A letter from London: The importance of SEA buyers in the UK capital
By PrimeResi: Demand for London residential new-build property is sky high and rising. CBRE revealed last week that the volume of such sales above £1,000 per sq ft leapt by a whopping 240 percent over the last year, and it’s been well-documented that Southeast Asian buyers have...
Continue Reading • 30 Jan 2013
Chinese buyers spread their wings
By Andrew Batt:Faced with restrictions at home, Chinese property buyers have been spreading their wings in search of the perfect overseas property investment opportunity.The growing trend, although not a new one by any means, has forced many agents to sit up and take notice.Take New York as one...
Continue Reading • 29 Jan 2013
Avoid London for buy-to-let returns
By Andrew Batt:Areas of London have been highlighted as some of the worst performing buy-to-let locations in the UK, according to new research published today.A report from Home.co.uk, a leading property search engine, identified the best and worst locations in terms of typical gross rental...
Continue Reading • 24 Jan 2013
Spain reigns as most-searched country
By Andrew Batt:Spain has been hailed as the most popular overseas property destination of 2012.Some 18.3 percent of potential property buyers were looking at the Iberian nation on TheMoveChannel.com and a network of other Europe-based overseas property portals last year. The United States was...
Continue Reading • 22 Jan 2013
Asians are top London buyers
By Andrew Batt:Property buyers from Asia were responsible for the majority of new-build London property purchases in 2012.New research from Knight Frank revealed that buyers from Singapore accounted for 23 percent of all transactions in the sector, only marginally behind the 27 percent of...
Continue Reading • 17 Jan 2013
Asia links to London helicopter crash
By Andrew Batt: Yesterday’s helicopter crash in central London which killed two people and injured 12 involved a new development which had exhibited in Southeast Asia.Fog is thought to have been a contributing to the accident which happened when a helicopter, attempting to land at the...
Continue Reading • 17 Jan 2013
UK house prices predicted to rise
By Andrew Batt:House sales across the UK look set to increase as chartered surveyors' expectations for the coming three months rose significantly.Published today, the latest RICS housing market survey, the longest-running survey of its kind, said today that 24 percent more surveyors across the...
Continue Reading • 15 Jan 2013
Asia sales start for Battersea Power Station
By Andrew Batt and Farah Wahida:Sales started in the United Kingdom yesterday for the first phase of the much-anticipated Battersea Power Station project, with dozens of people reported to be queuing in advance of the 10am opening.The project will be officially launched for sales to property...
Continue Reading • 11 Jan 2013
Investors cash in on the rush for black gold
By Andrew Batt:Savvy property investors are chasing in on a huge demand in mini-hotels from oil workers on the back of the discovery of oil in the US state of North Dakota.Over the past decade the United States, the world's largest oil consumer, has reduced its reliance on foreign oil imports...
Continue Reading • 11 Jan 2013
Top Properties in the UK Home Counties
By Andrew Batt: Record property prices in London combined with the last two years of falling house prices in the Home Counties are set to create a series of property hotspots around the capital in 2013.According to multi award-winning house builder Millgate, smart buyers will look to invest early...
Continue Reading • 11 Jan 2013
Dubai is world's strongest property market
By Romesh Navaratnarajah:Dubai has been named the world’s strongest housing market, with its residential property index climbing 13.46 percent in 2012 compared with a 1.8 percent decline in the previous year, according to Global Property Guide.The report also revealed that Singapore fell...
Continue Reading • 9 Jan 2013
Ho Chi Minh City unlikely to see swift turnaround
By Andrew Batt:The residential property market in the Vietnamese city of Ho Chi Minh is unlikely to see a significant turnaround in 2013 despite the government’s efforts to boost the sector.Marc Townsend, Managing Director for CB Richard Ellis (Vietnam), revealed that finance for both...
Continue Reading • 7 Jan 2013
London Tower sees strong interest
By Romesh Navaratnarajah:London is ripe for investments, especially as the government recently announced a £50 million infusion into a new visionary development for media and technology firms.The initiative aims to revive the well-known Old Street roundabout to become Europe’s largest...
Continue Reading • 21 Dec 2012
Brits snap up buy-to-let homes
By Andrew Batt: British property buyers and investors are splashing cash for new-build, buy-to-let properties as a way to expand their current investment portfolios.According to Martin Copeland, Sales Sirector at Knight Knox International, the traditional buy-to-let market in regional towns and...
Continue Reading • 12 Dec 2012
Do They Know It's Christmas house for sale
By Andrew Batt:The London house where Bob Geldof and Midge Ure wrote the iconic Band-Aid record Do They Know It’s Christmas is on the market.Zachary House on the banks of the River Thames was owned by Midge Ure during the 1980s, and he co-wrote the charity chart-topper in the ground floor...
Continue Reading • 4 Dec 2012
Battersea project to start Asia sales
By Andrew Batt:The Malaysian consortium behind the development of the former Battersea Power Station (pictured) in London has revealed it will start selling the first phase of development in the UK and Asia next month.Media reports in the UK suggest that Jones Lang LaSalle is close to being...
Continue Reading • 4 Dec 2012
Hawaii is home to the most expensive US homes
By Romesh Navaratnarajah:Hawaiiis home to the most expensive residential properties in the United States of America according to a report by consultancy Coldwell Banker.The study revealed that the average price for a four-bedroom two-bathroom home in Hawaii stands at US$742,000, beating...
Continue Reading • 4 Dec 2012
Life in the fast lane - literally
By Romesh Navaratnarajah: An apartment building in China (pictured) oddly stands in the middle of a new road as one of its owners refused to sell their home to the government, claiming that the compensation was not enough, according to media reports. Luo Baogen and his wife are still...
Continue Reading • 30 Nov 2012
British man fined for untidy home
By Andrew Batt:A British homeowner has been fined £2000 by his local council after failing the upkeep of his property.Neighbours of Philip Gunwhy in the English city of Worcester started to make complaints in 2008 when his property started to look like a “building site”. Windows...
Continue Reading • 23 Nov 2012
Take a look at the UK's best home
By Andrew Batt: A striking residential property in Brynna, South Wales, has been officially recognised as the best house in Wales and joint best in England at the What House? Awards 2012.It boasts an 88-acre 'back garden', while the location – Rhondda Cynon Taff - and has already been named...
Continue Reading • 21 Nov 2012