Bloomberg After World War II, the economic center of gravity in the U.S. began shifting from the cities to the suburbs — and that shift continued for more than a half-century. In the past few years, though, there’s been lots of talk about the trend reversing. What does the evidence show? Well, it can be a little confusing. Here, ...
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Singapore realtor sees cheaper deals
Bloomberg City Developments Ltd., Singapore’s second-largest developer, may seek to buy offices this year as rising interest rates makes such assets cheaper worldwide. “We are coming into a very good time for acquisitions,†Grant Kelley, CEO of City Developments, said in an interview in Singapore. “The long-term trend line for assets for the next 12 to 24 months could ...
Read More »A $26.5mn mansion that’s good for the environment
Bloomberg In the pre-crash days, sustainable building materials and low-flow toilets became part of the common real estate conversation: Slap “eco” on a home, the thinking went, and it was more valuable, not just to the earth but to the homeowner. The most direct path to an officially green building was through third-party certification—if the building could check ...
Read More »China inks deal for industrial park at Oman’s Duqm port
Reuters A group of Chinese investors have signed an agreement to build an industrial park at Oman’s southern port of Duqm in a project that could attract billions of dollars of investment, government and company officials said on Monday. The Omani government is working to develop the area around Duqm, on a stretch of barren coast 550 km (345 ...
Read More »Soured British commercial property loans cut by half as values jump
Bloomberg Rising property values enabled lenders in the U.K. to reduce defaulted commercial-property loans on their books by almost half to about 12.1 billion pounds ($17.5 billion) last year, a survey showed. The amount remaining in default fell from 23.2 billion pounds at the end of 2014, according to a survey of lenders by Leicester, England’s De Montfort University ...
Read More »No takers yet for New Jersey’s most expensive home
BLOOMBERG In this age of tiny houses and the less-is-more aesthetic of millennials, can a house be too large for its market—even when that market sports a median home price around the $5 million mark? That has to be a question that occurs when viewing this massive 30,000-square-foot home listed for $48,880,000 in tony Alpine, NJ. New Jersey’s most ...
Read More »Qatar First Bank signs deal with UK’s realty adviser JLL
EMIRATES BUSINESS Qatar First Bank L.L.C. (QFB), a leading Shari’ah compliant bank based in Qatar offering investment opportunities and innovative financial solutions with local, regional and international reach, announced the signing of an agreement with JLL, in order to offer shareholders and clients the ability to source real estate opportunities based on their specific requirements and budget. Signed at ...
Read More »US’s midwest drives home sales growth
AP Midwestern homebuyers helped spark a national increase in real estate sales during April, a sign that demand for housing remains steady despite rising prices and tight inventories. Sales of existing homes rose 1.7 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.45 million, the National Association of Realtors said. Americans are eagerly searching for homes. But ...
Read More »Eiffel Tower to be turned into rental apartment at Euro 2016
AFP Four lucky competition winners are set to be the first people in history to use the Eiffel Tower as a vacation home next month. Rental company HomeAway is taking over part of the first floor of the iconic 300-meter (yard) landmark for the duration of the UEFA Euro 2016 soccer tournament in Paris, and transforming it into Hausmannian-style ...
Read More »Condos at ‘Ground Zero mosque’ site get global financing
Bloomberg A luxury-condo project planned for the lower Manhattan site of what was once to be the “Ground Zero mosque†has received $219 million in financing from an international consortium of lenders, paving the way for 50 high-end units to enter a New York market that is growing heavy with them. Developer Soho Properties, led by Sharif El-Gamal, said ...
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