Real Estate ( General News )

[winston]

From Monte Carlo to Gastown: The Global Real Estate Bubble is OFFICIALLY Bursting

By Harry S. Dent Jr.

The global real estate bubble is bursting.

After imposing a hefty 26% tax on foreign buyers, and a 12% to 16% surcharge for buyers who flipped their house between one and two years, Singapore real estate has declined 21.5%.

Vancouver has taken similar measures, and – surprise, surprise – its real estate is down 24% in just five months!

That’s what I mean when I say that when bubbles burst, they do so dramatically and rapidly.

But this is likely just the beginning…

I put Singapore into razor-sharp focus in February of last year when I noted it had some of the most expensive real estate in the world. It has the highest standard of living of any country in Asia – even higher than in the U.S.!

The problem is that the country is 100% urban and has limited land – making it incredibly susceptible to the kind of bubble that’s formed there.

And boy, has one ever.

Prior to this recent crash, real estate prices there had risen 68% since early 2009 following the global financial crisis…

And 110% since the 1999 low after the financial crisis across Southeast Asia.

Now, they’re down 21.5%:
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Clearly, it was a bubble waiting to burst!

Eventually, there was public backlash against foreign buyers who were bidding up prices. After a certain point, the everyday, $60,000-a-year household couldn’t afford to live in its own city!

And now that the government has slapped a bunch of fines on those buyers, those foreigners aren’t buying like they used to – and Singapore’s prices are crashing down to earth!

Just like I said they would a year and a half ago.

I also covered Vancouver about a year ago prior to heading there for our third annual Irrational Economic Summit. (We’re hosting our fourth in less than two months in West Palm Beach, FL. (Click here for details.)

As I said at the time, Vancouver is my favorite city in North America… and is also one of the single bubbliest cities on the planet.

Like Singapore, its residents were getting fed up with foreign buyers – mostly Chinese in their case – jacking up prices across the city.

From the beginning of 2002 to when I reported last year, home prices had gone up 290%!

A bubble, plain and simple.

I warned they would likely start punishing foreign investors as well – and they did. The city slapped a 15% tax on them. And given that Vancouver was a prime location for Chinese investors laundering their money out of China, the city got hit hard – again, down 24% in just five months.

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What did I say? Bubbles. Always. Burst. There are no exceptions in history.

In greater Vancouver, sales have fallen from 597 in the first half of August last year to a mere fraction of that – 87 over the same timeframe. That’s an 85% crash, for crying out loud!

It gets worse. The most high-end part of the city, West Vancouver, dropped from 67 to seven – 90%.

And Vancouver West, the area across the bay with mostly upscale suburbs, which the Chinese love the most, is down from 52 to three, or a whopping 94%. The Richmond area got hit the hardest, falling from 84 to three, or 96%.

For now, buyers in Vancouver are staying put until they see how this shakes out.

But is this a crash in the making or what?
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The question now is… who’s next?

My bet’s on London. I could see the highest-end falling off more rapidly after Brexit. Then San Francisco. And finally – the coup d’etat – Shanghai and China.

Let me make myself clear. This is the beginning of the greatest and most global real estate bust in all of modern history.

So I’ll ask again…

How much do you love your real estate?


Source: Economy & Markets

[winston]

There's an $18 trillion asset class that a VC-backed startup wants to unlock

by Melody Hahm

“I was denied refinancing just when I needed it the most. That’s when I stepped back and asked why debt financing is my only option,” Lim told Yahoo Finance.

So why can’t I sell equity in my home just like I can sell Apple (AAPL) or Google (GOOGL) shares?”

Realizing there were no other options, he decided to create his own startup — Point — that would allow investors to take equity shares in residential homes.

Homeowners sell a fraction of their residence to investors in exchange for a lump sum of capital without interest rates or monthly payments. They have to pay the sum back within 10 years of selling or refinancing their home.

