Property developers these days have a difficult job, as they watch the trends in the market and wonder if they should continue to discount prices to stimulate sales, or if they should raise prices in an effort  to earn more.

Only a few months ago, for example, many property developers in India were giving discounts and offering incentives to those individuals willing to make purchases. Now, just as buyers are re-entering what still must be considered a fragile market, many have indeed decided to increase prices.

For the second phase of DLF’s Capital Greens project in West Delhi, for example, they are combing with property brokers to decide on the pricing and number of apartments to be offered in the project’s second phase.  Many developers in Delhi  view this as a plan to increase prices on those apartments.

DLF iinsiders said that a figure of Rs 7,000 a square foot is being discussed – 56% more than the Rs 4,500 a sq ft it charged in the first phase of Capital Greens. At that price, 1,356 apartments were sold in a single day.

Lodha Developers, based in Mumbai, has increased prices  in its premium housing project, Lodha Primero in South Mumbai, by 30%, since its launch about four months ago. Neptune Group, also in Mumbai, has increased prices its Neptune Flying Kite project in Bhandup by 26%.

Developers say the move to increase prices is in tune with rising demand from home buyers.

In property price news from South Africa, the latest property price index reports that the average price of a property increased by 1.2% year-on-year in June.

These numbers come from Ooba, which is the largest mortgage company in the South Africa.  Saul Geffen, chief executive of Ooba, points out that this upturn in prices may not be a sign that the market is recovering. ‘….it may be attributed to a shift to higher priced properties in June, given affluent homebuyers’ ability to better adapt to strict bank lending practices,’ said .

Accordig to Ooba, the average purchase price was R784,427(£59,439) in June 2009, up from R774,449 (£58,683) in June 2008. In addition, the month-on-month average purchase price has increased nominally by 1.4% from £58,657 in May of this year.

But there are more numbers, not all good. The average price of a home purchased by a first time buyer has fallen by 14.1% year-on-year, which is a drop of 16.8% in comparison to May 2009.

Property purchasers now require an average deposit of 18.9% of their purchase price in order to secure a home.  Last year, the average deposit needed was only 12.2%.

Ooba predicts that recover will not occur entirely until  mid 2010.

Real estate agents have also joined together to help people avoid foreclosure by implementing a quick sale scheme, the Quick Sell Plan,  which was introduced by FNB Home Loans.

Under this scheme, home owners benefit because they can sell their property quickly without going into foreclosure and losing their credit rating, and buyers get good properties without having to pay a deposit. 

A minimum reserve price is established on each Quick Sell property and buyers, introduced by the FNB partner agents, are offered mortgages up to 100%.The buyers also receive a 50% discount on transfer costs and loan registration.   The buyer must meeti FNB’s affordability criteria and FICA requirements

The commission of the real estate agents is paid by FNB.

Jones Lang LaSalle issued a report yesterday stating that newer property in such German cities as Hamburg, Munich or Frankfurt represents a good real estate investment

The report acknowledged that there is some "turmoil and instability" in the market in terms of transactions and prices, and pointed out that getting banks to make loans was still a difficult process, taken all in all property in major German cities was very attractive.

‘Strong demand will still be observable for properties built in 1995 or later in top locations such as Hamburg, Munich or Frankfurt. In this market segment, regardless of the economic environment, only few or no price changes can be noted,’ the report from Jones Lang LaSalle pointed out.

It must be noted that older,  non-modernised property from the 1950s and 1960s, located in structurally-weak regions and with a considerable maintenance backlog, are not doing so well.

The German residential property market is the largest housing market in Europe.

There are many reasons for the good prices property investors are receiving.Many sales involve people who are forced to sell due to their financial condition, or purchasers who will only buy at discounted prices.

Jones Lang LaSalle, with its headquarters in Chicago,Illinois, USA, has sub-headquarters operating in London (covering Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Singapore (covering the Asia Pacific regional market).

Sheikh Ghaith Pharaon, the developer of a new tourism village near the Jordanian city of Petra, stated that construction work on the $50 million project  project will start late in 2009 and be finished in 30 months.

Maha Khatib, Jordanian minister of tourism and antiquities, said the scheme will create jobs for locals and attract a greater numbers of tourists.
 
She pointed out to concerned individuals that the government was taking all care to ensure that the archaeological site and environment around the ancient city of Petra would not be harmed.
 
The development features a handicrafts market, restaurants, a spa and swimming pools. A   100-bed five-star hotel and multi-purpose conference hall are also planned.
 
During August the Department of Lands and Surveys reported sales of residential properties in the country showed an increase in June and July compared to the preceding months.

