Real estate hurdles expected in 2008

Real estate hurdles expected in 2008

The meltdown of the U.S. real estate market has many homebuyers wondering if and how it will affect the housing market in Canada, but market analysts feel the problems the U.S. is experiencing should have little impact on real estate in this country.

In fact Statistics Canada recently reported that the home ownership rate stands at its highest on record. Given the combination of consistent and relatively low interest rates, the availability of longer mortgage amortizations periods, and the fact that Canada’s population continues to grow, it’s not surprising that more and more people continue to enter the real estate market here.

In The Emerging Trends in Real Estate Report 2008, released by U.S.-based Urban Land Institute and PricewaterhouseCoopers, it sheds light on some of the fundamental differences on why Canada isn’t expected to experience the same downturn as the U.S. market. Interviews with real estate executives in both Canada and the U.S. help explain a few of the reasons.

Central Valley has two of nation’s weakest real estate markets [California]

Central Valley has two of nation’s weakest real estate markets for 2008 [California]

Two of the nation’s five weakest residential real estate markets this year are in the Central Valley, according to Veros Real Estate Solutions, a Santa Ana-based company that sells enterprise risk management and collateral valuation services.

Home prices in the Modesto market are predicted to decline 15 percent and the Sacramento/Roseville market is expected to have a 12 percent drop, Veros says.

The Riverside/San Bernardino market is foreseen to have a 15 percent drop.

The other two markets, both in Florida, are Cape Coral/Ft. Myers, down 13 percent, and Palm Bay/Melbourne/Titusville, down 14 percent, Veros says.

Taking a chance in Belarus’s real estate market

Taking a chance in Belarus’s real estate market

Belarus is the last Stalinist-era, centrally planned economy in Europe but a small and hearty group of Western investors are starting to probe the former Soviet Republic, seeing it as the last all-but-untouched real estate market in Europe.

Yet, even as outside investor interest is swelling, there continue to be solid obstacles to buying properties in the 207,600-square-kilometer, or 80,155-square-mile, country.

All land in Belarus is publicly owned – even Belarusians who buy homes or commercial buildings usually receive only a 50-year lease on the land. And all transactions involving state property valued at more than the equivalent of $150,000 must be approved personally by President Alexander Lukashenko.

(Sale prices are expressed in U.S. dollars but paid in Belarusian rubles; rents usually are expressed in euros.)

What’s Next for New York?

What’s Next for New York?

Looking back, 2007 was supposed to be the year that the Manhattan residential real estate market slowed down and began to look a bit more like the slumping national market.

But that didn’t happen. While there were periods when condominiums and co-ops sat unsold because buyers and sellers couldn’t agree on prices, the year ended with the average price of a Manhattan apartment rising to a record $1.4 million, though the number ballooned in part because so many wealthy buyers purchased extraordinarily expensive condos.

No one is predicting that 2008 will be a repeat of 2007. The sprawling pieds-à-terre may still sell for millions at the Plaza and 15 Central Park West, but in general, economists are predicting that prices will drop in some segments of the market and in some neighborhoods around the city.

Slowdown expected in ’08 [Indianapolis Area]

Slowdown expected in ’08 [Indianapolis Area]

Commercial real estate in the Indianapolis area is a riskier bet in 2008 than it has been for many years.

A national lending crisis has nearly ended the flow of out-of-state investment capital to the sector. With the money spigot turned off, at least for now, developers locally will find it harder to finance new office buildings, apartments and shopping centers. And owners of existing properties will have a tougher time finding buyers.

The lending crisis has hit just as the Indianapolis area’s commercial real estate markets went through a growth spurt in 2007. The thriving industrial market added 7.1 million square feet, the most active year for industrial construction in a decade.

Office developers built more space for multitenant use last year than any year since 2001.

Real estate market could be hit further by rising home loans [New Delhi]

Real estate market could be hit further by rising home loans [New Delhi]

The $15 billion real estate market which witnessed a sales drop of 60 per cent in the metros, may further worsen if reversal in rising interest rates for housing is not addressed urgently, a study said.

According to the study conducted by industry body Assocham on ‘Impact of Rising Home Loan Rates’, the housing sector which has declined considerably to 26.6 per cent in 2006-07 may slow down further to touch between 17 to 20 per cent in the current fiscal, due to rising home loans.

The study pointed out that major expansion drive in tier II and tier III and even tier IV cities, for providing dwelling units to neglected lot of society, would trigger the growth of this sector between 40-45 per cent this year, but witness a slow down in metros and large cities by 2010.