CMA: More real estate investment funds needed

Saudi Gazette report

JEDDAH — There is a growing demand from investment companies to participate with real estate developers to offer more real estate investment funds, Dr. Mohammed Bin Abdul Malak Al-Sheikh, President of the Capital Market Authority, has said.

In a speech at the Real Estate Investment Fund Forum in Riyadh, delivered on his behalf by Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Barrak, member of the CMA Board, Dr. Al-Sheikh said the number of real estate investment funds, both public and private, is now 58.

The CMA is counting on the cooperation between it and the fund managers, real estate developers and investors in order to provide more investment opportunities through these funds.

The Capital Market Authority, Dr. Al-Sheikh said, is working to develop more regulations and to address shortcomings. “The CMA welcomes comments and views on all regulations of the body,” he said.

Stressing that the CMA hopes to work with everyone to facilitate the procedures for offering and availing of funds for all investors in the financial market, Al-Sheikh said several citizens have shown keen interest in investment in real estate.

In recent years, the real estate sector has witnessed remarkable development with increasing economic growth and government spending on infrastructure. The collective investment in the real estate sector will allow investors, especially the small ones, to benefit from their savings, he noted.

He said the Capital Market Authority has issued regulation for the Real Estate Investment Fund for an organized investments in the sector.

Moreover, Al-Sheikh said, the CMA has completed the issuance of most important regulations, including the regulation of Real Estate Investment Funds, which are subject to, like others, revisions and updates from time to time according to what is observed after the implementation.

The CMA president said that the regulation came to support the controlled collective investment in the real estate market through licensed companies. “These are subject to the supervision and control of the authority and to the governance laws.”

The Real Estate Investment Fund Regulation includes a lot of opportunities and possibilities. It also allows for organizing the real estate investment funds of similar projects, he pointed out.

For the original post visit: http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20130214153111

Sales show Gold Coast is back in business

SALES worth more than $34 million have settled in the $850 million Soul supertower in Surfers Paradise.

Property records show sales of seven apartments in the 77-storey tower were finalised at the end of last year for a total of $12.02 million, indicating a turnaround in the prestige property sector.

CBRE's residential marketing director Chris Litfin said the end-of-year buying surge in Soul came as the city's prestige apartment sector registered one of its best Christmas sales periods in five years.

The highest-priced property was a $4 million two-level subpenthouse which was acquired by Andrew Greig, the boss of construction giant Bechtel Australia.

Six other apartments sold for between $1.05 million and $2 million. A Sydney-based investor paid $3.7 million for two apartments on level 50.

The settlements came after the beachfront Surfers Paradise tower was relaunched to the market in the wake of receivers taking on management of the project when banks called in the debt last October.

Mr Litfin said the Christmas period had seen a resurgence in high-end apartment sales.

"We had the best Christmas in five years by a long way,'' he said. "It did come off a low base but we saw really strong sales across a string of projects, and to have people spending over $1 million on an apartment is a massive improvement.''

He said there had also been two sales, at $1.4 million each, for apartments at Eclipse in Broadbeach.

For the original post visit http://www.heraldsun.com.au/realestate/buying/sales-show-gold-coast-is-back-in-business/story-fndcuqbl-1226575944555

Location rules roost when buying property

HOW do you choose the right location to invest in real estate?

Your choice of location for any residential property investment will generally hinge on personal finances and the level of risk you are willing to shoulder.

Here are some things to consider once you have worked out how much you can afford to spend.

Economic basics: Look for areas with good prospects. Promising signs include strong population growth, investment in local industry, job openings, new supermarkets and chain stores. Vacancy rates can be a guide to good areas.

Low vacancy often means there's strong economic growth and development is not keeping pace. You can usually hedge against volatility in demand if you buy in a major population centre with many renters.

Renter convenience: Your future tenants will want good transportation links and access to schools, universities, shopping, dining, medical facilities and local amenities. Convenience for tenants will keep demand high.

Emotional baggage: Think like a tenant. Avoid making choices based on personal preference about where you would like to live or holiday. Consider the average income for the neighbourhood and rental affordability for those who live in the area.

Vision: What you see today might be a very different proposition tomorrow. Be wary of developments with similar offerings as they may be rental or sales competition. As Apple's late Steve Jobs would say, think differently. A unique property can boost your marketability, yield and long-term gains.

Diversity: If you live in Newcastle and invested there your home and investment properties would be exposed to the same economic swings. Manage your risk by putting your eggs in separate baskets. Land taxes and stamp duty are another incentive to diversify. Most state and territory governments base land taxes on the cumulative value of unimproved land other than your principal place of residence. Land tax on investment properties can generally be minimised or eliminated by dividing your holdings between states and territories to stay below their given thresholds. Stamp duty varies significantly from state-to-state so it pays to sit down and do your math.

Property management: Buy where you know you can hire a great property manager if you can't commit to doing it yourself. The best property in the best location can collapse under the weight of poor management and maintenance.

For the original post visit: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/realestate/investing/location-rules-roost-when-buying-property/story-fndcursx-1226573500521

January real estate stats down from 2012

The Quinte and District Association of Realtors says despite a drop in home sales from the first month of last year, it’s too early to tell what’s ahead for the local housing market.

The QDAR says 139 homes were sold through the Quinte MLS system last month.

That’s down from 163 sales during January 2012.

January dollar sales for the month are also down 15.4% compared to last year.

A release from the association today says “One month does not determine a year” and “there are lots of positive indicators that the market will stay stable in 2013.”

