Continued UK Weakness May Attract Irish Buyers

The RICS UK housing market survey for August 2008 showed that the average number of transactions fell further in August as a lack of mortgage finance continues to stifle the ability of buyers to access the market.

81% more Chartered Surveyors reported falling rather than rising house prices, a decrease from 83.1% in July.

The continued inability of many to secure mortgage finance is reflected in the collapse in transactions.  The average number of transactions per surveyor (over the last three months) is now at 12.7, the lowest figure since the survey began, with estate agents in a number of regions reporting less than a sale per week. 

In June and July, surveyors reported that many sellers had dropped asking prices to more realistic levels and that predatory buyers were waiting to pounce on bargains, but the traditionally weak month of August has seen this interest stagnate.  

Commenting, RICS spokesperson Jeremy Leaf said:

"A lack of mortgage liquidity is the key issue which is keeping the housing market from showing any real sign of recovery.

"While money is scarce, many will continue to be denied the next step on the property ladder. The Government’s stamp duty policy will not be enough to kick-start transactions and is more likely to assist buy-to-let investors with better access to finance than the first-time buyers it was aimed at. More needs to be done to reinvigorate a market whose confidence has taken a severe knock.

"In the absence of much transactional activity many home owners are being forced to rent their properties while they wait for lending criteria to be loosened and demand to pick up."

The full report can be found here. 

_________________________________

UK Property Links

For a selection of property in the UK click here.

For a list of agents selling property in the UK click here.

For independent articles on overseas property click here.

For advice on purchasing in the UK click here.

For news on the UK property market click here.

For new releases and product updates from UK agents click here.

For a selection of property exhibitions featuring UK property click here.

Register now to receive our informative newsletter, save searches and tailor your OverseasCafe.com experience to your own needs.

Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae get US Government Bailout

The US government has bailed out Freddie Mac and Fannie May, the two struggling companies that underpin the US mortgage market.

The move is generally seen as good for the property market. As the Times comments; "The US Government’s decision to guarantee the two groups’ survival is good news for British banks and, in turn, British homeowners. British banks have billions of dollars invested in bonds that are insured by Freddie and Fannie and they could have translated into huge losses if either group had gone under – leaving the banks with even less money to make available for mortgages. "

The companies financed more than 80 per cent of US house purchases so far this year. Between them they are responsible for $5,500 billion worth of residential mortgages, just under half the value of America’s $12,000 billion worth of outstanding home loans.

The government have insisted, however, on big changes at the top of the two companies. Daniel Mudd and Richard Syron, the current chief executives of Fannie and Freddie respectively, will leave their roles. Herb Allison, formerly of Merrill Lynch, becomes chief executive of Fannie. David Moffitt, from US Bancorp, moves to Freddie.

The markets seems to have taken the news well with initial market surges in South East Asian and European stock indices. Owners of shares in the companies may not be as happy, however, as analysts expect them to trade as 'penny stocks' in the wake of the move. See report from Forbes here.

The full Times article can be found here.

___________________________________________

For a selection of property in the USA click here.

For a list of agents selling property in the USA click here.

For independent articles on overseas property click here.

For advice on purchasing in the US click here.

For news on the US property market click here.

For new releases and product updates from US agents click here.

For a selection of property exhibitions featuring US property click here.

Register now to receive our informative newsletter, save searches and tailor your OverseasCafe.com experience to your own needs.

Futura Gael Ceases Operations

The economic crisis and the cost of fuel have seen an Irish airline go bust. Dublin-based Futura Gael ceased operations at midnight last night and its aircraft are now grounded at Dublin Airport.

The company says the holiday operators it deals with have been notified. Financial Director at Futura Gael, Barry Matthews, has said that parent company, Futura International, is now seeking for a new investor to save the company.

Futura Gael was set up by Futura International Airways to get the necessary traffic rights to operate charter flights from Ireland to destinations outside the European Union. The airline operated charter flights to the Mediterranean and Eastern Europe.

For information from the Commission for Aviation Regulation on the collapse of the airline click here. 

You'll find the full story in the Indo here and on RTE here.

If you are due to fly with the company it is advisable to contact your travel agent to find out where you stand.

_____________________________

For a selection of property from around the world click here.

For a listing of agents selling overseas property click here.

For independent articles on overseas property click here.

For advice on purchasing property overseas click here.

For news on the world of overseas property click here.

For new releases and product updates from agents around the world click here.

For a list of upcoming overseas property exhibitions around the country click here.

Register now to receive our informative newsletter, save searches and tailor your OverseasCafe.com experience to your own needs.

French Introduce Tax Increase on Investment Income

French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, has announced a tax increase on investment revenue which will very likely lead to higher tax bills for non-resident homeowners in France.

His proposed plan is to introduce a 1% rise on share, property rental and other investment income.

Similar to critics of the government in Ireland, this has been signalled as the end of Sarkozy’s journey to cut taxes, which was a large part of his election platform. This saw the introduction of a reduced Inheritance tax rate last year but further tax reductions are unlikely judging by his current actions.

