New Zealand Government Introduces New Bill to Ban Foreign Companies from Buying Rural Land

The New Zealand government is looking at introducing a new bill into Parliament which would prevent foreign companies from buying up rural land, and is due to controversy over Chinese companies trying to purchase lucrative dairy farms on the North Island.

The Chinese company, Shanghai Pengxin had put in a bid to purchase 16 dairy farms in Crafar on the North Island, and this bid had already received approval from the government before being overturned in the High Court. The bid was overturned as the High Court felt any potential benefits must be measured against an alternative buyer.

Labour leader David Shearer wants the law to be changed so governments reject any foreign bids to purchase New Zealand farms unless the bid would result in more exports, and more new jobs being formed than from a New Zealand bid.

Such a law would mean most bids to buy New Zealand land would be turned down, and only those implementing new technologies or introducing new products would be allowed. Although the government already has the power to turn down sales of farms to overseas buyers the Labour leader doesn't think it is being properly implemented, and that most sales result in profits flowing out of the country.

Selling farms to overseas buyers is also likely to raise the price out of reach of native farmers which would be very detrimental to the country.

At the moment any decision by the Overseas Investment Office to sell property to foreigners has to be approved by two government ministers who are able to decide which factors are relevant to the sale. If the new bill is made law it will be much stricter.

New Report Finds Nearly One Quarter of US Homes Are in Negative Equity

A new report from CoreLogic says that 22.8%, or 11.1 million homes in the US were in negative equity by the end of the fourth quarter last year. This is an increase on the third quarter when 22.1%, or 10.7 million homes were in negative equity. Another 2.5 million homeowners had less than 5% equity during the fourth quarter, which is known as near negative equity.

This means the total percentage of homes in negative or near negative equity was 27.8% during the fourth quarter, up from 27.1% in the third quarter of 2011. The total debt for these properties in negative or near negative equity rose from $2.7 trillion in the third quarter to reach $2.8 trillion by the end of the fourth quarter.

The report found that Nevada had the highest percentage of homeowners in negative equity, with 61% of all mortgage properties falling into this category. The second worst state was Arizona with 48% of properties in negative equity, followed by Florida with 44%, Michigan with 35%, and Georgia with 33%.

When combined these five states have an average negative equity percentage of 44.3%, while the combined average of the remaining states is just 15.3%. The majority of homes in negative equity are at the lower end of the market and are valued at less than $200,000. Although these figures are affected by seasonal declines, it's expected this situation will take quite some time to improve. If the economic recovery falters it could mean an increase in the number of foreclosures.

Property Prices in the East End Have Increased by £800 a Month since July 2005

In July 2005 London was awarded the Olympic Games, and now with just five months ago Lloyds TSB has revealed that house prices in the area around the main site have increased by around 30% since London's successful bid.

The average home cost £268,884 last November which is an increase of £62,739 since July 2005, equating to a very nice average monthly rise of £815. In comparison homes in England and Wales have risen by 25% during the same period, which equates to a monthly increase of £611.

Prices in eight out of the 14 postal districts closest to the Olympic Park have increased by at least 20% since July 2005, with Dalston and Homerton seeing the fastest price growth as each have recorded average increases of around 55% for that time period. Shoreditch came a close second with properties increasing by an average of 47% while in comparison Stratford which is the closest to Olympic construction activity has seen prices increased by just 13%, to reach an average of £227,893.

Prices in London have increased by an average of 5.4% during the last 12 months, and just two of the postal districts closest to the Olympic sites have exceeded this increase. Prices in Dalston increased by 10.3%, while prices in Clapton rose by 7.1%, but prices in Bethnal Green fell by an average of 5.2%. In spite of the massive increases seen over the last few years the typical house price in postal areas closest to the Olympic sites is still 22% below the London average of £342,551.

The most affordable homes can be found in Plaistow where the average house costs £188,760, which is 45% below the average London price. In contrast homes in Dalston cost £359,436, and it is the most expensive site closest to the Olympics.

South Korea's Housing Market Is Bouncing Back

South Korea's housing market experienced something of a revival last year with housing starts and sales figures increasing substantially. Property prices rose by 6.86% during 2011, and the number of housing construction permits increased by 42.2% to 549,594 permits. Apartment building sales rose by 41.8% to reach 285,000 units.

However last year South Korea's economic growth rate slowed to just 3.6% from 6.16% in 2010, and the Bank of Korea is forecasting GDP growth of 3.7% this year. In 2006 South Korea's housing market was at the height of a price boom, and property prices in Seoul increased by nearly 20%. This prompted the government to take action and they imposed controls on housing loans and increased capital gains tax on speculative areas. The following year saw prices slow down, increasing by just 5.4% in Seoul and nationally by 3.1%.

