Wednesday, 13 april 2011  By www.propertywire.com

Melbourne has emerged as the most dominant and sought after commercial property market in Australia and is among the best performers in Asia Pacific, according to real estate consultants DTZ

DTZ research shows that half of all commercial property transactions in Australia in the fourth quarter of 2010 occurred in Victoria, which recorded a $2.2 billion in total purchases across the office, retail and industrial sectors. By comparison, Victoria recorded $1.3 billion in transactions in 2009.

During the quarter Queensland and New South Wales each comprised 15% of total market transactions, totalling $1.3 billion, followed by the Northern Territory at 7%, $300 million.

Despite the 11% decline in overall transactional activity in Australia in the last three months of 2010, the $4.5 billion in transactions achieved during the quarter was 66% higher than in the same period of 2009.

Overall, the result for Australia’s commercial property market in 2010 was 74% stronger than in 2009, with $16.6 billion in transactions recorded nationally, the latest report from DTZ shows.

According to the report the small decline recorded in the fourth quarter of 2010 is largely due to the previous quarter’s figures being heavily inflated by Brookfield Properties’ $1.6 billion investment in 16 office assets. Excluding this deal, transactional activity actually improved by over $1 billion, or 30%.

The office sector was the most popular investment class. However the biggest individual deals in the quarter were in the retail and leisure sectors, specifically the sale of the DFO Portfolio ($498 million), Westfield Doncaster ($350 million) and Ayers Rock Resort ($300 million).

Listed vehicles were strong acquirers of Australian commercial property during the past two quarters of 2010, investing approximately $2.745 billion. This reverses the trend seen in 2008, 2009 and the first half of 2010, when listed groups divested almost $6.5 billion of commercial property.

Conversely, private vehicles have demonstrated opposing tendencies by being net sellers over the past two quarters, divesting $4.6 billion of commercial property in 2010, said David Green Morgan, head of Asia-Pacific research at DTZ.

‘As we enter 2011, there is widespread belief in the sector that the commercial property investment market is now fully recovered and is one of the most sought after in Asia Pacific.

Foreign buyers are still very keen on Australia, encouraged by the economic fundamentals and on-going demand from Asia for Australian exports,’ he said.

‘Based on DTZ’s global research, Australia’s prime office and retail assets are the sectors investors will remain most interested in during the year ahead. It is very likely that Melbourne, and Victoria in general, will remain the favoured investment location throughout 2011. Now strongly cemented as Australia’s best performing office market, investors are keen to access Melbourne’s tight future supply, which along with a falling vacancy rate, will continue to push rents and values upwards,’ he explained.

‘Both Queensland and Western Australia are also likely to experience increased investment activity, as long as there is sufficient stock on the market,’ he added.

But he pointed out that the recent flood devastation in south east Queensland and the Brisbane CBD may impact the extent to which this growth occurs, however, as yet this is still too early to determine.

Melbourne was also rated the top performer in the prime industrial market in 2010 and, based on DTZ forecasting, is predicting total returns of 11% per annum, incorporating capital and rental growth, between 2011and 2015.

One of the world’s leading property analysts believes that the property market in Spain will ‘bottom out’ within the next year, leading to excellent opportunities for investors looking to snap up Spanish Property at a bargain price.

JP Morgan Chase & Co believes that property in Spain will reach the bottom of the cycle in the next twelve months before starting to recover.

Banks looking to offload distressed Property In Spain

The property boom in Spain ended in 2008 as the global financial crisis took hold.  In the final quarter of 2010, Spanish banks were left with 315.8 billion euros (£276.6 billion) in loans related to real estate.  Many banks were forced to take on land and property as assets in return for cancelling debt and loans to developers who had gone bankrupt, according to the Bank of Spain. 

Banks also had millions of euros of property on their books that they had repossessed when buyers couldn’t pay their home loans.  This has led to widespread concern amongst investors as to the state of health of many leading financial institutions in the country.

