Real Estate

  Bloomberg Office rents in London’s skyscrapers rose almost 10 percent in the second half of last year as city-center vacancies fell to a 15-year low, according to an index compiled by broker Knight Frank LLP, and are set to continue climbing. Annual skyscraper rents in the U.K. capital surged to $126 per square foot because of rising demand for …

  WAM Miral and Warner Bros. has officially announced that a Warner Bros. themed destination is set to open in Abu Dhabi on Yas Island, which is one of the world’s leading business, leisure and entertainment destinations. The development will include the only Warner Bros. branded hotel alongside the immersive theme park. The first phase of the project, Warner Bros. …

  Bloomberg Investcorp Bank BSC, the Gulf’s largest private investor in U.S. real estate over the past 10 years, plans to step up property investments in the world’s largest economy as it seeks to double assets under management to $25 billion over the next five to seven years. The company expects to spend $1.5 billion on U.S. real estate in …

  Bloomberg Brookfield Asset Management Inc. raised $9 billion for its latest real estate fund, exceeding its $7 billion target and doubling its previous fund, as Asian investors and U.S. pension funds piled in to its fundraising efforts. Brian Kingston, chief executive officer of Brookfield Property Partners LP, said the funds are already 45 percent committed, including investments in the …

  Bloomberg Once upon a time, rooftop pools, climbing walls, pet-washing stations, and golf simulation rooms were amenities that would genuinely help sell a high-end condo. But as the luxury market expanded after the financial crisis, developers bent over backwards to up the ante, hawking screening rooms, wine cellars, bocce courts, and concierges until so many buildings had them that …

  Bloomberg China’s home-price gains accelerated last month as the nation’s economic hubs such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen continued to lead the way amid surging liquidity that underpinned demand. New-home prices excluding government-subsidized housing climbed in 62 cities, compared with 47 in February, among the 70 cities tracked by the government, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday. …

  Bloomberg Chinese developers set conservative goals for sales in 2016, indicating that they expect property growth to slow after a period of credit-fueled expansion. Twenty-two major Chinese developers set a combined contracted sales goal at 1.3 trillion yuan ($201 billion) this year, representing an 8.8 percent gain from the sales value they reached in 2015, according to data compiled …

  Bloomberg Demand for London homes under construction slumped by 33 percent in the first quarter as a new tax on overseas buyers and high values damped demand. The number of homes sold prior to completion in the U.K. capital fell to 5,947 from a record high of 8,927 a year earlier, according to data compiled by Molior London that …

  Bloomberg U.K. house prices climbed to a record in April as demand from landlords in the previous month created knock-on effects through the property market, according to Rightmove Plc. Average asking prices rose 1.3 percent from March to 307,033 pounds ($437,000), the property website operator said in a report published Monday. It left values 7.3 percent higher than a …

  Bloomberg Immofinanz AG and CA Immobilien Anlagen AG plan to merge in a transaction that would create the biggest commercial property group in central and eastern Europe, following a hostile takeover battle that ended without a deal last year. Immofinanz agreed to buy a 26 percent stake in CA Immo from Russian billionaire Boris Mints’s O1 Group Ltd. in …