Archive for December, 2009

China is seeing a surge in new bank loans and housing prices. Figures released by analysts Knight Frank show that average prices for new residential property rose by 68% in the year up to November 2009.

Beijing showed a rise of 66%, Shenzhen 51%. The China Daily declared the country as the most expensive place to live in the world, when comparing house prices with average annual income.

New-home loans in the first three quarters of 2009 were at $139.5m, according to figures from the Central Bank, representing a growth of 400% on the figure at the same time the previous year.

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The proposed super-tax on bonuses to bankers could have a severe affect on the property market, according to industry experts.

Estate agents can normally expect increased sales during the period of bonuses being awarded, with buyers from the financial and business sectors traditionally splashing out on luxury properties. They are credited with playing a significant role in driving up house prices during the boom years of 2006 and 2007.

With less money going into bankers’ pockets, property prices could fall further, particularly in plush locations such as Chelsea and Belgravia.

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Google is in discussions to launch a free internet property website in the UK, in competition with such portals as Rightmove..

Earlier this year the company opened an online property site in Australia, and has just been in talks with estate agent Douglas & Gordon over the prospect of setting up a similar project in the UK.

The Australian site lists properties at no charge to agents – unlike UK rivals – and includes images from Google’s Street View site to enable homebuyers to get a feel for the area.

Industry experts predict that if Google was to launch a UK property site without charging agents, it would cause serious conflict with existing property portals and could bring down the cost of selling a home.

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The recent downturn in Dubai’s economic fortunes is having a knock-on effect on the US commercial real estate market, and could stifle emerging shoots of recovery in the US economy.

State-owned investment company Dubai World announced that it wanted to restructure its $59m debt, which could mean a sell-off of some of its most important properties at low prices.

The news triggered an immediate fall in the Dow Jones US Real Estate Index of 2.9%, almost double the drop of other indexes in the US market on the same day.

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