Petra is an archaeological site in the Arabah, Ma’an Governorate, Jordan. It lies on the slope of Mount Hor in a basin among the mountains which form the eastern flank of Arabah (Wadi Araba), the large valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. Petra is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. UNESCO described it as "one of the most precious cultural properties of man’s cultural heritage." In 1985, Petra was designated a World Heritage Site.

In commercial property news from Dubai, the Trade Centre Plaza at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) is scheduled to be open for busness in late September, 2009.

A metro station was built specifically to serve the SWTC, and is now open. Thirty percent of visitors to the DWTC arriving at this metro station will pass through the plaza, where they will be able to stop and dine at a variety of cafes and restaurants. The DWTC has an extensive events calendar, which will make useof the performance space at the plaza.  It will also accommodate open air events for the public.

The DWTC, 37 storeys high, consists of a convention centre, office properties and serviced apartments. It will also have 2 five-star hotels and shopping malls, and upon completion it will have a parking space for 8,300 cars.

The original World Trade Center at this location was built in 1978.

Hilal Saeed Al Merri, chief executive officer of the DWTC, pointed out that the number of visitors to the venues of the DWTC has risen during the first half of 2009 and with it an increased demand for quality amenities and higher levels of convenience.

For international commercial property investors, France has become  the second-most popular commercial property market, after the UK.

For the last two years, the French investment market had been declining. Not so this year. According to Aberdeen Property Investors, Investment levels in France doubled in the second quarter, the biggest increase for that period in Europe.

There were three key retail transactions in the second quarter: the sale of 31 Rue du Faubourt Honore, which was bought by Hennes & Maurits in April for €103.3 million. Deka Immobilien Investment GmbH purchased the offices in Le Triangle Part Dieu in Lyon for €40 million, and GLL Real Estate Partners purchased  10 Boulevard Haussmann in Paris for €50.1 million.

‘Nine out of 10 investors we meet cite France as a top three target country, alongside the UK and Germany,’ pointed out Giles Wilcox, head of real-estate adviser Savills PLC’s European cross-border investment.

Although current investment are down compared with previous years ( the €2.6 billion invested in the first half of 2009 is about 37% of what was invested in the same period last year), the market in France continues to be strong.

London attracts investors for the most part because of the decline in prices. Paris continues to be strong because the city doesn’t rely on financial-services companies – its tenants include manufacturing, communication, and transportation and logistics companies. In addition, the city has fewer properties with excessive debt levels.

In 1996, the Singaporean government imposed tax on the gains of those property investors who sold properties within three years of their acquisition of it. In 200, this unpopular law was abolished. The government has attempted to do something similar with a tax law due to go into effect in January 2010.

Analysts believed that the law would increase the taxes on those who owned more than one property, and sold them for a profit within four years. However, the Ministry of Finance has said that there will be no tax on the gains from an individual who sells a property after 1 January; as long as they they have not sold any other property in the previous four years.

The proposed change is therefore not an anti-speculation measure. This relieved property investors who have only recently returned to the market. In addition, apprehension over the results of the new law had set property prices tumbling.

Some industry watchers are not convinced, however, and believe that the government is indeed trying to place a curb on property speculation.

‘We remain believers of the idea that the government may be sending out a signal through this proposal to cool property transactions, especially in the high-end,’ commented Donald Chua, an analyst at CIMB (Malaysia’s second largest financial services provider).

Gamemaker Hasbro has teamed up with Google to offer a massive on-line, multi-player version of Monopoly, called Monopoly City Streets. It’s free to play, and for the next four months, anyone who wants to can play it.

It’s a scheme to generate interest in Google’s application, Google Maps. Google Maps is the playing board.

According to Hasbro, players will be able to purchase practically any street in the world, with enough funds.

New players receive $3 million to build their empires.

Players can purchase streets, build properties, and charge rent. Streets can be traded or sold to other players. Chance cards are more interactive in this game  – players can build rubbish tips, prisons or wind farms on their property – to reduce the rent value of their neighbours!

Days after some experts comment that recent prices rises for residential property signify a return to normalcy for the housing market, other experts comment that optimism may be misplaced.

Ernst & Young ITEM Club published a report on Monday predicting that prices will start to fall again at the beginning of 2010.

They point out that property purchases are still limited by the poor choice of mortgages currently available.

In addition, as the report states, rising  unemployment will hamper the recovery.

According to this report, real property growth will not occur for another five years, before it reaches the levels of 2007, before the bottom fell out.

Residential property prices showed an average increase again during the month of August. Compared to last year at this time, they are down by no more than 10%.

According to Halifax, the average price for a hope is £160,973, up 0.8%.

Low interest rates and these relatively inexpensive prices are what are bringing buyers back to the market.

Because there aren’t that many properties for sales, prices are also increasing.

According to statistics, those people who have mortgages spend an average of 29% of their take-home pay on that mortgage, compared with 48% in the autumn of 2007, when prices for homes were so much higher.