Spain’s Finance Ministry recently announced new capital requirements that banks will have to meet by September and this is likely to result in lenders selling off property assets in order to boost their capital. 

These rules have resulted in many banks relaxing their lending criteria for distressed property with many now offering up to 100 per cent mortgages to encourage people to buy homes.  Selling distressed property also removes it from a bank’s balance sheet.

‘Banks are more willing to cut a deal than they were six months ago,' said the investment bank who believe that prices in Spain will start to recover in due course.  In a note to investors, JP Morgan said: “There is still some way to go, given the large overhang of land, further write downs to come and further de-gearing by property companies and banks.”

 13th June 2011  by www.easier.com

Andalucía, Spain's most southerly region and home to Spain's most traditional experiences including tapas, bullfighting, flamenco and most notably, the string guitar is a land of colour, wonder and contradiction that has rightfully attracted hoards of holiday makers and property owners to the region year after year.

Andalucía pulsates with life, bursting with fashionable towns and cities full of hip boutiques, chic restaurants and pumping nightlife whilst still maintaining its historic appeal and impressive heritage of cathedrals, palaces and castles. You will also discover some of the most unspoiled sun drenched beaches in the country, snow-capped mountains, gleaming white house's nestled in rolling green hills and vast nature reserves rich in flora and fauna with one-fifth of Andalucían terrain being under environmental protection.

It was revealed recently by Oak Power Communication (OPC) which studied the position in international media of Spanish tourism brands amongst 600 journalists around the world that Andalucía, according to the figures, enjoys the best brand image of Spain rated 7.9 (out of 10) by journalists followed by Madrid at 7.3 and Barcelona at 7.1. Moreover, the sleek and sophisticated town of Marbella in Andalucía scored very well, voted the third trendiest and most fashionable city in Spain as well as having the best beaches in the country according to the research.

With an undeniable appeal and high profile visitors like Michelle Obama, Marbella is in a class of its own, being one of the most exclusive and sought after areas of Spain. Of course, it is well known that Marbella has a high-end property market, confirmed by 24.8% of enquiries made for properties with a price range between €500,000 and €1m from January 2011 to May 2011 according to the latest statistics from Kyero.com, Spain's largest English language property portal.

Further statistics from Kyero.com show that over half of enquiries made from January to May of this year were for an apartment with 25.6% requiring 2 bedrooms and unsurprisingly, 76.8% requesting a pool.

Tuesday, 01 November 2011 www.propertywire.com

More people in the UK expect house prices to fall rather than rise over the next year, according to the latest Halifax Housing Market Confidence tracker.

Some 30% predict that the national average house price will decline over the next twelve months. However, this is only marginally more than the 28% that forecast a price rise over same the period, suggesting an evidently polarised outlook towards the market. Read more

Friday, 15 April 2011 By www.propertywire.com

Would be overseas property buyers based in the UK are currently showing more interest in southern Mediterranean European countries with a rise in searches in Ibiza, Sardinia, Portugal Cyprus and Greece.

The latest report from Rightmove Overseas shows that overall searches are up by 1.2% this month. The province of Valencia in Spain is the top climber with a massive rise of 166.78% in searches.

Other top climbers include the islands of Ibiza in Spain, up 24.73%, Sardinia in Italy, up 18.32%, and Portugal, up 14.36%. Portugal has climbed to fourth place, ahead of Australia.

Cyprus has seen a rise in searches of 5.2% and Greece is up 6.03%. But non European favourites have experienced less interest. Australia is down 17.91%, New Zealand down 21.76%, the United States down 0.33%, and Canada down 12.99%.

Shameem Golamy, head of overseas sales at Rightmove said that the sunny weather in the UK has brought out the European property hunters, as the traditional emigration destinations such as Australia and New Zealand fall away in searches.

