2008 December » Property Online, Property Investment, Property Seminar

Residex chief executive John Edwards said Perth property prices would stagnate after more than doubling in the past six years.

The city would revert to being the country’s fourth-most expensive behind Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane after taking second place during the mining boom.

In the West Australian mining town of Kalgoorlie, real estate agents were already reporting significant price falls, reports The Australian.

TEMPORARY residents and overseas businesses will soon be able to purchase residential property more easily in Australia.

The Federal Government has relaxed rules restricting their ability to buy local real estate.

The changes will streamline and update foreign investment screening arrangements, and benefit more than 7500 overseas purchasers.

Market flexibility will be enhanced, while compliance costs for temporary residents and the construction industry will be reduced, Assistant Treasurer Chris Bowen said.

The definition of temporary residents will also be aligned with contemporary visa categories.

Boston residential property owners appear to be in line for some good news amidst all the economic gloom and doom.

Tax rates for Boston homeowners are expected to drop for the second straight year, despite the current economic crisis and an estimated $80 million shortfall in the city’s budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

City finance officials said they expect the residential rate will drop by as much as 2.7 percent below the current rate of $10.97 per $1,000 of value. That would mean the bill for a single-family home valued at $350,000 would decrease from $3,840 in 2008 to $3,735.

HOUSTON, Dec 11, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) — McDermott Will & Emery is pleased to announce that Susan K. Knoll and Steven G. Spears have joined the Firm’s Houston office as partners in the Intellectual Property, Media & Technology Department. They join the Firm’s highly ranked, global IP department with more than 200 lawyers practicing worldwide.

“The arrival of Susan and Steven is an important step in enhancing our Houston and national capabilities in one of our most strategic practice areas,” said Fay Morisseau, head of McDermott’s Houston office.

“The two will also further strengthen our patent-litigation focus within the Texas district courts.”

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 09, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ — AMB Property Corporation(R) (AMB: 19.27, -3.18, -14.2%) , a leading global owner and developer of industrial real estate, today announced it has leased approximately 130,000 square feet (12,100 square meters) to two customers in its AMB Amagasaki Distribution Center 2 development in Osaka, Japan. The 981,000 square foot (92,000 square meter) facility is now 97 percent leased.


“Although Japan is in a recession and its exports are affected by global economic challenges, our customers are employing further strategies to optimize efficiencies in their supply chain by locating in modern, infill distribution facilities,” said Michael Evans, AMB’s managing director, Japan & Korea. “In our core markets, including Osaka, we continue to see demand for the right product in the right location.”
K.K. Kono, a food distribution company, leased 68,000 square feet (6,300 square meters) of the facility. Kuehne + Nagel, a leading global provider of integrated supply chain solutions, leased 62,000 square feet (5,800 square meters). Both customers are expanding their business into the Kansai region of Japan. “This lease extends AMB’s global relationship with Kuehne + Nagel, an AMB target customer, to eight markets and nine leases. We look forward to pursuing new opportunities with Kuehne + Nagel, whose business continues to demonstrate resiliency,” commented Steve Callaway, AMB’s senior vice president, director of Customer Development.

Shares of Russian companies have lost nearly three-quarters of their value in six months. The price of government bonds is down by almost a quarter. The ruble is sliding, losing 20% of its value against the U.S. dollar since August. The price of oil, Russia’s chief export, has fallen by 70% since the summer. But for a long time, there was one asset in Russia—real estate—that somehow seemed capable of defying gravity.

Even as property market bubbles burst all over the world, the value of Russian real estate just seemed to go up and up. According to Moscow real estate agency IRN, residential property prices in Moscow did not peak until mid-October, rising by some 50% from a year earlier. With apartments in central Moscow selling for $6,000 per square meter ($557 a square foot), the city regularly tops lists of the world’s most expensive cities. Elsewhere in Russia, too, property values have climbed dramatically over recent years.

The listed property firm manages to negotiate a settlement with a Queensland property developer.

Embattled property group City Pacific has finally settled a property dispute, about which it had been in negotiations earlier this month.

On December 5, the company issued a trading halt on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) with respect to court proceedings between the firm and Mewett Developments.

The proceedings related to the sale of a commercial building.

LONDON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - The global property derivatives market is likely to keep growing despite the financial crisis, as fund managers and property firms seek to better manage their real estate risks, experts said on Tuesday.

The fledgling market, which offers over-the-counter trading mainly in swaps based on property indexes, could grow by about 7 percent year-on-year to 7.5 billion pounds ($11 billion) by end-2008, said Rawle Parris, head of property derivatives at ING Wholesale Banking.

“It’s modest growth, but still quite good considering what’s happening in other real estate markets,” said Parris at the Global Property Outlook conference organised by Thomson Reuters.

Plans to set up exchanges as clearing houses for property derivatives could help promote the market as investors hunt for cheaper and more efficient ways to adjust their real estate exposure, he added.

QUEENSLAND’S peak property body has predicted that up to 3500 people could lose their jobs as a result of a revenue measure introduced by the Bligh Government in yesterday’s budget review.

The budget review contains three revenue-raising measures that will be introduced from the middle of next year and will bring in an extra $323million to the state Government. Car registrations will increase, winners on gaming machines at casinos will pay extra taxes and there will be a surcharge on landholdings worth more than $5million.

While the charges will affect only 130 individuals, they will have an effect on 1800 companies, many of which are large land owners in the retail sector, such as Coles and Woolworths.

Queensland Property Council chief Steve Greenwood said business rents would rise as companies saw their land tax bills more than double, at a time when multiple major construction projects were being shelved or cancelled.

He said a company that owned land in Queensland worth $5million currently faced a land tax bill of $75,000, but this measure meant they would pay an extra $100,000 on top of that.