All first time buyers earning less than £60,000 a year are now eligible for the Government’s shared ownership and shared equity schemes, which allows borrowers to part buy a property. The Government's Homebuy programme, which was previously only available to social tenants and “key workers” such as nurses and teaches, is intended to support first time buyers struggling to get on the housing ladder.

via business.timesonline.co.uk

Key lawmakers spent Thursday trying to broker a deal on a bill that would allow the government to insure up to $300 billion of home loans and overhaul oversight of key players in the mortgage industry. By the end of the day, they had come closer together but had not hammered out a final compromise. "We believe we have an agreement in concept," said a spokesman for Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., the lead Republican on the Senate Banking Committee. "We're currently in the process of seeing whether we can translate that agreement in concept into language."

via money.cnn.com

The Association of Real Estate Investment Companies (GYODER), which was established in 1999 by the representatives of existing and founding Real Estate Investment Companies (REICs), organizes the Eigth Turkish Real Estate Summit on June 4-5 at the Swissotel Istanbul. Selecting the theme of �Turkey's Real Estate Potential for 100 Years,� members of Turkey's real estate sector will focus on the investment opportunities and the problems of the sector in participation with leading figures from the world's real estate sector during two days in seven sessions of the summit.

via turkishdailynews.com.tr

Out on the range is the last place you would expect America's long-running obsession with big houses to be laid to rest. But four years ago Rachel Odom, an Oklahoma City home builder, began constructing an exclusive development where houses average just 1,800 square feet. That's far smaller than the homes of up to 6,000 square feet that her company had been building until then - and nearly 500 square feet smaller than the national average for new construction.

via money.cnn.com

House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi fired back Monday at critics who have accused him of a growing number of ethics violations, calling the allegations "baseless" and saying he would not step down. In a strongly worded letter to House lawmakers, the Democratic speaker said he was outraged that his reputation, integrity and good name has been called into question.

via www1.whdh.com

Property investors are being advised to return to the Spanish property market in 12 months' or two years' time when there will be bargains to "snap up". According to the Spanish Property Owners Guild, the housing market in Spain is in a "valley", with prices and sales falling. There are over one million unsold apartments in the coastal areas in various stages of construction. However, estate agents are hopeful that the market will "bottom out" within the next 24 months years and then begin to recover.

via smartnewhomes.com

A possession claim refers to the process by which a claimant applies to a county court for possession of a residential property. Orders for possession, which allow the claimant to apply for a warrant to have the tenant(s) evicted, were granted to 27,530 people. More than 37,000 landlord possession claims were issued during the same period, 4% higher than in the first quarter of 2007. Of the 37,000 possession claims, 28,503 orders were made to landlords, 10% more than the first quarter of 2007.

via yourmortgage.co.uk

The number of homes for sale was on the rise again in April, according to figures from Zip Realty, a California-based real estate broker. Nationally, inventories expanded 3.5% last month in the 29 major markets that the company tracks, and were up 6% over the same period last year. "Inventories in some cities may be topping out," said Michael Larson, a real estate analyst with Weiss Research. "But this shows that sales are still weak." Even some markets that used to be considered bulletproof have seen inventories grow.

via money.cnn.com

The Bank of England's £50 billion cash injection into the mortgage market has so far not made any difference to the cost of borrowing, the head of the UK's biggest building society said yesterday. Graham Beale, chief executive of Nationwide, told The Times that a response to the facility "has not happened yet". He indicated that although the Special Liquidity Scheme (SLS), which allows banks to swap mortgage assets for safer Government bonds, would need more time to work, the facility is unlikely to resolve the funding shortages that have blighted the market over recent weeks, pushing up the cost of borrowing for homeowners.

via business.timesonline.co.uk

The House on Wednesday began debate on a housing package that would let the government back loans for homeowners at risk of foreclosure - a move many Republicans have opposed and which the White House has threatened to veto.
The centerpiece of the package is a proposal to let the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insure up to $300 billion in new loans over four years if lenders agree to reduce the mortgage principal. To qualify, the lender would have to cut the debt to no more than 85% of a home's appraised value.

via money.cnn.com

ABERDEEN Asset Management yesterday braved the weakening commercial property sector, making a £130 million acquisition which put it among the ten largest property management companies in the world.
Announcing interim results yesterday, AAM revealed it is paying an initial £89m cash for Goodman Property Investors. It will pay up to an additional £40.9m based on the value of Goodman's assets when the sale is completed over the next two years.

via business.scotsman.com

They were living a very stressful life in London, running a property company in and around Tower Bridge. Grant said: “We had benefited from the boom but suddenly it all went very sour. “We had bought a few new builds to start a buy-to-let portfolio and we had developed some offices and a couple of residential properties as well.”

via shropshirestar.com

The National Landlords Association (NLA) has urged private-residential landlords to use a tax break allowing landlords to claim on their tax return against the cost of buying and installing energy saving items. Landlords are able to claim a maximum of £1,500 per property against the cost of installing draught proofing, loft insulation, floor insulation, cavity wall insulation, solid wall insulation or insulation for hot water systems through the Landlord’s Energy Saving Allowance (LESA).

via yourmortgage.co.uk

Peak industry body Australian Direct Property Investment Association (ADPIA) commissioned a report that shows over the 10 years to December 31, 2007, direct property provided strong returns, highest distributions, lowest volatility and best risk-adjusted returns. The report compared property returns with that of shares, listed and residential property, cash, fixed interest and managed funds. ADPIA president Linden Toll said investors should be reminded of the long-term nature of property investing.

via news.smh.com.au

Alarmed by climate change, residents of the Emerald City are going green, with concern about the changing world more than doubling in the past year. Data gathered by The Daily Telegraph shows the number of people in NSW swapping to renewable energy has risen from 68,053 to 202,083 in 12 months. Families are recycling more, with an 8 per cent increase in materials returning to the kerbside in 2006-07 than in 2005-06. Calls to the environment line have increased from 60,658 to 67,500 in the past 12 months.

via news.com.au