‘Buyers looking for reduced priced properties in traditional lifestyle and holiday hotspots have been notable during March, with the Spanish province of Valencia seeing a massive surge in searches. The current climate means that if you are a buyer, you are spoilt for choice amongst the hundreds of properties with huge price reductions available, all over the Mediterranean,’ he explained.

Searches for properties in countries that have been downgraded on the international financial markets have also seen an increase, with both Portugal and Greece rising sharply in searches. This could be from savvy investors looking to cash in on the economic uncertainty in those territories, or simply those looking to research property prices before flying away to enjoy the holiday season,’ he added.

‘On the flip side, it seems that the early year interest in emigration destinations seems to have waned as temperatures rise in the UK and cold hard reality of moving half way across the world sinks in.’

According to David Kerns, dealing manager at Moneycorp the difficulties seen in certain eurozone economies such as Spain and Portugal have not dampened the interest from people in the UK looking to escape overseas.

‘It seems to have had the opposite effect, in fact, with savvy investors here making the most of the vulnerable property markets in Europe. Although the euro remains stable, interest in houses in Portugal has risen by 14% and in Spain by 4% due to the bargains to be had with property in those countries,’ he added.

Posted by Scott Kauffman 09/27/11 8:30 AM EST  www.worldpropertychannel.com

(MALLORCA, SPAIN) -- Spanish tourism group FRONTUR is reporting strong summer tourism numbers for Spain's both residential resort and hotel industries.

Last month, FRONTUR reported 7.64 million foreign tourists visited Spain, a 9.4 percent increase over the same month in 2010. The August numbers marked an all-time monthly high for the country.

Since the beginning of 2011, 40 million tourists have visited Spain, representing a 7.8 percent increase over the same period in 2010.

The Ministry of Industry which produces the tourist movement survey suggests that August visitor figures "reinforces the good prospects of Spain in 2011"  highlighted by the fourth best year in the history of Spanish tourism, a great achievement considering the economic recovery only began back in the second half of 2010.

Further data indicates that while Brits are one of the most regular and loyal visitors to Spanish shores at 9.5 million annual visitors, there has been impressive increases in numbers of other foreign visitors to Spain between January and August this year. For example, there was a 16.7 percent rise in American tourists in the month of August as well as a 12.3 percent jump from Germany and 10.5 percent increase from Italy.

By destination, Catalonia was the largest recipient of foreign tourists receiving 1.9 million visitors in August while the Balearic Islands followed closely behind with 1.8 million tourists in the same month. Meanwhile, 1 million visitors flocked to Andalucía, 821,000 tourists visited the Canary Islands while 737,000 foreigners picked Valencia and 550,000 made Madrid their destination of choice.

"Despite difficult economic conditions across mainland Europe, Spain is one of the most resilient holiday destinations, remaining popular with foreigners whatever the market conditions," said Ignacio Osle, sales and marketing manager of Taylor Wimpey España. "Recently, the IMF stated that Spain will be the only country that will experience higher levels of growth next year compared to its European counterparts of France, Italy and Greece. Spain has a global appeal as a tourist destination; we have even seen 53,000 tourists arrive from India in the first half of this year, representing a 35 percent increase.

"Spain is recovering well especially with the help of the country's overall tourism drive and low cost airlines like EasyJet increasing the number of flights it operates from the Netherlands to destinations such as Mallorca next year. Indeed, Mallorca is one such destination that has performed better on the property front than its mainland counterparts offering strong rental market potential."

One residential resort development doing well is Cala Magrana in Mallorca.

Following the success of Cala Magrana's first two phases, Taylor Wimpey España is now launching the third phase comprising 20 stunning apartments in situated 600 meters to Cala Anguila beach, a selection of golf courses and the marina of Porto Cristo.

Costing from $297,352 plus value added tax; this residential development consists of two-bedroom apartments surrounding a communal garden with a swimming pool. Ground floor apartments have a spacious terrace with a garden for private use while top-floor apartments benefit from a roof terrace also for private use.

09.06.2011 from www.top-casa.com

Experts disagree over the future of the property market in Spain. Some experts are set extremely skeptical, some predict speedy recovery for the market Spain.
 
President of development company G-14 Pedro Perez argues that real estate prices in some regions of Spain have already risen by 20% and continue to grow. In Madrid, prices have shown significant increase due to supply shortage of real estate. But Pedro Perez cautiously makes predictions about the future of Spanish property market and doesn’t exclude the possibility that the market may form another bubble.
 
Specialist of company Quabit Alberto Quemada, on the contrary predicts rise in property prices in all regions of Spain, arguing that today to buy property in Spain at a cheap price is almost impossible. He says that all the best items at cheap prices were sold. For two years of the crisis, investors bought up the cheapest accommodation and are now waiting for further growth.
Secretary of the Department of Housing of Spain Beatriz Corredor said that the property market of Spain will finally cope with the crisis in 2014 and implement 700,000 homes that now aren’t sold.
 
Minister of Public Works and Housing, Jose Blanco said, the worst for the housing market is behind. The serious correction in property prices has occurred in the past year. Now if the price varies in either direction, it will not exceed 2%. But the minister warned that 2011 is the most important and difficult for real estate market.
 
Spanish property market economist Francisco Sanchez Velva believes that now it’s very difficult situation for banks in Spain. They have accumulated a lot of problem properties that they are trying to sell. But banks don’t offer the best real estate, they can’t compete with agencies, so if banks want to sell their property they need to significantly reduce the prices of mortgage real estate. Only this will help them back their money.

22.06.2011 from www.top-casa.com

According to Spanish property portal idealista.com about 134,100 owners of Spanish property have reduced the prices on their property since 2011. Monthly there are more sellers willing to lower the price of property, in May their number was 30.6 million or 7% of the total number of sellers. On average, in May each seller decreased the value of object for 8.2%.
 
idealista.com reports that the monthly cost of all objects on the market in Spain falls to 700 million euro. Over the last year the value of all properties for sale in Spain fell by € 6,4 billion.
 
The greatest decline in property prices is seen in the segment of elite real estate where sellers cut prices an average of 9.3% of the initial value of the objects. Approximately 6.5% of sales of real estate are ready for discount in the sale. Sellers of real estate of the middle class are less compliant, they reduce the price 8.6%, approximately 8.3% of all sales are ready to make this step.
 
idealista.com reports that real estate prices are decreased by sellers mostly in Madrid (10.2% of sellers), Zaragoza (9.7%) and Barcelona (8.8%). The biggest discounts on real estate were made in Almeria (-12.9%), Tarragona (-11%), Avila (-10.2%) and La Rioja (10%). It is reported that price reduction is not of a mass character and should not significantly affect the real estate market as a whole. Because of the large real estate supply, property owners try to sell property as quickly as possible, and make more serious discounts than usual.
 

15.06.2011  from www.top-casa.com

According to official figures of the Spanish authorities, in 2010 Swedish buyers purchased 105% more properties in Spain than in 2009.
Experts of the Spanish property market explain it primarily by decline in the prices of Spanish property. And now that is the best time to buy property in Spain. Real estate prices won’t show large correction in 2011 and the maximum deviation in one direction or another won’t amount more than 3%. Recall that in some areas of Spain property prices fell by more than 30%.
 
Experts also explain such activation of Swedish buyers by strengthening the local currency against the euro. Due to the exchange rate, Swedish consumers save extra money on purchasing. In addition, Spain has always been the most popular tourist destination in Sweden and the Spanish real estate ranked first among preferences of Swedish foreign property buyers. In Spain it is easy to get to Sweden by plane, it does not require much time and money, which is important factor for the Swedes.
 
However, the interest of Swedes to real estate in Thailand, which is popular among Swedes, after Spanish, declined significantly last year.