Yet more property related laws to be introduced in Dubai
According to “The National,” a major Dubai newspaper, Dubai is expected to release yet another set of laws governing the property industry. There is a growing number of disputes between small property investors and developers in Dubai and prices continue to fall. This is what The National has to say:
The Securities and Exchange Commission formally charged Angelo Mozilo, the former CEO of Countrywide Financial Corp., with fraud and illegal trading this past week.
Countrywide was one of the major players in the 2007 subprime mortgage meltdown that kicked off the current global financial crisis. Countrywide COO David Sambol was also charged with civil fraud, as was Countrywide former chief financial officer Eric Sieracki.
Ebony Ivory Investors Group, 500 international property buyers and investors, have signed a petition requesting Dubai’s Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) and the Dubai Ruler’s Court to investigate the Jumeirah Lakes Towers Ebony Ivory Towers project, involving Al Fajer Properties and its marketing agent Dynasty Zarooni
More on Property Investors in Dubai Scammed Seek RERA Intervention
Tim Geithner, U.S. Treasury Secretary under President Barack Obama, is walking through a drama all to familiar to all to many ordinary Americans these days.
Geithner took a job out of state (Washington D.C.) and has been unable to sell his five bedroom, NY suburban home ever since, even after dropping the asking price to less than what he paid for it.
The latest house price index from the British land registry shows a fall of 0.3% in April, bringing the average house price in England and Wales down to £152,898. The Land registry index is the only accurate figures available – although they lag behind the Building Society figures by a month or so, they reflect a more accurate picture because they are based on actual sales values rather than a building society’s mortgage value of an over-optimistic estate agent’s off-the-top-of-his-head valuation.
More on House prices in the UK fall for 20th consecutive month
The latest press release, I ,mean editorial, I mean advertorial from Emirates Business is pretty clear that Dubai’s property bubble has finished deflating and we are back to boom times. Hold on to your hats!
Hand written price reductions in a French Estate Agents Window
After months of denying the reality of the real estate correction, professionals in the industry have finally admitted there is a correction undrway. Figures published last week by the Chamber of Notaries of Paris-Ile-de-France tell a different tale to the usual “we are immune,” coming from the FNAIM. The housing market all but collapsed in the Paris region – 22 980 transactions were recorded in the first quarter of 2009 against 39 580 during the same period in 2008, a drop of 41% and the lowest figure since 1986.
A recent New York Times article describes how the economic downturn and the foreclosure crisis are creating a new kind of real estate entrepreneur.
A flood of absentee buyers are now looking to purchase foreclosed and REO properties at rock bottom prices and then offer them up to the former homeowners as rentals before the original occupants ever leave.
More on Entrepreneurs in High-Foreclosure Areas Turn Homeowners Into Tenants
These are a few recent headlines and predictions about when the real estate market will bottom out. Of course, there are a select few who have been calling the bottom for some time now. Oddly enough, these tend to be real estate agents and newspaper columns. Speaking of newspaper columns, we are sad to see the end of “Raising the Roof,” the erstwhile International Herald Tribune and more recently, New York Times’ very own property blog. Kevin Brass will continue to write the print edition property column for the NYT, but the online version is no more. Honestly – this was one of the few international newspaper property blogs worth reading, and I don’t think I ever once saw a “We have reached bottom, Buy Now!” headline – which may be why it has gone the way of all things? Newspaper advertising is drying up faster than the 120% mortgages did.
The Knight Frank Global House Price Index shows pretty much what everyone in the industry expected. Dubai and Singapore show the largest drops in value, with more stable housing markets performing better than those affected by the recent credit boom and subsequent housing bubble, and the decline looking to continue for the foreseeable future. Key points of the report are from Knight Frank’s press release:
