Following his recent visit to the US, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lulada Silva said that he expects his country to grow in 2009 despite the financial crisis that is enveloping much of the rest of the world. His US trip comprised a visit to the White House and a talk with President Barack Obama. He also made a trek to New York City, where he participated in a business seminar.   “While most rich...

The largest golf resort developer in South Africa has just announced plans to build a spectacular new resort in Nigeria. Pinnacle Point Group has recently signed agreements with the Lagos State Government and Unibright Nigeria to develop and construct a multi-million dollar golf resort, the Lagos Keys.   The Lagos Keys development will consist of some 300 luxury homes, an international golf course, a...

French President Nicolas Sarkozy invited 10 architects and their firms to create a new grand design for Paris, Le Grand Paris. The most visited city in the world, the challenge is not necessarily to reshape the current city, but to integrate it with the outskirts and suburbs. The 2 million residents of the city are surrounded by at least another 6 million outside of its borders and within a short...

Property prices in the largest Chinese cities fell 1.2 percent in February from the same time in 2008, according to the National Development and Reform Commission. Prices in January fell 0.9 percent year over year. The commission measures the prices in the top 70 cities throughout the country.   The three largest cities in China of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou all saw prices fall for the month....

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) released news that sales of existing homes in the United States rose by 5.1 percent in February from the previous month of January. The annual rate of sales for the month was 4.72 million homes, compared to 4.49 million in January.   This was the largest jump in monthly sales since July, 2003, according to the NAR. Home sales activity has now returned to...

Selling a property in the current market is hard but seemingly it has been even tougher for those seeking to sell or buy a home for the disabled. This has now been addressed by one of the UK’s most established private sales website at The Little House Company.co.uk. It is the only private property sales portal that allows sellers of disabled access properties to list on multiple sites for one fee,...

Commercial real estate firm CB Richard Ellis has been named the top brand in commercial real estate around the globe by the The Lipsey Company. This is the 8th consecutive year that the company has come out on top of the survey.   Conducted by The Lipsey Company, the survey measures how industry participants perceive commercial real estate brands. More than 40,000 professionals from REITs, institutions,...

Several major real estate and construction projects have been put on hold throughout Spain as the economic downturn has hit the country hard. The City of Justice project in Madrid was recently announced as going on hold, according to British Architecture website bdonline. According to the news, a spokesman for architect Zaha Hadid, who was designing one of the 15 circular buildings due for completion by...

Thailand’s popular resort destination island of Phuket is becoming the place for the wealthy to find a tropical home, according to recent local news source thephuketinsider.com. Two members of Forbes Magazine’s billionaire’s list have their own luxury villas on Phuket, and other rich businessmen and sporting stars have places here as well.   The Chandler brothers of New Zealand, Richard and...

Brazilian football/soccer star Ronaldo defied predictions once again to make his latest comeback, this time for Corinthians in Sao Paulo. The 32 year old former world footballer of the year has played for some of the most well-known clubs on the planet, including AC Milan and Real Madrid, and won the World Cup with his country. He has been out of the game for a year due to injuries he suffered while...