wen Jiabao said last week that China will continue to regulate the real estate market to bring property prices to a reasonable level.

In a separate statement, the developer said it obtained two plots of land in Xi'an, the capital city of North China's Shaanxi province, last month at a cost of 631 million yuan.

Source: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2012-03/12/content_14812117.htm

Hackensack Real Estate Group Gives Back on the Red Carpet

On Thursday, February 23rd Alexander Anderson Real Estate Group hosted its first annual Red Carpet Open House Event to benefit the Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital at Hackensack University Medical Center.

With pending homes sales at a 2 year high (according to the National Association of Realtors) Eric Anderson and Corrado Belgiovine owners of Alexander Anderson Real Estate Group decided to celebrate the recovering economy by giving back to the Hackensack community. This fundraiser is unique – Alexander Anderson – newly headquartered in Hackensack – is donating a 10% of all profits from both residential and commercial real estate listings they receive in March, April and May to the Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital at Hackensack University Medical Center. The Red Carpet Open House Event was the kickoff to this very special 3 month long fundraiser.

“We are seeing a spike in both buyer and seller confidence. And we want the success of our industry to contribute to the success of our overall community. So this spring we are celebrating the recovery of the real estate market by sharing the good fortune with the Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital.” Said Eric Anderson, CEO of Alexander Anderson as he joined Hackensack Mayor Jorge E. Meneses for the ceremonial ribbon cutting of their new headquarters at 14 Bergen Street.

The most distinguished names in Bergen County gathered at the new Alexander Anderson headquarterd in the historical Salvation Army building. In attendance were over 200 Bergen County political and business notables including: Hackensack Mayor Jorge E. Meneses, Hackensack City Council – John. P. Labrosse, Marlin G. Townes, Karen K. Sasso, Teaneck Mayor Mohammed Hameeduddin, Freeholder Candidate Tracy Zur, City Attorney Joseph Zisa, City Manager Steve Lolacono, Chamber of Commerce Members Darlene Damstrom, Donald Pearlman & Corethia Oates, Chairman Lou Stellato of the Democratic Committee of Bergen County and other local notables – Frank Pratt of Sanzari Enterprises, Dan & Laura Kirsch, and Albert Dib, Executive Director of the Upper Main Alliance.

Guests dined on authentic Greek fare provided by Greek Island Grill owner Gina Tarkazikis and had the red carpet treatment with “paparazzi” pictures taken by Sameh Abdallah owner of Bright Lights Studios. Event logistics were donated by Noelle Frieson of Prosperiti Partners.

Source: http://www.rew-online.com/2012/03/07/hackensack-real-estate-group-gives-back-on-the-red-carpet/

Property prices reach new high

Home sellers may want more, but buyers are not keen to pay.

That is the trend revealed by Realestate.co.nz, a property listings website, which said that while the average asking price for houses on the market rose 8.8 per cent to a new high last month, sale prices went up at a much more modest rate.

Realestate.co.nz reported that asking prices were rising nationally, with the number of new listings up 14 per cent from January, seasonally adjusted.

"The test will come as to whether these price expectations result in higher selling prices or if the level of buyer demand is prepared to meet these expectations," said chief executive Alastair Helm.

ANZ National Bank chief economist Cameron Bagrie said the New Zealand property market was "going nowhere" this year.

According to Real Estate Institute data, the average sale price for residential properties nationwide was flat in January from a month earlier, and in December the average number of houses sold dropped 3.4 per cent.

"When prices start to pick up people start to look at relisting with new prices and naturally they like to get as much as they can.

"With more stock on the market buyers will be able to pick and choose a little bit, so I think there is going to be a little bit more buyer- seller tension."

Mr Bagrie said for the rest of this year the property market would experience "mini-cycles", with prices lifting for three months then dipping or staying flat for the next three.

ASB economist Jane Turner said although there was a 10 per cent lift in new listings of houses last month as the market started to respond to tight conditions in some areas, the level of new listings was still relatively low.

"Overall, the housing market remains tight, particularly in Auckland. We continue to expect house prices to rise over 2012, reflecting these supply shortages."

Nationally, asking prices showed significant variations. Auckland asking prices last month rose 2.6 per cent from January to $554,094; Wellington prices were up 1.2 per cent to $450,232 on average, and Canterbury homeowners asked for 1 per cent more at $376,733.

