The slow unwinding of the US housing crisis

The slow unwinding of the US housing crisis
 
IT is becoming increasingly evident that the US housing crisis – the root cause of the US economic slowdown and the turmoil in the financial markets – is getting worse by the day. Any hopes for an economic recovery and a restoration of market stability will turn [...]

UOL betting big on hospitality business

UOL betting big on hospitality business
 
By UMA SHANKARI
 
(SINGAPORE) The UOL Group has earmarked some $500 million – or a third of its available funds – to expand its hospitality business in Asia-Pacific over the next three years, the group’s president and chief executive Gwee Lian Kheng told BT in an interview.
 
The property company [...]

US housing woes: It’s the affordability, stupid!

US housing woes: It’s the affordability, stupid!
 
By ROBERT SAMUELSON
 
GLOOM. Doom. Calamity. Home prices are tumbling. We’re bombarded by sombre reports. But wait. This is actually good news, because lower home prices are the only real solution to the housing collapse. The sooner prices fall, the better. The longer the adjustment takes, the longer [...]

Greenspan says credit recovery hinges on US housing

Greenspan says credit recovery hinges on US housing
 
NEW YORK – A recovery in global credit markets will depend on stabilisation in US home prices and a massive reduction in housing inventory, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told Deutsche Bank AG clients on Wednesday, according to sources.
 
Mr Greenspan, the US Fed chairman from 1987 [...]

Scams and schemes compound woes of US housing crisis

Scams and schemes compound woes of US housing crisis
 
(CHICAGO) As the US housing meltdown forces hundreds of thousands of Americans from their homes, the extent to which fraud was a factor in the crisis is just coming to light.
 
Products such as stated-income loans – known as ‘liar loans’ because no proof of income [...]

Mixed landed housing site for sale

Mixed landed housing site for sale CHESTNUT VILLE (I and II), a mixed landed site at Dairy Farm Crescent, has been put up for collective sale and the indicative price for the combined plot is $90 million. This represents a land price of $741 psf over the land area, inclusive of an estimated $1 million [...]

S’pore ranked top Reit market in Asia-Pacific

S’pore ranked top Reit market in Asia-Pacific
 
Survey cites support from regulators to the industry as advantageous
 
By UMA SHANKARI
 
SINGAPORE has been rated as the best location in Asia-Pacific for overall real estate investment trust (Reit) potential – for a second year.
 
According to the second annual Asia-Pacific Reit Survey – undertaken for financial services [...]

UK lenders lost £700m to mortgage fraud

UK lenders lost £700m to mortgage fraud
 
(LONDON) UK mortgage lenders probably lost £700 million (S$1.9 billion) last year to organised fraud that inflated real estate prices, according Britain’s Association of Chief Police Officers.
 
Mortgage fraud for profit ranges from overvaluation of newly constructed homes to deliberate ramping of commercial real estate prices, often involving mortgage [...]

UK housebuilders face hard times

UK housebuilders face hard times
 
Fewer houses built as higher interest rates, credit crunch drive away buyers
 
(LONDON) Britain’s housebuilders are building fewer homes in the face of tighter mortgage lending and an uncertain price outlook, but slashing volumes and costs may not be enough to lure back investors to the battered sector.
 
Britain’s major [...]

Property valuations in focus amid Spanish angst

Property valuations in focus amid Spanish angst
 
(LONDON) Spanish property developers, having enjoyed what once seemed an unstoppable boom, could face a severe mauling unless they bow to more realistic pricing as the economy slows and banks rein in lending.
 
The true value of real estate is a growing bone of contention as more debt-doped property [...]