In 2008 property prices in Seoul rose by 5%, while prices rose by 3.1% nationally. In 2009 the property market was affected by a combination of the collapse of the Lehman Bros and government curbs, and property transactions dropped by 35.8% year-on-year to September 2010, and this slowdown caused severe problems within the construction industry. The government began its plan to revive the property market in 2009 by purchasing $1.79 billion of unsold new property, and another $2.68 billion worth of land from construction firms, enabling them to repay their debts. In the summer of 2010 the government began easing property lending restrictions, and this measure has proved to be effective. Last year mortgage loans rose by 8.27% year-on-year.

Florida Remains Most Popular Destination for Online Searches

Florida is still the most searched for destination by international property buyers looking to purchase in the US. According to residential property site Point2. Florida retained its top spot in the last quarter of 2011 for the second consecutive quarter.

Point2 found that Florida accounted for 31.04% of all international searches in the last quarter of 2011, losing just 2% to other states. Arizona is still the second most popular destination, and it saw the number of searches increase from 15.15% in the third quarter to 19.44% in the fourth quarter. Nevada remained in third place, although its share of the traffic increased only slightly to 8.61% from 8.22%.

It's not all good news as apparently international traffic to the top 10 states decreased significantly from 31.59% in the fourth quarter of 2010 to just 23.41% in the fourth quarter of 2011. This is a clear sign that the global recession is far from over, and buyers from China are proving more reticent to purchase property.

Most of the buyers come from Canada, as Canadian buyers accounted for a whopping 93.58% of searches for Arizona property, 78.28% for Hawaiian property and 74.11% of those searching for homes in Michigan. Buyers from Great Britain and Mexico were second and third highest respectively for the fourth quarter.

The most popular city for overseas buyers was Las Vegas as it accounted for 14.53% of all traffic during quarter four. The city of Mesa in Arizona was the second most popular city, while Orlando in Florida was in third place. However a list of the top 20 cities shows seven cities were in Florida.

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Condo Prices in Japan Have Fallen Sharply

Condo prices in Japan have fallen sharply since last year's earthquake with the average price of new condominiums in Tokyo falling by 7.2% to the year ending November 2011. However the prices of detached homes increased by 2.4% during the same period, and demand for homes has also moved from waterfront locations to safer, inland areas.

This is hardly surprising as last March the case of Japan was struck by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, followed by a devastating tsunami which triggered a radiation leak in a power plant. Not surprisingly those who were able to leave the country afterwards chose to do so, with luxury sector of the rental market in Tokyo being particularly affected.

The financial damage caused by the earthquake was US$300 billion, but this huge cost has been exacerbated by the fact that the economy contracted by 0.4% last year, and Japan now has a large trade deficit which looks set to increase.

Japan is also trying to recover from a property bubble in the late 80s as between 1970 and 1980 land prices increased by 200%, and by 238.5% in the major cities. During the 80s prices increased by 103% nationally and by 272.2% in the major cities. The subsequent crash meant the banks ended up with loans of almost US$1 trillion.

However nowadays the country's financial system is in extremely good shape and interest rates are virtually zero. In spite of this there is little demand for loans and the ratio of home loans to GDP is just 24.5% which is substantially lower than in other developed countries, but there are signs that the housing market is beginning to recover, especially as investment has increased due to earthquake rebuilding with the number of bankruptcies within the property sector declining.

Myanmar Becoming More Attractive to the West

Until recently Mayanmar was a somewhat faded Southeast Asian country that saw very few Westerners. This former British colony was ruled for 50 years by a military junta and had a very poor human rights and democracy record which saw sanctions imposed by Western governments.

It is now ruled by President Thein Sein, a retired junta general who since coming to office 10 months ago as a civilian leader has imposed an economic and political reform, the speed of which has amazed observers. Last year saw a groundbreaking visit by US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, and William Hague visited in January.

This has raised the profile of Myanmar, especially as sanctions will soon be lifted, and businessmen are quickly seeing the potential of the country. It has a considerable number of natural resources including precious gems, gas, oil and timber, and the former capital city of Yangon is seeing something of a property boom.

High-end hotels in the city have been fully booked during recent months and there is a shortage of office space as well as the type of housing expected by Western executives. Villas which were available to rent for just a few thousand dollars a year ago are now costing up to $50,000.

International standard office blocks have seen prices increase from $25 per square metre to $50 per square metre in just 12 months, with even a small office now costing $3,000 a month to rent.

Companies are keen to rent office space in order to conduct market research before sanctions are lifted, and rents are expected to increase by another 30% during the first six months of this year. Yangon is not the only city to see price rises, as the old royal capital of Mandalay have seen huge increases during the last few years, mainly driven by an influx of Chinese money.