Japan's Top 3 Cities Show First Land Price Rise in 16 Years

Japan's Top 3 Cities Show First Land Price Rise in 16 Years

Sept. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Land prices in Japan's three biggest cities of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya rose for the first time in 16 years as competition intensifies among real estate investment funds for acquisitions.

Property prices in the three cities rose an average 0.9 percent, with residential land prices in three central wards of Tokyo surging 18 percent, while commercial areas gained 14 percent in the year ended July 1.

``In Tokyo, big property companies are getting bullish,'' said Takehiro Sato, a Tokyo-based economist at Morgan Stanley. ``Higher rents will likely lead to a further rally in land prices.'' He spoke before today's report was released.

Total assets held by the real estate trusts known as REITs surged 65 percent to 4.8 trillion yen ($41 billion) in the year to August, STB Research Institute Co.

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Colliers CRE H1 pretax falls to 1.45 mln stg from 2.4 mln stg ...

Colliers CRE H1 pretax falls to 1.45 mln stg from 2.4 mln stg ...

LONDON (AFX) - Colliers CRE, the property consultant, said its first-half pretax profit fell to 1.45 mln stg from 2.4 mln stg last time, as turnover rose 9.1 pct to 36.13 mln stg from 33.1 mln stg. Chairman Sir John Ritblat said the profit decline had been forseen and attributed it to planned investment in the business. Fully diluted earnings per share for the six months to June 30 were 2.52 pence, compared with 4.75 pence a year ago. The company said it is benefiting from a property investment market, which continues to be buoyant across all commercial asset classes, with yields having tightened and both prices and demand remaining strong. Ritblatt said trading in the year to date is in line with management expectations and the board is confident about the future. Colliers raised its interim dividend by 10 pct to 1.41 pence a share.newsdesk@afxnews.comwj/wj/wjCOPYRIGHTCopyright AFX News Limited 2005.

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Top Asian firm Temasek eyes Qatar, Gulf prospects

Top Asian firm Temasek eyes Qatar, Gulf prospects SINGAPORE: The Singapore-based Temasek Holdings which has a diversified global portfolio of S$129bn across various industries is looking at opportunities in Qatar and elsewhere in the Gulf, top company executives said here. Temasek, the only Asian company other than Toyota to have an AAA rating by Standard & Poor's, said it is “closely examining the GCC market, particularly Qatar, and will take investment decisions in shareholders' interest". “We invest for returns. The Government of Singapore is not involved in our operational and investment decisions, though it fully owns us. Our mandate is to deliver long-term shareholder value", said Temasek Holdings managing director (corporate affairs) Myrna Thomas and director (investments) Nagi A Hamiyeh. Established in 1974, Temasek manages a diversified global portfolio principally in Singapore, Asia and the OECD economies.

Land conservation is a good way to preserve our natural resources

Land conservation is a good way to preserve our natural resources Land conservation is a smart investment that enhances property values, prevents encroachment on military installations and saves billions in government costs.As the Pensacola Bay Area's population grows, there is a corresponding reduction in open space. More and more open land is disappearing into subdivisions and commercial development. Roads are splitting open lands into smaller pieces, and making solitude harder to find.That's why we applaud the Nature Conservancy's purchase of more than 11,000 acres of undeveloped land in Santa Rosa County from International Paper Co. It shows some wisdom on the county's part to acquire this land now and save it from development in the future.Saving land from development is often the best way to reduce government spending and avoid increases in property taxes.

Investment Flowing Away From Korea

Investment Flowing Away From Korea The amount of money Koreans spend to make direct investment overseas, such as building factories in foreign countries, is much more than the amount of money foreigners use in direct investment in Korea. In other words, Korea is seeing an exodus of factories Also, there are more and more foreigners selling off their stocks in Koreas stock market. According to the National Statistical Office, there were 81,000 more people who left Korea than those, including Koreans and non-Koreans, who came in to live more than 90 days in Korea last year. Among them, 86.7 percent were under 20 years of age. Last year was the first time when the number of Koreans going to overseas countries to study was over 100,000. Economic experts are concerned that the so-called well-educated people are flowing out of Korea en masse.

Property investment deals worth over S$19b recorded so far this ...

Property investment deals worth over S$19b recorded so far this ... Property consultants CB Richard Ellis said the Singapore property market saw more than S$19 billion worth of investment deals so far this year, outstripping the S$13.5 billion for the whole of 2005. For the first six months alone, more than S$13 billion worth of investment deals were recorded. This is thrice the S$3.6 billion recorded during the same period last year, making the Singapore's market one of the most active in Asia. The S$2.2 billion acquisition of Raffles City by CapitaMall Trust and CapitaCommercial Trust was the largest investment deal in Asia during the first half of 2006. CB Richard Ellis said this was another positive sign of Singapore's strong economic growth and good investment potential. The private sector accounted for 85 percent of the sales in Singapore during the first half of the year.

Property Investment - Can I Spill the Beans?

Property Investment - Can I Spill the Beans?

Didsbury, United Kingdom, September 17, 2006 --(PR.COM)-- Investment Property & Property Investing - Is there an Holy Grail? "Property Investment is Probably one of the best mid-long term investment vehicles" states Damian Qualter managing director of www.BuyProperty4Less.com one of the UK's leading property Investment companies. "Although there are risks for the novice investor." "Until recently Property Investment was only for the upper classes. Now we have a broad spectrum of investors ranging from Bus Conductors to Chairmen of top PLC's. They are all looking to get involved in Property Investment and especially Off plan Property which in the popular press has received much attention - not all good. It is often the ill-informed purchasers who pay over the odds for properties in areas with either little or no prospects for growth or poor rental demand.

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