Bloomberg The tax benefits of homeownership, which generations of U.S. residents have counted on, have been elusive for typical buyers since mortgage rates started tumbling in 2008, according to an analysis by John Burns Real Estate Consulting LLC. For a married couple who put 20 percent down on a median-priced home and borrowed the rest, the standard deduction for ...
Read More »Real Estate
Emaar receives bids for AED500mn Dubai tower
Bloomberg Local developer Emaar Properties has received bids from contractors for the estimated AED500m ($136m) contract to build its Opera Grand Residential Tower in Dubai. The project involves the construction of a 65-70 storey tower a four level basement, ground floor and podium with townhouses, and 56 residential floors with seven levels for services. The total development will have ...
Read More »Blackstone’s Jon Gray confident Anbang will complete hotel deal
Bloomberg Anbang Insurance Group Co., the Chinese insurer that backed out of a takeover bid for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., is on track to complete its $6.5 billion purchase of another U.S. hotel company from Blackstone Group LP, said Jon Gray, Blackstone’s global head of real estate. Anbang is under contract to buy Strategic Hotels & Resorts ...
Read More »London property prices feel pressure of Brexit, Pound’s slide
Bloomberg London’s property market is feeling the pressure from political uncertainty, with the U.K.’s vote on its European Union membership, mayoral elections in May and weakness in the pound contributing to falling house prices in some areas, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Demand from house buyers fell sharply in the capital in March, RICS said in ...
Read More »Four Crystal Lagoons to feature in $250mn project in Egypt’s Sokhna mountains
Bloomberg Crystal Lagoons, the patented technology developer of giant crystalline lagoons and only global company with the technological capability to make the development of giant controlled manmade bodies of water economically viable, has joined forces with Egyptian real estate development company, TatweerMisr, to develop the first man-made lagoons in the Sokhna mountains. The development will bring six stunning lagoons ...
Read More »Reuben bros get nod to turn London Tower into luxury apartments
Bloomberg Billionaire property investors David and Simon Reuben won approval to turn one of the oldest office towers in London’s Westminster borough into luxury apartments. The brothers will be allowed to turn the Millbank Tower complex near the Palace of Westminster into 207 homes with a skybar and a 150-bedroom hotel, the borough council decided at a meeting. Soaring ...
Read More »Design features that sell your home faster, for more money
Bloomberg It used to be a real estate listing with “Jacuzzi tub†or “crystal chandelier†would draw a lot of eyeballs, leading to higher prices and a speedy sale. These days, a barn door might be the golden (or wooden) ticket. According to a report released on Tuesday by Zillow Digs—the real estate site’s design and home improvement cousin—a ...
Read More »Cracks in Australia’s housing market are getting bigger
Bloomberg Here’s a fun experiment you can try at home: Open the online mortgage calculators of Wells Fargo, Halifax, part of the U.K.’s largest mortgage lender Lloyds Banking Group, and Commonwealth Bank of Australia, and tap in the median income in each country; $53,657, 25,844 pounds and A$59,571 respectively. Which bank looks most generous? If you’ve followed international housing surveys ...
Read More »Manhattan One57’s developer drops luxury rent plan
Bloomberg Manhattan builder Extell Development Co. is retreating from a plan to list 38 units at its One57 tower for lease, choosing to sell them instead as demand for luxury rentals slips amid an abundance of supply. The apartments, on the 32nd through 38th floors of the West 57th Street skyscraper, will be listed for sale as condominiums at prices ...
Read More »China plans to tear down walls of gated condos and let public in
Bloomberg For years, Ji Ping has put up with Beijing’s smog, traffic and high prices, but this could be the last straw. A government plan threatens to pull down the walls of her gated community and maybe even drive a public road through its manicured gardens. “There are already so many things I’m not happy about here,” says Ji, 48, ...
Read More »