"Nationally, the New Zealand property market is pretty splintered in terms of what's going on: there are massive regional divergences," Mr Bagrie said.

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/business/residential-property/6506565/Property-prices-reach-new-high

Property listings surge, record prices - report

The New Zealand property market is finally responding to the ongoing demand for homes, with a surge of new listings arriving on the market in February, along with a new record high for asking prices, says Realestate.co.nz.

Data released today in the NZ Property Report - a monthly report of housing market activity compiled by Realestate.co.nz - showed the seasonally adjusted national average asking price for new properties hit $426,575 in February, which 3% up on the same time last year, This is the highest asking price ever recorded in the five years since Realestate.co.nz started tracking the market data.

The report also showed 13,459 new listings of property for sale came on to the market in February representing a 58% rise from the previous month, and an 18% increase on the number of new listings at the same time last year. On a seasonally adjusted basis, listings are up 14% from January 2012.

Alistair Helm, CEO of Realestate.co.nz, says that the concurrent rise in new listings and asking prices indicated sellers were finally responding to the ongoing high demand for property, as the market has continued to lean in their favour.

"Since the demand for property has not slowed, it's almost surprising that we have not seen the increase in asking price until now. However, with sales continuing to remain strong and inventory falling yet again in February to 36 weeks, sellers are clearly raising their expectations."

Helm says that record high asking prices were seen in Canterbury and the Central North Island, while the rest of the country remained fairly stable, both for asking price and inventory.

"We are seeing the market find some level ground in many regions, as they edge closer to the long term average of 41 weeks of inventory. This suggested there is a better balance returning to the market in some areas. However, shortages are persisting in the major cities of Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch."

Helm says that these pockets of shortages will most likely continue to prompt more sellers to list in the coming months, while the market clearly remains in their favour.

Realestate.co.nz is the country's most comprehensive property listing website profiling listings of licensed real estate agents with more than 110,000 real estate listings covering residential, commercial, business and farms for sale.

The latest issue of the NZ Property Report, covering February 2012, plus more analysis of the property market can be found on www.unconditional.co.nz, the news and information website for New Zealand real estate.

Source: http://www.voxy.co.nz/business/property-listings-surge-record-prices-report/5/116312

Are Sellers Softening Up?

With the start of the home buying season just around the corner, years of low prices and dashed hopes for the long awaited housing recovery may be changing the way sellers price and prep their properties.

More than half (51 percent) of 600 agents in a recent Coldwell Banker survey reported that sellers are more willing to price their homes competitively than this time last year and 45 percent said sellers are more willing to change the appearance of their homes to entice buyers than they were one year ago.

"Within the past year, sellers were more willing to price their homes competitively and took my advice to make their home inviting and appealing to a broad cross-section of potential buyers." said Jessica Edwards, Coldwell Banker Real Estate Consumer Specialist.

Last year, by contrast, many sellers refused to budge on their prices. One reason was the high percentage, some 22 percent of home owners with a mortgage, who owe more thantheir home is currently worth are not in a position to negotiate. Also, some sellers were willing to wait in hopes of getting a higher price.

A survey last November by Move, Inc. found that time is running out on homeowners delaying selling their home because of low prices. The survey found that the number of homeowners who delayed (17.5 percent) has not grown during this time of protracted low prices but has actually declined slightly since March 2010, suggesting the pending supply of homes is showing signs of stabilizing.

The Move survey found that more homeowners ages 35 to 49 (22 percent) and those making $40,000-49,000 a year (21 percent) compared to other respondents said they've delayed selling their home in the past year. This may indicate growing families in need of more space may be having a difficult time moving up as the result of today's market conditions.

After years of low prices, more than half of all homeowners (52.2 percent) said they would be motivated to place their homes on the market by price increases in their neighborhoods. A 5 percent increase in home prices would motivate 11.7 percent owners to sell their homes. Price increases of 15 percent or less would motivate more than one quarter (26.6 percent) to put their homes on the market. Only 44.6 percent of owners said that they would not sell their home even if prices rose over 20 percent in their neighborhood.

