Real Estate

Bloomberg Microsoft Corp said it will spend $500 million to develop affordable housing and help alleviate homelessness in the Seattle area, responding to a growing regional housing crisis that has strained the finances of many lower- and middle-income residents. Half the money will be spent to support low-income housing across King County with a further $225 million invested at lower ...

Bloomberg Home sales in the US slumped in December, while prices inched up slightly, marking the smallest annual increase since the end of the last housing crash in 2012, according to data from brokerage Redfin. The median home price rose to $289,800 in December, a gain of 1.2 percent, the slowest monthly pace since March 2012. Sales dropped by almost ...

Bloomberg Danes may soon be able to get 30-year home loans at just 1.5 percent. That’s considerably less than many sovereign states pay to borrow for that period, including the US government. It’s not the first time Denmark’s mortgage-backed covered-bond market — the world’s biggest — has tested such extreme levels. It tends to occur when investors from Germany to ...

Bloomberg Amsterdam’s homes are going for record prices as more expats move into the city. House prices in the Amsterdam region rose 8 percent in the fourth quarter compared to the year earlier, statistics from realtors association NVM sho-wed. The median transaction price was 448,000 euros ($517,000), a new record. Although the pace of the rise was the slowest in ...

Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business Aldar Properties on Monday announced the launch of its newest AED2 billion development, Alreeman in Alshamkha. With investment zone status, and located in close proximity to the Abu Dhabi International Airport and key arterial highways, the mid-market, mixed-use development offers residential and commercial land plots available for purchase by all nationalities. Alreeman is spread over ...

Bloomberg The Hong Kong government has no plan to ease property-cooling measures, including the stamp duty on second homes or for overseas buyers, as many residents still can’t afford to purchase homes in the city, Financial Secretary Paul Chan said in a blog. The government also doesn’t plan to lift the special stamp duty, which levies home owners who sell ...

DUBAI / Emirates Business Dubai Land Department (DLD) will receive a delegation from the US representing government and private institutions, with over 150 real estate agents and 11 investors who are seeking investment opportunities in Dubai. HE Sultan Butti bin Mejren, Director General of DLD, said, “At this new year’s outset, we announce Dubai’s real estate market’s entry into a ...

Bloomberg The downturn in Sydney’s property market is set to deepen this year as tighter lending standards and the worst slump in values since the late 1980s cause nervous buyers to sit on the sidelines. Average Sydney home values have fallen 11.1 percent since their 2017 peak, according to CoreLogic Inc. data — surpassing the 9.6 percent top-to-bottom decline when ...

Bloomberg Home prices in 20 US cities slowed in October for a seventh consecutive month, extending the longest streak since 2014, a sign of waning demand amid higher mortgage rates and elevated property values. The 20-city index of property values increased 5 percent from a year earlier, after rising 5.2 percent in the prior month, S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller data showed. ...

Bloomberg One of Hong Kong’s biggest sales of residential land this year added to the picture of a worsening home market. China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd. won the site in Kai Tak with a bid of $1,726 per square foot of floor area. That’s 13 percent less than Goldin Group paid last month for a nearby parcel. “The number ...