International Property Journal - News and information on global property markets

Market Report

Vancouver Bounces Back

With Olympics Coming Up, International Buyers Help Fuel Region's Recovery

By Kevin Brass
Editor

When the Olympic flame enters BC Place Stadium on Feb. 12, the world’s spotlight will fall on one of North America’s hottest property markets.

In November more than 7,721 properties were sold in British Columbia, the highest volume for the month since 2005, according to the British Columbia Real Estate Association. And it wasn’t spurred by foreclosures and short sales; the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver’s housing price index for the area jumped 16.2 percent to $562,463, from a year earlier.

“We’ve seen a dramatic rebound in home sales,” said Cameron Muir, chief economist for the BCREA. Home prices have been on an uptrend for several months, “scratching record levels,” Muir says.

In Paris, Confusion Over Apartment Rental Laws

By Kevin Brass
International Property Journal

The thriving Paris rental industry is trying to determine the ramifications of recent moves by the local government, which is threatening to crack down on foreign owners who rent their apartments without permission.

Several owners in the capital have received letters about the long-standing policy calling for penalties of €25,000 a day ($34,000) for homeowners who don’t properly register their apartments as short-term rentals. Any apartment rented for a less than a year iis supposed to be classified as commercial property, which can be a long, complicated process.

The law has been on the books for years, but has done little to stop foreign investors and second home owners from pursuing a buy-to-let strategy in the City of Light. The short-term apartment rental business has grown rapidly in recent years, in part due to a variety of Web sites marketing rental units, providing an alternative to Paris’ notoriously high hotel rates.

Central American/Caribbean

Groundbreaking Pact Links Seven Countries with Global Agent Network

In a milestone toward organizing the Central American and Caribbean real estate business, the associations of seven countries have signed a deal to syndicate their listings internationally in 12 languages.

The agreement between FECEPAC, the regional association of real estate associations, and U.S.-based Immobel covers listings in Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. Agents in the countries will enter listings into Immobel’s Global Listing Exchange, which will translate and distribute the listings through Google Real Estate and international portals, including WorldProperties.com and Enormo.com.

In addition to creating a framework for listings, Immobel’s Global Referral Network offers a secure system for international agents to earn referral fees.

Property Portals See Surge in New Year Traffic

By Ashley Rigg
Reprinted with permission from Global Edge

English-language overseas property portals reported record increases in traffic and enquiry levels in the first seven days of 2010.

U.K. market leader, Rightmove recorded its biggest-ever day on 4th January attracting over 25 million page impressions, beating the previous record set in August 2009 of 22.5 million. Traffic to Rightmove Overseas is up nearly 25 percent on the first week of 2009 according to head of overseas sales Shameem Golamy.

Overseas property specialists, The Move Channel, Mondinion.com, HolProp.com, PropertyShowrooms.com and Property-Abroad.com are also reporting big rises in traffic and enquiry levels on the same period last year. The Move Channel say traffic is 32 percent up, while at Property Abroad, lead volumes rose 38 percent year-on-year according to founder Les Calvert.