Real Estate

  Bloomberg Canadian consumer leverage remained near a record in the first quarter as rising mortgage liabilities offset a gain in disposable income. Credit-market debt including mortgages was 165.3 percent of after-tax income, slightly lower than the 165.4 percent reading in the fourth quarter, Statistics Canada said Tuesday in Ottawa. Persistent strength in the Toronto and Vancouver real estate markets ...

Bloomberg China’s use of administrative measures to control property prices can have painful repercussions for its swelling ranks of homeowners. Just ask Shanghai resident Yi Miaowen. Yi had to cut the price of the apartment he was selling by at least 8 percent after local authorities in March restricted purchases by non-residents, causing two prospective buyers to pull out. “I ...

  Bloomberg Canada should consider further housing-market restrictions to avoid a crash, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said, adding another voice to the recent chorus of those warning rapid price gains may be unsustainable. The country has the highest ratio of residential investment to gross domestic product among the 34 OECD nations, and household debt equal to 168 ...

  Bloomberg Consumer confidence hit a fresh high this year as the number of Canadians expecting a decline in real-estate prices dropped, telephone polling shows. The Bloomberg Nanos Canadian Confidence Index rose to 57.9 from 57.8 a week earlier, reaching the highest level since November. The gain was driven by increased housing optimism: the difference between the share of those ...

  Bloomberg Foreigners buying homes in Sydney will face a new property tax from next week when New South Wales becomes the second state in Australia to impose such a duty as soaring demand from China helps drive record prices. Australia’s most populous state plans to introduce a 4 percent stamp duty surcharge from June 21 and from next year ...

  TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE A year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ratcheted up the pressure on housing officials across the country to do what has rarely been done in Houston: build affordable homes in well-off neighbourhoods. That is proving to be easier said than done. The court warned that concentrating public housing in low-income, high-minority neighborhoods could violate the Fair ...

  Bloomberg Vancouver’s housing boom is squeezing out some families as growth draws in new residents faster than dwellings can be built, according to Canada’s finance minister said. “If you are in Vancouver today, it’s challenging for people to think about how they can get into the market and how their children can get into the market,” Bill Morneau said ...

  Bloomberg Britain’s biggest property firms including Barratt Developments Plc and Canary Wharf Group Plc are the latest to take a stand on U.K. membership in the European Union less than two weeks before a vote, saying a decision to leave would hinder development projects and raise the cost to build new homes. In an open letter released on Saturday, ...

  Bloomberg U.K. house prices look set to dip for the first time since 2012 amid uncertainty before Britain’s vote on European Union membership and as a new tax on buy-to-let properties and second homes kicks in. Home prices in central London are already falling, according to May data from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. While they continue to ...

  Tribune News service Almost two years after the Affordable Housing Scheme was launched in India’s Haryana, scores of developers have come up with a wide range of housing options in an ‘achievable’ price range of Rs17-24 lakh. About 36,000 apartments of 400-600 sq feet are up for sale in the district. Many of these projects have already commenced with ...