Real Estate

Bloomberg Norway will let its sovereign wealth fund raise real estate holdings by about $17 billion, while rejecting a proposal to expand into infrastructure projects. The upper limit on real estate investments for the $850 billion fund, the world’s biggest, should be raised to 7 percent from 5 percent, the Finance Ministry said on Tuesday. The real estate assets will …

Bloomberg Saudi Arabia is taking an unprecedented hands-on role in housing finance and development as it seeks to re-energize a plan to build more than a million homes and make ownership more affordable. The Housing Ministry plans to create its own development company and start a mortgage-guarantee fund to encourage banks to increase lending, Minister Majed al-Hogail said in an …

Bloomberg Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Co. is joining U.K. developer Delancey Real Estate Asset Management Ltd. and Dutch pension fund APG Asset Management NV to create a $2 billion home-rental business in London, with properties in the former Olympic athletes’ village and the Elephant & Castle district. The venture, which is subject to regulatory approval, will manage 4,000 homes, …

Bloomberg The battle for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. may be over, but the company’s chief executive officer says it’s just the beginning for lodging-industry mergers. “Clearly the Marriott-Starwood transaction has created a lot of chatter about further consolidation,” Starwood CEO Tom Mangas said on a conference call with analysts in which he and Marriott International Inc. CEO Arne …

Bloomberg U.K. house prices increased for a ninth month in March as rental investors rushed to purchase property before a tax increase, Nationwide Building Society said. The average price of a home rose 0.8 percent from February to 200,251 pounds ($287,280), the lender said in a statement on Monday. The annual rate of growth surged to 5.7 percent, the strongest …

Bloomberg The average price of a Manhattan apartment topped $2 million for the first time, reflecting the closing of deals from a high-end buying frenzy that’s now showing signs of a slowdown. Buyers in the first quarter took ownership of condominiums in some of New York’s most-expensive developments after signing contracts as far back as three years ago, when construction …

DUBAI \ EMIRATES BUSINESS London was the most attractive market for Chestertons’ MENA investors, with more than AED 265 million invested into the UK capital’s real estate market. This represented over 70% of their total sales of nearly AED 379 million. “London has long been a favoured destination for investors from the Middle East region, it is a mature, well …

Bloomberg Iron ore will probably snap back to $45 a metric ton as a nascent real-estate rebound in China won’t bolster construction demand in the world’s biggest user and supplies remain plentiful, according to McKinsey & Co. The commodity will trade between $45 and $50 a ton this year, eroding a first-quarter rally to as high as $63.74 that was …

MANAMA / EMIRATES BUSINESS Cluttons’ Bahrain Spring 2016 Property Market Outlook Report shows that retail at Al Seef continues to command the highest rents at BD 12.50 psm, representing a 4% increase over the 12 months from Q1 2015. Following closely behind Al Seef is Amwaj Islands, which has seen a rental increase of 33% since Q1 2015, to stand …

Bloomberg There’s nothing to stop developer Kevin Maloney from starting sales at 111 W. 57th St., the latest sky-high condo tower rising on midtown Manhattan’s Billionaires’ Row. He has the necessary legal approvals, and an office ready to welcome would-be buyers. But with luxury-home demand slowing and new condos piling up on the market, he’s waiting about a year before …