It seems some of Sarkozy's comerades are having trouble coming to terms with the new direction. Alain Lambert, a prominent senator and a member of Mr Sarkozy’s centre-right coalition, said: “I’m going to need a few minutes to understand why we’re raising tax on investment revenue when we brought down inheritance tax a year ago.”

Sarkozy hopes that the new 30% rate will generate over €1.5 billion in additional revenue each year. It is, allegedly, being used to get people out of the 'welfare trap', where French citizens are better off on the dole than they are in low paying jobs. Now where have we heard that before?

For further details click on this PTI Returns article. There is a more in depth report from the UK Times here.

__________________________________________________

Links to French property information on the OverseasCafe.com site:

Property in France

French Property Advice

News relating to French Property

French Real Estate Agent News

Selection of French Property Agents

Register now to receive our informative newsletter, save searches and tailor your OverseasCafe.com experience to your own needs.

Law No. 8 in Dubai a Welcome Development

As the Dubai property market evolves there are a number of actions being taken to bring a level of credibility and maturity to the market. This is something that won't happen overnight, but it is good to see that the Emirate is making an effort to guide things in the right direction in any case. 

Dubai's government formed Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA) has issued a list of agents and developers who have been officially licensed, paving the way for greater transparency and security for property investors in Dubai. 

You'll find the full 'official' list of developers here. If you're looking for an agent (broker) in Dubai there's an official listing of them as well, you'll find it here. 

Law No. 8 has also been introduced which is described by RERA as 'A Law to Regulate Developers and to Protect Purchasers’ Payments in Off-Plan Transactions'. Published on June 28th 2007 it means that a developer wishing to sell units off the plan must apply to the Department to open a 'Guarantee Account', basically an escrow account. This account is opened in the name of the project and the proceeds can only be used exclusively for the purposes of constructing that particular project. The developer’s creditors are not allowed to attach any liens to the money deposited in this account.

This is all being done in an effort to promote greater transparency in the market, which can only be a good thing. One worrying factor, however, is the statement that; "Big companies that enjoy good reputation and have strong guarantees have been exempted." This would, for any red blooded citizen of a mature democracy send red lights flashing. In other words, if you're a buddy of the guys in RERA, you don't necessarily need to have any escrow account, your clients can go to hell if you fold and their money is lost in a big black hole. 

Not good guys. OK, so it's Dubai and its owners can do what they like with it, but to gain some credibility outside of their own domain it is necessary to get everybody operating under the same rules. Otherwise no-one will take any of this seriously, and rightly so. 

RERA, it said, will work in 2008 to make the real estate market free of unlicensed property developers to guarantee the rights of all parties, whether investors or developers. Of course all of its buddies are no doubt licensed already at this stage. 

___________________________________________________________________

For a selection of property in Dubai click here.

For a list of agents selling property in Dubai click here.

For independent articles on the Dubai property market click here.

For advice on purchasing in Dubai click here.

For news on the Dubai property market click here.

For new releases and product updates from Dubai agents click here.

For a selection of property exhibitions featuring Dubai property click here.

Register now to receive our informative newsletter, save searches and tailor your OverseasCafe.com experience to your own needs.

New OverseasCafe.com homepage

At last, we have a new homepage. We've been waiting for it for ages and it has eventually arrived, but it has been worth the wait. Not only that but there are a raft of new initiatives being rolled out by the site between here and Christmas so keep an eye out, some of the changes may involve things that will interest you.

Current changes give us a listing of Premium Properties on the homepage. If you are an agent with property on the site and your properties aren't premium properties they won't be seen on the homepage so you'd better get some Premium Property credit as soon as you can for maximum exposure, it's very cost effective advertising. End plug.

As well as this you'll now find up to date listings for all the news, agent news and editorial articles right there on the front page. It does make it a whole lot easier to see what is most recent on the site, which was the most frequent criticism of it in the past. It also saves having to click into all the different categories to see what is going on in the overseas property market.

Our blog also has its own little section down the bottom so you can see what has been tickling our fancy right from the homepage.

Thanks to the lads at Think Tank Marketing for getting this over the line for us, it's not their fault it got delayed (much too long a story for a blog) but they've come up with the goods when we needed them. Well done guys.

If you've not already been there why not visit OverseasCafe.com and check it out for yourself.

Simple Overseas Property Update

Rathfarnham based Simple Overseas Properties was back in court again in mid-July for having failed to pay an agreed sum of €368,000 to Cyril McMorrow. McMorrow is a disgruntled overseas property investor who had taken the company to court, claiming that it had failed to deliver off-plan properties in Spain as specified to him in oral agreements. The court found in favour of Mr. McMorrow back in April but he took Simple back to court in July as the agreed payments had not materialised.

The Irish Times report states; 'Peter Finlay SC, for Mr McMorrow, yesterday asked that judgment be entered in default because the defendants had not complied with the terms of the agreement. One payment had been made in relation to costs but nothing had been paid to Mr McMorrow, Mr Finlay said.'

This isn't a particularly new story, it ran in the Irish Times on July 19th, but we've been on hols for a while so we're a bit slow on the uptake at the minute. You'll find the full Irish Times report on the court case here.