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.

Australian Banks Warned by IMF to Stash Cash

The main four Australian banks have been warned by the International Monetary Fund to make sure they have sufficient cash reserves to cover any potential downturn in the housing market.

The IMF is worried that the Australian housing market may be overheated and that prices in cities are artificially inflated due to a number of wealthy overseas property investors from China entering the market.

Around 80% of the mortgage market is shared between just four domestic banks which are Westpac, NAB, ANZ and the Commonwealth Bank.

According to the IMF report, combining any corporate losses due to the global financial crisis with possible mortgage defaults could put too much pressure on Australian banks.

The situation isn't helped by economists at ANZ, who are already predicting government cuts will shave around a half percentage point off economic growth for the next four years.

US analyst Jordan Wirsz has already warned that house prices in Australia could slip by as much as 60%, although most would think that is quite an extreme prediction, and the latest report from Australian Property Monitors may yet prove it to be wrong.

After five consecutive quarterly falls, property prices have risen nationally for the first time since September 2010. Melbourne saw the greatest house price growth with prices rising by 1.1%, while in Sydney property prices remained the same. Melbourne is now ranked as one of the world's most costly cities in which to buy property, and is more expensive than London, New York and Los Angeles.

December Sales of Singaporean Private Homes Hit Lowest Level for Two Years

Figures for December sales of privately owned homes in Singapore fell to their lowest level for two years after new government taxes came into effect. Just 632 units were sold in December, and total sales for 2011 show a fall of 24%.

Experts are not surprised as this result is exactly as they predicted, with potential homebuyers remaining cautious about committing to a purchase as there are fears that property prices could fall.

The Singaporean government has been trying to regain control over property prices since 2009 when it banned interest only loans for certain housing projects, and prevented developers from absorbing interest payments on homes still under construction.

In spite of this property prices still increased by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, although this is the smallest gain for two and a half years.

Additional taxes have also been introduced for foreigners buying property, and this is likely to cause a further drop in demand as foreigners account for 36% of prime property transactions. Foreigners and corporate entities will now have to find an additional 10% for stamp duty.

There is an additional 3% for permanent residents buying a second home, or for citizens purchasing their third residential property. Earlier on last year the government imposed stamp duty of 1% on the first S$180,000 of the property price, with 2% being payable on the next S$180,000 and 3% being payable on the remainder. During the fourth quarter demand for prime property fell with sales down by 44% compared to the previous quarter.

Interest Rate Cut Boosts Australian Property Sales

Australia recently saw its first interest rate cut in two and a half years, and this has had a positive effect on the sales of new homes which have increased by 6.8% from October to November. Sales of detached properties increased by 9.8% which was mainly due to more properties being sold in New South Wales and Victoria.

However the picture isn't quite so rosy for multiunit sales which fell by 17%. Experts have played down the increase saying it is only to be expected as two months earlier sales of detached homes fell to an 11 year low which was partly due to speculation about a rate cut, and although this latest news is welcome sales volumes are currently at least 20% below levels required for a healthy market.

They point out that a sustained government stimulus is needed to bring about a strong recovery within the homebuilding market. In November sales of detached homes increased in four out of the five main and states and were up by 22.8% in New South Wales, by 11.6% in Victoria, by 5.7% in Western Australia and by 4.7% in Queensland.

In South Australia sales fell by 11.3%. It is however a great time for anyone wishing to build a new home as the building market is very competitive with a good availability of skilled trades combined with lower interest rates creating favourable conditions. Some economists are even predicting further interest rate falls as early as next month in an effort to boost retail sales and lift consumer sentiment.