HONG KONG : Hong Kong property consultants said the government’s move to raise transaction taxes for luxury apartments will do little to stabilise residential prices.
However, they said plans to increase residential land supply will help.
The measures were announced in the government’s Budget speech on Wednesday, and are aimed at averting a property bubble in the [...]

Hong Kong, housing Hide

The Great Bailout is mostly over for the banks. But for those troubled behemoths of the nation’s housing bust, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the lifeline from Washington just keeps getting longer.
Fifteen months after Fannie [FNM  1.01   -0.02  (-1.94%)   ] and Freddie [FRE  1.21  -0.02  (-1.63%)   ] were effectively nationalized, neither the Obama administration nor Congressional leaders see a quick solution to one of the [...]

debt, fannie, freddie, housing, housing loans, subprime, US Hide

For Singaporeans looking to invest in property, the home market is just one option.
Ms Jacqueline Wong, head of residential at Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), says that as prime residential properties in Singapore become more expensive, investing overseas becomes an affordable option.
This year, investors may want to venture further – particularly to Britain and Australia, cited [...]

housing, housing loans, investments, UK Hide

DAVOS, Switzerland : Global leaders and bankers will be looking for firm signs at the Davos forum this week of China’s determination to control the hot money pouring into its economy.
A year after China’s Premier Wen Jiabao sternly lectured the United States and other western nations at the World Economic Forum for causing the international [...]

bubble, China, credit, global markets, housing, investments, subprime Hide

WASHINGTON : The lead author of a World Bank report on the global economy published Wednesday said the bank sees “signs of bubbles” in the Chinese economy, a problem he said the Chinese government acknowledges.
“We can already see some signs of bubbles and signs of tensions in the Chinese economy, in particular in the housing [...]

bubble, China, credit, housing, subprime Hide

When stock markets rallied dramatically last year, soon after the financial crisis, it was mainly the bold and the brave who leapt right in.
Many others were wary. Was this a false dawn, only to be followed by more market mayhem? They were reasonable fears, given the prognostications of so-called experts.
But now that the market rebound [...]

earnings, housing, investments, retirement, Risk Management, Singapore Hide

SYDNEY : French bank Societe Generale on Monday said that it was considering pulling out of Australia and was in discussions with regulators regarding its banking licence.
Australian branch chief executive John Harvey said no decision had yet been made but that a total exit was “clearly on the agenda”, adding that the bank was in [...]

australia, bank, housing, US Hide

BEIJING, Jan 14, 2010 (AFP) – Property prices in Chinese cities continued to soar in December, rising at the fastest pace in 17 months, official figures released Thursday showed.
Property prices in 70 medium and large cities increased by 7.8 percent in the last month of 2009 from a year earlier, and 1.5 percent from November, [...]

China, housing, housing loans Hide

SINGAPORE - The Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) has written down most of its US$675 million investment in a giant New York apartment complex that was bought at the height of the property boom in the United States but which has since suffered from the collapse of the housing market there.
The joint owners of Stuyvesant [...]

housing, investment banks, Singapore, US Hide

BEIJING: China ordered vigilance against foreign “hot money” flows and speculative real estate investment on Sunday in its latest expression of concern over a surging property market.
The order issued by the State Council, or Cabinet, called on authorities nationwide to take a range of measures to “promote the stable and healthy development of the real [...]

China, housing, inflation Hide