A factor currently working in sellers' favor is a dramatically lower number of homes for sale, which may change with spring time. The national for-sale inventory dropped by 6.59 percent in January, the eighth consecutive month of decline. The total number of listings on Realtor.com is now 23.20 percent below the levels observed in January 2011.

Source: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Real-Estate/2012/02/21/Are-Sellers-Softening-Up/2131329852981/

Foreign real estate firms exiting capital

BEIJING - An increasing number of foreign real estate companies left Beijing last year, an occurrence that industry analysts said will not have large consequences for China's property market.

The Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce said 217 foreign property enterprises exited the city in 2011. And only 129 foreign real estate companies were established in 2011, down 55.82 percent from 2010.

Foreign firms' numbers increased in the real estate business much more slowly than in other industries. More than 2,900 foreign companies were established in 2011, down 7.12 percent from the year before, the bureau said.

"The presence of few tradable assets in Beijing, tightened credit policies and greater obstacles to bringing in money are the main reasons why foreign capital is leaving the city's real estate market," said Carlby Xie, head of research at the real estate consultancy Colliers International (Beijing).

The Chinese government adopted a slew of measures last year to cool down the sizzling property market, narrowing the supply of loans to property developers and individual buyers, restricting the number of homes a family can buy and insisting that higher downpayments be made on home purchases.

"But just because foreign real estate companies are leaving Beijing, that doesn't mean they are leaving the country," Xie said. "And since foreign investors had a small share of the market, their leaving is not likely to have great consequences."

In Beijing, about 10 en bloc sales transactions were concluded and disclosed in 2011. Foreign firms had little part in them, and domestic investors - State-owned enterprises, financial institutions and private developers - continued to dominate the market, according to a recent report by Colliers International.

Frank Marriott, senior director of Savills' Real Estate Capital (Asia Pacific), had similar thoughts.

"Though the office markets in Beijing and Shanghai are still the favorites for international institutional investors, especially core real estate funds that prefer relatively lower risks, there are few investment opportunities for international funds in these two office markets as the supply is limited and the competition is fierce," Marriott said.

According to Marriott, international funds are looking at investing in residential property and at opportunities in second-tier cities.

"Some international funds did sell their projects in China, but the major reason for that was that their investment period had come due, rather than any pessimism about the country's real estate sector," said Chris Brooke, CEO of CB Richard Ellis Asia, part of the CB Richard Ellis Group Inc.

"International investors still have a strong interest in the Chinese property market," Brooke added.

Source: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2012-02/17/content_14628487.htm

Real estate: Economic impact in 2011, expectations for 2012

Nigeria’s economy slowed down marginally in 2011 with real GDP falling to 7.4% in the third quarter of the year compared to 7.7% in the corresponding quarter of 2010. Inflation was unsteady throughout the year – 12% in February, up to 13% in May, and by November at 10.5%. Foreign Direct Investment inflows into the country fell from $8.65 billion in 2009 to $6.09 billion by the end of 2011.

Alitheia Capital Limited, an impact investment firm based in Lagos, noted in a report that by end Q2, real estate transactions and construction borrowing picked up slightly. Sector growth fell (by 0.2%) compared with the corresponding period in 2010. Its contribution to real GDP however increased from 1.62% in the third quarter of 2010 to 1.67% in 2011 arising from increased volume of activities at the low end of the residential market.

The over-supply of the high-end residential housing continued into 2011 as several projects which had stalled due to the economic crisis were completed. It is reported that more than 300 additional residential apartments were delivered in Ikoyi between 2010 and 2011.

This further helped to soften rental prices in 2011, with rates falling by between 10% and 15%. Real estate valuers report that in high-end residential areas of the city such as Banana Island, Ikoyi and Victoria Island, land and property values were stable throughout the year. However, several transactions were consummated at discounts ranging from 10% to 15%.

In emerging middle income neighbourhoods on the city’s mainland, land values increased by up to 30% and in the relatively new gated communities along the Lekki corridor, property prices appreciated by between 20% and 40% (rental rates) and up to 40% on sale values.

There is no information to support the assumption that insecurity issues in the country affected the real estate sector, however, it is noted that a number of large scale projects in partnership with international developers/investors failed to take off in 2011.