For the original post visit: http://www.quintenews.com/2013/02/quinte-real-estate-numbers-down-from-january-2012/40648/

SW real estate market stirs

Busselton’s property market has awoken from its slumber, according to real estate agents.

Sales are reportedly on the rise, spurred on by a combination of cheap mortgage rates, fly-in, fly-out workers and soaring rents.

Stocker Preston director Peter De Chiera told the Times he had gone from a surplus of properties to a shortage at the lower end of the market.

“We’re running out of stock and are out canvassing for more listings, ” he said.

“It’s not unusual to get between 10 and 20 people coming through each open house, whereas 12 months ago you were lucky to get a couple.”

Mr De Chiera said the effects were starting to filter through to the higher end of the market.

Prices had not jumped yet, but vendors were catching on to the increased buyer activity and would eventually ask for more money, he added.

The WA division of the Urban Development Institute of Australia has released figures showing housing finance is at a three-year high across the State.

Falling mortgage costs caused property owner-occupier housing finance, excluding refinancing, to increase 4.9 per cent to $1.5 billion in November.

Harcourts Busselton director Neil Honey told the Times the shortage of listings had prompted the company to use auctions.

“There’s an abundance of buyers so we’re opening it up to create competition and secure better prices for the sellers, ” he said.

Mr Honey predicted growth of six to seven per cent in 2013.

“Twelve months ago, buyers could be a bit cheeky when putting in offers, but now the advantage has shifted to sellers, who are digging their heels in and being more selective.”

Aussie Geographe mortgage broker David Forster said he had noticed an improvement in the number of contacts made to his office in the past five weeks.

“We expect the Australian market to pick up in 2013 as we are near to (or) at the bottom of the cycle, ” he said. Enquiry rates for both investment and owner-occupied mortgages in Busselton, Dunsborough and Margaret River were increasing, he added.

For the original post visit: http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/business/a/-/wa/16070496/sw-real-estate-market-stirs/

Real estate investment company chooses Taulia

A privately-held real estate investment company based on the West Coast of the United States has chosen Taulia to provide e-invoicing and supplier self-services to its large, global supply base.

The investment company had been working with a Taulia partner, using an SAP-certified tracking solution for its accounts payable department, and wanted to expand the capabilities to its suppliers by including a self-service portal and expanding its e-invoicing capabilities without adding to the workload of its AP team.

“We are incredibly excited to be chosen by such a prestigious real estate investment company, with a strong reputation for quality and excellence,” said Bertram Meyer, CEO of Taulia.

For the original post visit: http://www.sharedserviceslink.com/file/95651/real-estate-investment-company-chooses-taulia.html

The reality of real estate

From a price perspective, the UAE market still offers plenty of opportunities for those looking to invest

Real estate has always been the surest way to accumulate wealth – and is likely to remain so. Yet, the financial crisis of 2008 changed the game, and brought a healthy dose of reality back to the real estate sector. Today, as investors look at this asset class again with renewed optimism, we need to ask ourselves if we have truly learned the lessons of the past five years.

If you look back over historical data, real estate has provided investors with a stronger and steadier return than any other investment option. It has an uncanny ability to bounce back after a downturn and outperform other asset classes.

The 2008 crisis was a case of the pursuit of profit crowding out sensible investment decision making. True, a few speculators managed to come out unscathed, but most did not. Many lost vast sums of capital when property values plunged by half. Thankfully, it appears we have reached the bottom and are on the way back. But for those investors with memories still fresh from the crisis, is real estate once again an asset class worth considering?

The GCC region is characterized by its rising populations and increasing wealth both contributing to a flourishing economy. Major real estate developers in the UAE reached peak valuations in 2008 before crashing in the crisis due to difficult credit and economic conditions.

Abu Dhabi and Dubai real estate sales showed a significant upward trend from Q4 2011 to Q2 2012. Despite a slowdown during the third quarter, year-on-year activity was still higher, suggesting that Abu Dhabi and Dubai’s real estate market is well on the path to recover.

From a price perspective, the UAE market still offers plenty of opportunities for those looking to invest. On average, the price per square foot is very affordable, and with the absence of property taxes and income tax, the value becomes extremely competitive, especially compared to other major cities around the world.

From a returns perspective, we are unlikely to see pre-2008 growth levels anytime soon. But this is something we should welcome.

That’s because we can look forward to greater price stability, thanks to more people investing in completed projects rather than speculating on off-plan developments. Additionally, mortgage reform – and the requirement for larger down payments if implemented by the Central Bank – puts less strain on the financial systems by decreasing the number of defaults, and providing more liquidity. Most significantly, potential new Central Bank regulations, if applied, could eliminate speculators from entering the market and prevent them from falsely “heating up” the market – causing undue price stress, inflated values and an another property bubble.

For investors and home buyers alike, real estate in this country has been a reliable source of wealth generation for many, and yet a great source of heartache for others. Thanks to the confluence of a number of factors, from the introduction of new regulations to the changing of old attitudes, the real estate climate today is very different from the one in pre 2008 crisis.

At ADCM we are very positive about growth in the GCC, and more specifically in the real estate sector in in the UAE. The UAE’s sophisticated regulatory milieu, highly developed financial infrastructure, and a legal system increasingly following rules of global best practices, provides a healthy investing environment for both home buyers and investors alike. In addition to the solid commercial infrastructure, the time is right to capitalise on the underlying value waiting to be unlocked in the UAE real estate sector.

Mustafa Kheriba, Chief Operating Officer, Abu Dhabi Capital Management. Opinion expressed here is his own and do not necessarily reflect that of Gulf News.

For the original post visit: http://gulfnews.com/business/property/uae/the-reality-of-real-estate-1.1141361