- London Tops DC as World's Best Foreign Investment Market
- Some Kazakhstan Apartments Listed at $800,000
- London's Land Securities Pumping $1B into 3 New Construction Projects
- Australian Investors Hunt for Bargains in Tokyo
- Hualalai Resort Single-Family Home Posts Record $26.25M Sale
- Inland Unloads 56 Home Sites in Illinois in Multi-Million-Dollar Deal
- Orlando's Daryl Carter Controls Almost 200 Prime Acres in Tropny Corridor
(LONDON, ENGLAND) -- London has beaten Washington, DC by a wide margin as the world's best real estate investment market today, according to a fourth-quarter 2009 survey by the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate. New York City was the No. 3 choice.
DC was first and London was second in last year's survey. For investing in the U.S., Washington was the top choice this year.
"Last year, Washington was the No. 1 city (worldwide) but the spread was not nearly as great," says James Fetgatter, CEO, Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate.
"This year, the spread with DC and New York is much greater. The concentration is in London, Washington and New York."
The survey also revealed that for the second consecutive year, multi-family topped investors' preferred property type. Next in line was office, industrial, retail and hotel properties.
Foreign investors chose the top five emerging markets as China, Brazil, India, Mexico and Turkey. Brazil and India were No. 1 and No. 2 in the previous year's survey.
(ALMATY, KAZAKHASTAN) -- Kazakhstan's falling real estate prices in all property types are gradually rising again. Units at one apartment community had been priced at $800,000 (4,500 per square meter)
For 2010, the forecast is a fragile recovery and the gradual completion of numerous partly finished construction projects.
Bricks & Mortar, an online industry watcher, states real estate firms have reported an increase in activity since March 2009. Prices started to rise in October when major construction firms Bazi A and MAG increased their prices by $100 and $50 per square meter respectively.
"The increase in the official price is symbolically important," says Roger Holland, president, CBRE Scott Holland. "They are telling the market that the crisis is over and you better look at buying."
However, cautions Holland, "This is a very fragile recovery. I expect this winter will be quiet, but by March 2010 things will be more positive.
"The resolution of the (bank) BTA's debt restructuring removes a big hurdle."
(LONDON, ENGLAND) -- London-based Land Securities plans to invest $1 billion (655 million pounds) into three new construction projects in affluent neighborhoods.
The projects are Park House in Mayfair and Wellington House and Selborne House in Victoria. Ground-breaking is scheduled for the first and second quarters of this year with completions due in 2012 and 2013.
Reuters reports that together, the projects will provide more than 500,000 square feet of new office and retail space, and 120,000 square feet of residential space.
In favoring new construction over acquisition, Land Securities is changing previously held strategy.
"Our financial strength allows us to be first off the block with our London development program," says Land Securities CEO Francis Salway.
The company's plans came after Investment Property Databank disclosed average United Kingdom commercial property values rose 3% in December 2009, their highest monthly gain in 23 years.
Reid Mackay
Reid Mackay, head of the capital market and institutional property division of CB Richard Ellis Asia, says the new investor breed is looking for quality rather than the high yields that were touted in Japan's markets between 2005 and 2007.
"The cycle has turned (in Japan) and the days of Japan-centric listed property trusts are over," says the CBRE executive.
Mackay says the first major transaction of a prime Tokyo office block since the onset of the global financial crisis came in December 2009, reports The Australian online publication.
Li Ka Shing
Mackay expects AMP Capital to make its first Tokyo acquisition by June. "They have been researching the (Tokyo) office and retail property markets for some time," he says.
Mackay says $1.5 billion to $2 billion worth of assets belonging to Australian-listed Japanese real estate trusts are on the market, but most are B-grade buildings and difficult to sell.
(KONA, HAWAII) -- A five-bedroom, 8,630-square-foot single-family residence at Hualalai Resort on the North Kona Coast of Hawaii has been sold for a record $26.25 million.
Patrick Fitzgerald, CEO of Hualalai Resort didn't disclose the names of buyer and seller.
He says the sale was the largest in Hawaii ever recorded and the largest in the 13-year-old resort. Total 2009 real estate sales at the resort topped $150 million.
The home has 5 ½ bathrooms, a great room with pocket glass, screen and operable louvered doors, open-air dining room and living room pavilion.
"With five transactions exceeding $10 million, including this record-breaking sale, Hualalai Realty did an outstanding job in 2009, despite a very difficult economic environment," Fitzgerald says. "We believe that these sales reflect buyers' confidence in the significant investments ($40 million) we have made at Hualalai."
(OAK BROOK, IL) -- Inland Real Estate Auctions Inc. has sold 56 orphaned residential lots in the Five Oaks of Frankfort development in the past six months.
Paul Rogers, senior vice president and managing broker of Inland Real Estate Auctions, didn't disclosed the names of buyer, seller or the developer Inland represented in the multi-million-dollar transaction.
"In a market where the conventional wisdom might say that no one wants to buy land, these results show that there are still buyers out there with an eye for a good value," says Rogers.
He says the lots had remained unsold for the past six years.
"High-quality home sites like the ones in Five Oaks of Frankfort can still be sold today, but it requires versatility and creativity on behalf of the seller and the seller's real estate marketing specialist," Rogers adds.
(ORLANDO, FL) -- Maury L. Carter & Associates Inc., a low-key Orlando-based land-brokerage firm, has collared a prime swath of land totaling almost 200 acres along the Interstate 4 corridor between Disney World, Universal, Sea World and the Orange County Convention Center.
Local industrial brokers speculate the firm may now be the largest landholder in the limited land market leading to the area's major leisure attractions.
Daryl M. Carter
The seller's name wasn't disclosed.
The new acquisition is bisected by the county's planned Wildwood Avenue and I-4 overpass. The new parcel will also bisect Carter's 105-acre Wildwood PD parcel on the north side of Palm Parkways and Carter's 69-acre Vineland Pointe PD parcel on the south side of I-4.
The transaction pushes Maury L. Carter & Associates' volume to $48.24 million in the last 10 months. Daryl Carter is a vice president of Maury L. Carter & Associates and the son of Maury Carter, the firm's founder and active partner.
Daryl Carter and Patrick Chisholm of Maury L. Carter & Associates represented the buyer. William Bishop of Bishop Realty & Development negotiated for the seller.
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