Other factors which contributed to inactivity in the sector include a diminished effective demand for housing, insufficient resources available to developers and other operators in the sector, including the lack of debt funding which continued throughout 2011.

Although the construction of large infrastructure projects under PPP arrangements in cities such as Lagos continued in 2011, many government backed programs were adversely affected and many projects have been suspended or had their terms and tenure altered in recognition of the new economic realities.

Research conducted by Alitheia Capital revealed that there are a few events which have taken place that will have an impact on the real estate sector in Nigeria this year. Asset Management Cooperation of Nigeria (AMCON) commenced the purchase of banks assets in 2011 in the process acquiring a real estate portfolio said to be valued at N500 billion.

While it is not clear how AMCON intends to deal with this portfolio, it appears to be working toward the creation of the largest property development/management company. The company recently engaged 70 professional valuers to determine the appropriate value of assets of borrowers transferred to it.

Increasing tariffs and taxes. Lagos State has introduced a tax on rent collected, electricity tariffs have risen by 50%, and more roads are expected to be tolled. The partial removal of the subsidy on fuel and the attendant increase in the cost of goods and services will impact the cost of construction – material and labour.

Increasing PPP activity – as more governments recognise the benefit of private sector involvement in key projects, bringing to bear better implementation discipline, and projects are successfully delivered under such arrangements, we can expect to see significant injection of private funds in government projects.

Housing micro-finance – the emergence of housing products in the micro financial services sector is set to make available relatively small amounts of money to the underserved specifically for home improvement and extensions.

It is expected that as this product develops, larger loans will become available for affordable housing developments in conjunction with NGOs and other institutions that currently focus on this sector but are hampered by a lack of funding.

Further consolidation of banks is expected to go on. It is hoped that with bigger stronger institutions, lending will resume to the real and private sector, including real estate.

Effective mortgage structure – the Federal Government (FG) targets for the sector to contribute 15% to GDP as part of its Vision 2020 agenda as against current contribution of 1.8% It also promises to recapitalise the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) to the tune of N250 million, which should help create a foundation for FMBN to access capital market in the future for subsequent fund raising without having to rely on the FG for funds.

Other factors envisaged to impact the real estate market in 2012 are related to government’s intention to ban the importation of cement (a major component of any construction project) by the end of Q1 in 2012. Current cement consumption is about 17million tonnes per annum, 50% of this requirement is delivered by Dangote Cement.

Based on expansion plans put in place in 2011, it is expected that Nigeria will become a net exporter of cement. However, this may not result in a reduction in cost (a 50kg bag of cement costs 120% more than in South Africa, Gambia or Senegal) as the inefficiencies in the economy including transportation and distribution logistics continue to plague the country. In practical terms, a March date may not be realistic and could result in the price of cement skyrocketing.

Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/02/real-estate-economic-impact-in-2011-expectations-for-2012/

Real estate struggles are tough on churches

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — In today's real estate market, selling a church building may require supernatural power.

Case in point: Some St. Joseph churches have been listed for sale for quite some time, including the building at 423 Hyde Park Ave. that formerly housed Hyde Park Presbyterian Church.

"It's a tough market for churches," notes Jerry Arnold, a real estate agent with Prudential Summers in St. Joseph, which has a listing for the church.

He adds that a number of factors contribute to this challenge, including the increased financial limitations of congregations that might otherwise be prospective buyers. "Most of them, contributions are down because people are out of work, and if part of the congregation is out of work, you're not going to be looking for a new church building."

Thus, after close to a year on the market (having been listed after its former congregation dwindled to just a few members and disbanded), the Hyde Park building has seen a significant drop in its listing price, from $150,000 to $125,000. This is an especially modest figure given that it likely cost $500,000 to build, Mr. Arnold notes.

And it isn't alone in its long-standing for-sale status. Also listed with Prudential is the collection of buildings at 3822 Cook Road that formerly belonged to The Pentecostals of St. Joseph, a congregation that moved to a new location last fall. The Rev. David Billingsley, the church's pastor, says one factor contributing to members' decision to move was a lack of success selling the buildings several years ago, which resulted in them ceding the facilities to their finance company and proceeding to lease them from the company for between $5,000 and $6,000 per month.

