Foreign Investors Drawn to Real Estate

Falling prices, dwindling transactions and property developers' discount offers may be frightening away individual buyers but seem to be attracting more international investors in the real estate sector.

International real estate service provider Jones Lang LaSalle said in a recent report that some international groups have raised substantial capital for China property funds and are now deploying the money, while others are moving capital from less vibrant markets in North America and Europe.

The squeeze on bank loans and falling property prices, in fact, provide foreign investors with a good opportunity to enter the market. To read more click here.

Source: China Daily
July 10, 2008

Philippine properties ‘hottest’ in Southeast Asia

The Philippines was recently declared as a popular real estate hub in Southeast Asia by international commercial real estate services firm CB Richard Ellis Philippines.

It further cited that “investment opportunities in tourism, infrastructure, mining and real estate remain high” here.

In its July 2 news release sent to Inquirer Property, CBRE Philippines general manager Trent Frankum even used the superlative “hottest” in his description of how foreign investors took up properties in the Philippines. He enumerated the positive effects of the stable Philippine peso, increasing tourist arrivals, the BPO boom, and the influx of overseas Filipino workers’ dollar remittances on the property market.

Frankum’s declaration was heard in the recently held SMART Investment and International Property Expo at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre June 21 and 22. To read more click here.


By Tessa Salazar
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Published 07/04/2008

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Moscow: Office Slowdown? No, 'Rents...Are Ridiculous'

There's the office market in most major European cities. And then there's Moscow.

While office rents in many cities are stagnating or dropping, in Moscow their rapid rise shows no sign of slowing. With demand outstripping supply of modern office space and the country's economy chugging along, the average cost of occupying prime space rose to $232.37 per square foot per year in the first quarter compared with $120.56 in the first quarter of 2007, according to a global survey by real-estate services group CB Richard Ellis Inc.

The long-term trend has been even more impressive. The average cost of prime office space in Moscow -- including local taxes and fees and taking into account currency fluctuations -- has risen almost fourfold from a low of $61 a square foot in 2001. It is now just below the same type of space in London's West End, according to CB Richard Ellis. The choicest locations are hoping to push even higher, with at least one building in the central business district asking rents in the $300-a-square-foot range, according to Adam Sherriff-Scott, CBRE's senior director and head of office services in Russia. To read more click here.

By MAURA WEBBER SADOVI
June 25, 2008

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Investors pour funds into Asian real estate

The flow of capital into Asian property from outside the region is accelerating as a result of the credit crisis in the US, according to a report on the sector published on Wednesday.

Property investment in Asia grew 27 per cent to $121bn in 2007 and continues to build, says the report, which is being published by KPMG, the Asia Pacific Real Estate Association and index provider FTSE.

Investment was evenly allocated over the first and second halves of the year, unlike in Europe and North America, where investment slowed dramatically in the second half.

Most Asian markets recorded direct real estate returns above the global average of 10 per cent last year. This is forecast to continue, albeit at a lower rate.

The report comes during a period of aggressive fundraising activity for new global property funds, many of which are raising allocations to Asia to gain exposure to economies that are relatively insulated from the credit crisis. Property markets in the region, while not immune, have stood up relatively well compared with the US and Europe.

MGPA, the private equity fund manager part owned by Australia’s Macquarie Bank, this week launched a global fund that will invest mostly in Asia. It has secured $3.9bn in equity for Asian investment, giving it a potential buying power in the region, with leverage, of $15.6bn.

The fund has already committed $2.2bn to investments in Singapore, Japan, China and Thailand, and is looking at South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and Australia. North American investors make up 40 per cent of the fund.

Asian real estate investment trusts also outperformed American and European counterparts. Credit problems and softening real estate prices in the US and Europe mean that investors are focusing more on Asia both for long-term returns and opportunistic investments, according to the report.

At the same time, banks have become more reluctant to lend for new Asian projects, which increases the bargaining power of foreign funds. But the report says this has slowed, rather than halted, the financing process.

“There’s no shortage of capital in Asia,” said Andrew Weir, one of the report’s authors. “There are investment funds that have raised money and haven’t spent it yet.”

Article Source http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7b13b31a-3c8d-11dd-b958-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1


By Andrew Wood in Hong Kong and Daniel Thomas in London
Published: June 17, 2008 22:33

National Survey of Real Estate Professionals Reveals Stagnating Market

NEW YORK, June 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Real estate professionals polled from around the country have expressed concern that property in the United States is overvalued.

According to the fifth annual Bryan Cave Real Estate Executives' Forecast Survey, 59 percent of the executives polled believe commercial properties are overvalued and only 4 percent consider commercial properties to be undervalued.

"The results of Bryan Cave's survey are further evidence some owners are focused on peak values of a year ago," said Jon Caplan, executive vice president of Cushman & Wakefield, a national real estate firm. "Overall, the market is awaiting more information regarding valuation. There are few recent data points. Debt is scarce, and it is not clear what the game rules will be for lending going forward. We are in a transition and transaction volume will pick up as we get more clarity."

Barry Ross, a partner at Bryan Cave, seconded Caplan's view and added that "91 percent of the executives polled by our survey believe the credit crunch will continue to reduce capital for commercial real estate financings for at least seven more months. The expectation among executives can only add to the market's woes and slow activity in the short term." To read more click here.

Posted : Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:39:23 GMT
Author : Bryan Cave LLP

Philippines seeks to become back office superpower by 2010

MANILA (AFP) — The Philippines aims to make the most of the economic slowdown in the US by capturing at least 10 percent of the world's back office work within the next two years, industry leaders say.

They say the problems in the US and the possibility of recession could be a bonus as more companies based there attempt to save money by outsourcing their operations to the Philippines.

Call centres and back-office operations, such as accounting and financial processes, medical and legal transcription, engineering services and software writing, is one of the fastest growing businesses in the Philippines.

The Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP) expects the sector to be posting revenues of 13 billion dollars and employ more than one million people by 2010. To read more click here.

Published Feb 26, 2008