“There’s 18 trillion dollars in the equity side alone of US residential real estate that would make it bigger than the NYSE or the US GDP so it’s just a massive, massive market that’s untapped.

Source: Yahoo Finance

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/vc-backed ... 25734.html

[winston]

Where to buy property without paying property tax

Source: Daily Crux

http://thecrux.com/where-to-buy-propert ... perty-tax/

[winston]

3 International REIT ETFs That Can Top U.S. Rivals

Interested in international REITs? These ETFs are worthy of consideration.

By Todd Shriber

Source: Investor Place

http://investorplace.com/2016/09/3-inte ... -nKePB96M8

[winston]

7 Scariest Mistakes Home Buyers Make

Source: The Edge Property

http://www.theedgeproperty.com.sg/conte ... 59-1910617

[winston]

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[winston]

by behappy always:-

Fears of a 'massive' global property price fall amid 'dangerous' conditions and market slow-down

Source: Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/201 ... onditions/

[winston]

No quenching China’s appetite for global real estate: JLL

By Gwyneth Yeo

SINGAPORE (Jan 25): Chinese Mainland’s outbound investment in commercial and residential properties, reached a record high of US$33 billion ($47 billion) in 2016, a 53% increase over 2015, according to Jones Lang Lasalle.

A research report by BNP Paribas noted that Chinese investors were getting more prudent in seeking outbound investment opportunities for diversification, risk hedging and a stable income, amid the uncertainty in the global markets.

According to Jones Lang Lasalle, the biggest Chinese investments were in hotel and industrial properties, led by the US$6 billion acquisition of Strategic Hotels and Resorts by Anbang Insurance.

Properties in UK were also attractive after prices plummeted following the vote to leave the EU, said JLL.

At the same time, there was a 44% increase in Chinese mainland capital invested in global land acquisitions, particularly in Hong Kong, Australia and Malaysia.

"As Chinese mainland investors continue to diversifying their assets globally, demand for outbound investment will likely remain strong in 2017, but tightened capital outflows mean it will likely take longer time for deals to be completed," said Joe Zhou, regional director and research chief of JLL in China.

Source: The Edge

http://smr.theedgemarkets.com/article/n ... estate-jll

[winston]

Think stocks are the best long-term investment? Think again…

by Dr. Steve Sjuggerud

“Residential real estate, not equity, has been the best long-run investment over the course of modern history,”

Housing has delivered similar returns, but with much less volatility.

The total returns on housing INCLUDE rent, which historically makes up about half of the total return in housing.

This doesn’t assume a mortgage… But most people have a mortgage, which changes the risk/reward profile dramatically.

Source: True Wealth Systems

http://thecrux.com/think-stocks-are-the ... ink-again/

[winston]

Warning on Hong Kong home prices

by Samantha Wong and Jasper Ng

Hong Kong, Shanghai and Sydney property prices have reached risky levels, says S&P Global Ratings.

"Asset prices, especially property prices, today are as stretched as they were before the Asian crisis," Elena Okorochenko, head of Asia-Pacific ratings, said at a conference in Singapore yesterday.

Combined with increased household debt, prices in Sydney, Hong Kong and Shanghai appear stretched. "It's a risk worth monitoring," she said.

Home prices in Sydney have surged 75 percent in the past five years, ranking it as the world's second most-expensive housing market behind Hong Kong, where prices climbed 21 percent in the year through June.

A Morgan Stanley report said the growth rate in Hong Kong home prices peaked in June and a zero growth rate is expected by the end of next year.

The report said that the sound economic performance in Hong Kong, together with mortgage plans offered by the developers in the first-hand residential market, have supported the current home prices.

But it said risks remain in the property market as the Hong Kong Inter- Bank Offered Rate is rising close to the London inter-bank rate, which would lead to a higher cost for borrowing.

A steady increase in housing supply, as well as recent capital outflow control imposed by the Chinese government to mainland developers, could help suppress land and home prices in Hong Kong.

Source: The Standard