Moving to its current location at 1202 Felix St., in addition to being a decision aligned with their mission to reach the Downtown area, also freed The Pentecostals of that significant monthly expense. It purchased its new building outright with an understanding that any growth in membership may require buying again in a couple of years — although rather than attempting to sell their current facility, the church likely will continue to use it for something.

The Rev. Billingsley isn't surprised that his church's previous buildings, currently priced at $845,000, are still on the market.

"I think it's a real tough market right now if you're looking at something over a half million," he says. "Most congregations that can afford that already have buildings or can build their own."

And he anticipates the facility struggles facing churches won't go away anytime soon, especially for some of his fellow Downtown churches with small congregations and large buildings — and the large energy bills and upkeep costs that come with them.

"My heart goes out to them, because their congregations are dwindling, but their expenses are increasing," the Rev. Billingsley adds. "Eventually, we may see more (buildings) on the market."

Source: http://www.canadianbusiness.com/article/69113--real-estate-struggles-are-tough-on-churches

REAL ESTATE: December Inland home sales, prices drop

Buyer reluctance and tight lending standards last month continued to suppress home sales and prices in Inland Southern California, with investors and cash buyers playing an extraordinarily important role.

Home sales rose from November to December, following a normal seasonal trend. But the 3,584 homes sold in Riverside County last month was 3 percent less than in December 2010, and the median price of $194,000 — where half sold for more and half for less — also showed a 3 percent year-to-year drop.

San Bernardino County saw the biggest percent sales decline in the six-county Southern California region, a year-to-year drop of 7.2 percent to 2,418 sales in December. The median price of homes sold last month in San Bernardino County was $150,000, or 1.3 percent lower than a year earlier.

“Last year ended much the way it began, with pitifully low new-home sales, record investor activity, tight credit and lots of potential buyers and sellers just sitting tight,” said John Walsh, president of DataQuick, which on Tuesday released the December housing market figures for Southern California.

New home sales in Riverside and San Bernardino counties fell to record lows for a December, with 328 sales in Riverside County, which was almost 16 percent fewer than a year earlier, and 99 sales in San Bernardino County, down nearly 14 percent from December 2010.

Bob Yoder, Southern California division president of Shea Homes, said he has watched the drop in Inland home sales matched by a slowdown in the launching of new projects. Yoder said Shea is not planning any new communities in the Inland Empire in 2012 or 2013. For now, Shea is focusing on Orange County because that’s where job growth is occurring more quickly, he said.

The biggest barrier to stronger home sales is the anemic pace of job growth, said Chapman University economist Esmael Adibi. “Everything goes back to job creation,” he said. “Once people find jobs then household formation occurs. A kid living with parents who finds a job then needs a rental or will buy a home.”

Last month absentee buyers mostly investors but also buyers of vacation homes — accounted for a record 32.9 percent of home sales in Riverside County and a near record 34.4% of home sales in San Bernardino County. Vigorous investment activity explains in large part the concentration of sales in lower priced homes and the prevalence of all-cash purchases, analysts said.

Last month 34.9 percent of homes purchased in Riverside County and 36.4 percent of homes purchased in San Bernardino County were for cash, which is roughly double the 10-year monthly average.

“Some people think housing is where they should park their cash and some don’t have a choice because they couldn’t get a loan if they tried. And some could be retirees who are downsizing,” selling a larger house and buying a smaller one for cash, said DataQuick spokesman Andrew LePage.

Distressed properties also continued to dominate the market. Last month 61.6 percent of homes sold Riverside County and 62.6 percent in San Bernardino County were foreclosures or short sales that closed at a lower price than the existing mortgage.

Leslie Appleton-Young, chief economist for the California Association of Realtors, noted that there are multiple offers for homes priced below $300,000, many of which are foreclosures sold by banks. “If we had a greater input of distressed properties, they would sell,” she said.

But she said she believes there are prospective “buyers on the sidelines trying to time the bottom of the market” and prospective sellers waiting for a market rebound. Still, in a statement about the association’s December state housing report that also was released Tuesday Appleton-Young said home sales were slightly better in the fourth quarter than she had expected “thanks to recent improving consumer confidence and an economy that’s slowly showing signs of growth.”

Source: http://www.pe.com/business/real-estate-headlines/20120117-real-estate-december-inland-home-sales-prices-drop.ece