Real Estate

  Shanghai / AFP China’s property giant Wanda, owned by the country’s richest man Wang Jianlin, has signed an MOU to sell a historic Madrid skyscraper to a Spanish developer for €272 million, the company said. Wanda plans to sell all shares of Wanda Madrid Development, which holds the 25-storey Edificio Espana, to Spain’s property developer Baraka Global Investment, its ...

  Bloomberg A group led by US real estate investor Blackstone Group LP, the world’s largest manager of alternative assets, said second-quarter profit rose 2 percent as it earned more from real estate sales and its credit portfolio gained. Economic net income, a measure of earnings that reflects both realized and unrealized investment gains, increased to $520 million, or 44 ...

  DETROIT / AP A two-storey, wood-frame house became the 10,000th vacant building torn down under Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s massive plan to eliminate blight as the city continues dealing with abandoned properties following a population decline. An excavator was used to quickly tear down the house on Marlowe Street on Detroit’s northwest side. The demolition of 10,000 buildings is ...

  Bloomberg US home prices rose 5.6 percent in May from a year earlier as buyers competed for a scarcity of listings. Prices climbed 0.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from April, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) said in a report from Washington. The average estimate of 18 economists was for a 0.4 percent gain, according to the ...

  Bloomberg Tengda Construction Group Co., which builds municipal infrastructure projects in China, plans to form a 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) hydrogen industry fund to finance fuel cells and vehicles powered by the gas. The Taizhou, Zhejiang-based company, agreed to partner with Chang’An International Trust Co., Oriental Patron Financial Group and Bestone Asset Management Co. for the fund, it ...

  AP Americans bought more homes in June, the fourth straight monthly gain as the sales rate reached its highest level in more than nine years. The National Association of Realtors said that sales of existing homes rose 1.1 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.57 million, the best performance since February 2007. Buyers are quickly ...

  AFP Vancouver’s city council launched a review of the municipal regulations on short-term rentals like Airbnb, a platform accused of driving up real estate prices. “We’re working to better understand the economic benefits of short-term rentals, as well as the potential impact of short-term tourist rentals on the supply and price of long term rental housing for Vancouver residents,” ...

  AP U.S. renters are seeing their housing costs rise at a much more manageable pace, as new construction has tempered years of runaway increases in rent. Real estate data firm Zillow says that median rent rose a seasonally adjusted 2.6 percent in June from a year ago, matching the gains in average hourly wages. Rental costs have decelerated after ...

  AP Long-term U.S. mortgage rates edged higher this week, remaining near historically low levels as a continued enticement to prospective homebuyers. Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said Thursday the average for the benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 3.45 percent from 3.42 percent last week. The average rate is down sharply from 4.04 percent a year ago. The 15-year fixed ...

  Bloomberg Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency plans to sell real estate loans with a face value of about 4 billion euros ($4.4 billion), two people with knowledge of the matter said. NAMA is expected to seek bids for the portfolio, known as Project Gem, toward the end of 2016 and the portfolio will sell at a substantial discount to ...