REAL ESTATE

The key to blowing up a successful asset bubble is that you must constantly attract new money into the asset class you're trying to inflate. By that standard, yesterday's Australia's housing finance figures were better than expected but worse than required. The numbers were up. But new home buyers have not yet been bullied into the market by lower rates.

The UK housing market remains weak. But with the UK economy on the edge of another recession, the surprise is that the housing market has not fallen more. And central London is booming.

Property prices are rising quite strongly in Santiago, Chile's capital. The average "real" price of a new house in Greater Santiago rose by around 9% y-o-y to January 2013, according to the Chilean Chamber of Construction (CChC).

Newest data showed that China witnessed an increase in new home prices in 66 of 70 Chinese major cities in February, raising concerns over the prospects of economic growth. Unquestionably, the new leadership will have to face all challenges caused by increases in new home prices and real estate speculation.

Fairfax Media has today announced that the Commercial Real Estate brand will be adopted for all commercial property media assets across print and digital via commercialrealestate​.com.au

HOUSL last week announced that Greg Ellis, the CEO of REA Group (RealEstate.com.au) has invested in the HOUSL business.

They stretch across the outskirts of dozens of major urban areas, criss-crossed by empty highways. The rows of modern skyscraper apartments are all sold to absent investors. There's little doubt these scenes create compelling television.

China's official purchasing manager's index expanded in February. It read 50.1, according to the China Federation of Logistics and Planning, and anything over 50 indicates an expansion. It's also a fact that the February reading was lower than the January reading. Cue the nerves about the strength of China's expansion.

Some things do not change. One of them is continuous rivalry among cities when it comes to the title of the most expensive office space. The highest prices give not only the prestigious title, but show which destinations are popular. And, to cut a long story short, London was awarded with the prominent title of the most expensive office space in the world, regaining it after several years.

'Wall Street is running a new profit game,' writes Shabnam Bashiri, 'by buying foreclosed houses and renting them back to their former owners.'

What's this? First home buyers are not interested in taking out a loan to buy an overvalued property? The Australian Bureau of Statistics released data yesterday showing that loan approvals fell 1.5% in December, to the lowest level in three months.

The concept of an Homeowners Association, or HOA, isn't one that typically comes to mind when most people think of sustainability. We see more and more horror stories in the news nowadays of homeowners slapped with hefty fines for growing gardens on their own property, or even thrown in jail for daring to keep a cistern in their backyard.

It seems that comparing the price of a US minesweeper and a marine sanctuary is never a good way to earn public appeal as Filipino netizens take on Twitter in response to Donald Trump Jr., reports Inquirer.net.

After three years of house price falls, Dubai's housing market is now recovering fast, while its neighboring Abu Dhabi, UAE's capital, is still struggling.

The RBA's interest rate cuts don't seem to be working. It's a bit player in the global currency war, and Australia's economy will suffer the consequences. Manufacturing's woes are well known. But the RBA's move to ultra-low interest rates was supposed to perk up Australian house prices, and therefore the housing market.

Even though the U.K. saw house prices drop for a sixth month in December, it has still true jewels which cannot be described as cheap and average at all. Lloyds TSB issued its annual list of most expensive streets in the U.K. Not surprisingly, London has once again outperformed other cities in the competition as all from the top ten are located in the capital of the U.K.

Hurricane Sandy has the undesirable distinction of being one of the ten most expensive hurricanes in US history. In the days before Sandy impacted, it was forecast to be 'large, slow-moving and no doubt very costly.'

In response to a weekend news article that claimed mortgage brokers fail to adequately disclose to customers the commissions they receive from lenders, Mortgage Choice CEO Michael Russell, one of Australia's largest independently-operated firms, seeks to set the record straight.

Development in Dubai froze or stalled in many cases following the 2008 crash. But gradually, Dubai's property market has started to recover and stalled or partially shelved projects are return.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has denied reports she was aware of a Melbourne property that was bought on money allegedly pilfered from union coffers, insisting that her role as lawyer for the Australian Workers Union (AWU) was strictly on setting up its ‘slush fund’.

Domain has launched Domain Chinese today, the first property magazine for the Sydney Chinese community that not only features listings, but also editorial content as well as statistics and tools for the property investor.

Vietnam is facing a housing catastrophe. A disastrous slump has overtaken its housing market. The government is embarrassed, the banks are bankrupt, and the economy is in a mess.

Australia home prices skid in October, giving a slight reprieve to the four-month gains, the latest RP Data-Rismark said.

Residential property prices in New Zealand have continued to rise in the third quarter of 2012. The national housing median price rose by 6% to NZ$371,000 (US$304,168) during the year to September 2012, according to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ).

Home prices continued rising in July across the United States. According to reports, home prices in the U.S. biggest cities have risen to the highest level in almost two years.

No end to the global housing market downturn is in sight, except probably in the US, according to a survey of global house price trends by the Global Property Guide. Asia is weakening, and house price falls in the worst-hit European crisis countries are dramatically accelerating.

Sri Lanka's house price rises continue, as security issues get sorted out. There's no official house price data in Sri Lanka, but developers and homebuyers confirm there have been double-digit property price rises.

Australia's leading residential builders and developers have jumped on board a new web-based house and land matching service houseandland.com.au

Having worked as an SEO consultant for many years, i first got into the game doing SEO work for many of Victoria's real estate agents.