News

Step Up On Second Faces Lawsuit Over Failed California Motel-to-Housing Conversions

Step Up On Second, a once-prominent nonprofit in homeless services, is now embroiled in controversy due to the failure of multiple housing projects. The organization was instrumental in shaping California’s Project Homekey, an initiative aimed at converting old motels into affordable housing for the homeless. In partnership with real estate firm Shangri-La Industries, Step Up secured over $114 million in state grants to carry out seven motel-to-housing conversions across the state. However, the projects quickly ran into financial trouble. The properties went into foreclosure, leaving some vacant and incomplete. In response, the state of California has filed a lawsuit against

September 19, 2024 No Comments

New Zealand News

Rents continue at $580 a week despite the home price drop.

Despite a decrease in home prices, November saw New Zealand rents remain at record highs, as reported by Trade Me. In November, the statistics indicated that the median weekly rent throughout the country was $580. A 4% increase compared to the same month in 2021 “leaves it matching the all-time high initially recorded in April this year,” said Gavin Lloyd, sales director at Trade Me Property. But if we look at the figures more closely, there was a lot of variation throughout the nation, with most areas seeing rents increase, but Auckland and Wellington are experiencing no year-on-year gain, as

March 27, 2024 No Comments

Australia News

How the Australian real estate market has progressed over the past year.

The housing market is among the most susceptible to changes in interest rates. Eight consecutive rate hikes in 2022 to combat rising inflation sent shockwaves across the market and are still at the heart of the decline in Australian property prices. When comparing national home prices from November 2017 to November 2018, we see a yearly decline of 3.2 percent. However, Eliza Owen, chief of research at CoreLogic, says the decline’s speed has slowed “broadly since September.” Although some might consider this good news, she warned that next year could see a resumption of the slide. CoreLogic data reveals that

March 6, 2024 No Comments

News

Boris Johnson, Boy George, and Kate Moss relocate in 2022

Then the removal trucks and the hot tub installers showed up after a period of speculation and clandestine negotiations. This year was no different for the capital’s A-listers when buying or selling luxury real estate. Many celebrities purchased new houses in the city’s most desirable neighborhoods or sold their vast mansions. The most notable celebrity house swaps of 2022 are listed here. The Highgate home Kate Moss purchased for $11.5 million. All eyes were on the remarkably featureless room the supermodel was dialing in from as she took the (virtual) witness stand during the Moss-Depp trial. It has been said

March 2, 2024 No Comments

Australia News

Australian borrowers will highly experience mortgage stress due to high rates

How many Australians are now likely to have trouble with their mortgages? The sharp rise in mortgage rates over the past few months will force families to make complex changes to how they spend their money. What is mortgage stress? There is no official definition of mortgage stress, but it is when a family has trouble making home loan payments. People who spend more than 30% of their income on mortgage payments are often used as a measure. However, it doesn’t do an excellent job of expressing this idea. Situations are different for everyone. This is usually easy for households

February 29, 2024 No Comments

News

London property prices hit £544,000, but a ‘softening’ is expected

The average house price in London went up over £6,000 in July, but experts say sales were made before the cost-of-living squeeze. The average price of a home in London has risen 9.2% in the year leading up to July—a significant increase but still below the rate of inflation. In July, the Land Registry reported that property prices in London hit a new high of £543,517. Because of this increase, the average value of a home in the capital has increased by more than £45,000 in a year and by more than £6,000 in just one month. In all of

February 28, 2024 No Comments

Australia Property

The Rebirth of Co-Living. Reborn for the ‘co’ Generation

Communal life is nothing new. Throughout history, housing has long been associated with both shared needs and a concentration of resources. Today, between population growth and increasing urban density and real estate prices, architects and urban planners are looking for alternatives to living together. These new models explore a range of spatial and formal configurations with a common vision of the future. As Eduardo Souza explains, the term “coliving” appeared in Denmark in the 1970s – originally under the name “cohousing”. The Sættedammen initiative, for example, consisted of 35 families living in private homes and sharing common spaces for socializing

February 27, 2024 No Comments

News

Why these are the top spots to buy property in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia has emerged as a key asset location with superior long-term growth prospects, thanks to the region’s economic potential and pandemic management. KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA. It manages to ooze exotic multi-ethnic appeal while offering the facilities, infrastructures, and comforts of a world-class modern metropolitan centre, having transitioned from a modest, thatched-roof tin-mining town in the mid-1800s to a well-connected high-tech city today. Internationally acclaimed restaurants coexist with hawker centres, and quaint old shophouses and ancient colonial structures provide a contrast to the gleaming towers and modern condominiums. BANGKOK, THAILAND. Bangkok sustains much of its originality and charm despite its

February 26, 2024 No Comments

News

Surging demand and high returns for UK short-term holiday let investments

We’ve all experienced how the pandemic has changed the way we live, work and holiday. Did you know UK tourism and holiday accommodation is one of the key property sectors that has shown the greatest resilience to the economic challenges of Covid-19 and the post-Brexit landscape? People have been buying residential buy-to-let properties for almost two decades and by 2019 disillusionment has set in with much of what was on offer. Economic uncertainty, delays to completions, higher stamp duty, less favourable tax breaks, rogue tenant issues and a lot of changes to UK landlord responsibilities in favour of the tenant,

February 25, 2024 No Comments

Finance

First-time buyers choose location over space

Unlike families in London who are dispersing into the suburbs for bigger space, Millennials are purchasing property within the capital, preferring location over space. According to Hamptons International, the number of inner London homes (Zones 1-3) sold to first-time buyers rose by seven per cent to 35 per cent from 28 per cent pre-lockdown. In contrast, the number of homes sold in outer London (Zones 4-6) fell by five per cent to 31 per cent from the previous 36 per cent sales. According to the latest data, the average age of first-time buyers in the UK is 34 years old which

February 24, 2024 No Comments