International Property Journal - News and information on global property markets

Donald Trump says he is no longer involved with a controversial Florida tower development which bore his name.

The Trump International Hotel & Tower planned for Ft. Lauderdale, billed as a “signature Trump development,” is in foreclosure. And more than 100 buyers are suing the developers and Trump, claiming the project promoters misrepresented Trump’s role.

But Trump says he only licensed his name to the project and severed his ties long ago.

Buyers from Europe and Latin America are leading a surge in buying activity in the Miami area, according to the Miami Association of Realtors.

Pending sales for September were up 28.6 percent from September 2009, the latest MLS data shows. Pending sales of condominiums, which are particularly popular with foreign buyers, were up 40 percent from a year earlier, according to a press release.

The influence of foreign buyers is nothing new in southern Florida. By some estimates they accounted for more than 50 percent of home sales during the lean times. But the association says activity has increased in recent weeks.

While many markets in Florida show signs of stabilizing, Orlando prices continue to drop.

After an 8 percent dip from July to August, Orlando’s median home prices are now under $100,000, a decrease of more than 60 percent from August of 2006. The median price for a condominium was $44,000 in August, according to the Orlando Regional Realtor Association.

An estimated 60 percent of home sales in South Florida these days involve a foreign buyer, according to the Miami Association of Realtors.

That’s an astounding number, no matter how you analyze the real estate market. Not only are international buyers playing a key role, they are driving sales at a time when U.S. investors clearly remain wary of pulling the trigger.

After a dip in 2009, international activity in the United States picked up last year, with more agents reporting contacts with foreign shoppers.

From April, 2009, to March, 2010, 28 percent of agents reported contact with international buyers, compared to 23 percent in 2009, the National Association of Realtors’ annual survey of Realtors found. More importantly, 18 percent reported actual sales involving an international client, compared to 12 percent in 2009.

U.S. real estate executives sound like bad mystery writers these days. The hot topic of discussion is “shadow inventory,” a mysterious and frightening figure hovering around the corner ready to stick a shiv in the recovering residential market.

Recent debate focuses on a report from Standard & Poor’s, which suggests that it may take three years to absorb the current shadow inventory of distressed properties.

The Moroccan city of Marrakesh ranks as the best value for a second home, based on a recent study of prices in 35 markets around the world.

An apartment in Marrakesh averages £1,265 per square meter (about $1,900), beating out Cairo (£1,300 per square meter); Muscat, Oman (£1,670); Hanoi, Vietnam (£1,945) as the markets with the best values, according to the study conducted by Savills (and printed in the Daily Telegraph).

While headlines focus on the towers of empty condos, Miami has been posting some big-dollar sales.

Last week a “German businessman” paid $16 million for a new 17,200-square-foot, 10-bedroom house in Miami Beach. The developer built the house as a spec property in 2008, which was, to say the least, unfortunate timing.

The waterfront house, which includes two docks and a five-car garage, originally hit the market at $25 million, according to the Miami Herald.

Investors looking for the next wave of residential growth should target Peru, Panama and Brazil, a new report on global markets suggests.

Strong economic growth, low interest rates and continued housing boom make Latin America, in general, far more appealing than other regions, according to the latest recommendations from the Global Property Guide, which tracks markets around the world.

The site’s analysis, which is weighted toward rental yields, is less kind to Europe, where “property markets have not sufficiently adjusted from their 15-year rise.” And while Asia valuations are skyrocketing, GPG believes the region is already “over-valued,” except for locales like Malaysia and riot-torn Thailand.

After two years of falling prices, U.S. housing is undervalued in most markets, according to a new study.

Recent data showing a miniscule 0.1 percent drop in prices in the fourth quarter “indicates that the housing market is still working towards--and is close to achieving--stabilization,” concludes the House Prices in America report prepared by IHS Global Insight and PNC Financial Services Group.