March 17 (Bloomberg) — Investors should buy real-estate assets and funds that invest in property in the U.K. and Asia because a potential rebound in prices and economic growth will counter inflation risks, Aberdeen Asset Management Plc said. View full post on Yahoo! News Search Results for real estate

March 15 (Bloomberg) — Chuo Mitsui Trust & Banking Co. is starting a real-estate fund business that will buy offices and housing in central Tokyo, with the goal of accumulating 150 billion yen ($1.66 billion) in assets under management within five years, Nikkei English News said, without citing a source for the information. View full post on Yahoo! News Search Results for real estate

RISMEDIA, March 16, 2010—In the first study of immigrants buying homes in mid-size areas across the United States, researchers at the University of Southern California Lusk Center for Real Estate showed an increasing number of new Americans are choosing to put down permanent roots outside major gateway cities, lured by less competition for jobs and growing neighborhoods of fellow immigrants. The results could help builders and local governments partner to attract the next wave of new home buyers as the exponential growth of immigrants and their descendants will represent 82% of U.S. population growth over the next 40 years.

The paper, “Immigrants and Housing Markets in Mid-Size Metropolitan Areas” by Gary Painter, Ph.D., director of research at the Lusk Center and co-author Zhou Yu, Ph.D., an assistant professor at the University of Utah, looked at 60 cities with housing priced lower than in the major gateways of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. These mid-size areas, including Nashville, Detroit, Colorado Springs, Minneapolis, Sarasota and El Paso have shown an average 27% rise in new immigrant population at a time when the gateway cities are losing residents. The immigrants in these metropolitan areas come from all over the world, with the largest numbers from Mexico and China.

“The anticipated rapid growth of U.S. immigrant populations in the coming decades coupled with their movement into mid-size metro areas has the potential to transform communities,” explained Painter. “Our data suggest that immigrants are attracted to homes near active support networks of fellow immigrants and in places with lower rates of immigrant growth resulting in less competition for entry-level jobs,” he added.

Painter and Yu also found that immigrants continue to have a lower homeownership rate than native-born Americans with the same income and education levels. “Many of these immigrants may be waiting for other family members to join them before setting down more permanent roots,” explained Painter, who plans future research into the disparity in homeownership rates. He suggested that cities trying to lure immigrants with employment opportunities also start developing networks of real estate agents and lenders with the same ethnic backgrounds and a willingness to build strong ties to the new arrivals. “Nurturing links within the immigrant community is key to building a new rank of homeowners,” he said. Painter pointed out that areas with declining home values could see prices stabilize thanks to a wave of first-time home buyers who speak English as a second language.

For more information, visit www.usc.edu/lusk.

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Aside from Boca Raton, Florida; West Palm Beach is also seeing a lot of improvement in the real estate market compared to past years. View full post on Yahoo! News Search Results for real estate

A real estate agent who saved four people after a head-on two car crash north of Auckland on Friday has been hailed as a hero.Real estate agent Rob Kuypers was driving his son home from school when he arrived at the crash scene… View full post on Yahoo! News Search Results for real estate

March 12 (Bloomberg) — U.K. commercial real estate values rose for the first time on an annual basis in two-and-a-half years as rent declines slowed, according to Investment Property Databank Ltd. View full post on Yahoo! News Search Results for real estate

More bitter pills for the state’s pension funds to swallow. The California Public Employees’ Retirement System on Wednesday pulled out of an $800 million Boston condo and hotel complex, called the Columbus Center, which, as reported last week, was on the… CalPERS – Real estate – Pension – Business – United States View full post on Yahoo! News Search Results for real estate

Real estate prices in February rose at the fastest pace in almost two years in China, adding urgency to the government’s efforts to rein in speculation and increase the amount of affordable housing. ….. View full post on Yahoo! News Search Results for real estate

March 9 (Bloomberg) — Apollo Management LP agreed to buy Citigroup Inc.’s real estate investment unit, according to a person with knowledge of the deal. View full post on Yahoo! News Search Results for real estate

RISMEDIA, March 10, 2010—Pending home sales are down and additional declines are expected from abnormal weather conditions, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in January 2010, fell 7.6% to 90.4 from an upwardly revised 97.8 in December, but remains 12.3% higher than January 2009 when it was 80.5.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said weather is likely to impact housing data. “January pending sales, though still higher than one year ago, remain much lower than expected given that a large number of potential buyers are eligible for the expanded home buyer tax credit. Moreover, the abnormally severe and prolonged winter weather, which affected large regions of the U.S., hampered shopping activity in February,” he said.

As such, abnormal swings are expected in housing data. “We will see weak near-term sales followed by a likely surge of existing-home sales in April, May and June,” Yun said. “The real question is what happens in the second half of the year. If there is sufficient job creation, housing can become self-sustaining with stable to modestly rising home prices because inventory has been trending downward.”

The PHSI in the Northeast fell 8.7% to 71.3 in January but is 20.5% higher than January 2009. In the Midwest the index dropped 8.9% to 81.2 but is 11.8% above a year ago. Pending home sales in the South slipped 2.1% to an index of 98.1, but the index is 18.0% higher than January 2009. In the West the index dropped 13.2% to 102.9 but is 1.4% above a year ago.

For more information, visit www.realtor.org.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

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