Madeira is celebrating its 500th anniversary with many events and celebrations, including a visit from some of the world’s most famous tall ships. Funchal, on the southeast side of the island, is center of a year long celebration and is hosting the Funchal 500 Regatta. A fleet of some 25 tall ships will race from mainland Portugal to Funchal, where they will participate in a maritime festival and...
In the US its seems there in no end to big company buy outs the latest take over comes from Citigroup which have agreed to buy Wachovia’s banking operations, a move that that would concentrate power within the nation’s banking industry in the hands of a few giant lenders. Citigroup will absorb up to $42 billion of losses in the deal, with the FDIC covering any remaining losses, the government...
A recent BBC News report highlights the alarming trend in people sleeping in their cars as a result of being made homeless after the collapse of the housing market and credit crunch. BBC Reporter Rajesh Mirchandani describes the depressing scene of a typical car park in Santa Barbara in which a car park across the street from luxury mansions sees the arrival of few cars that take up spaces in different...
A raft of new surveys by international real estate and research firms are out looking at the costs for the top international markets for office space. Typically, these surveys look at the costs to set up an office in a city or area of a city during the first half of 2008. These costs include property rental, taxes, services and transportation costs and are put out by, among others, Colliers, Cushman and...
New home sales in the United States dropped in August to the slowest pace in 17 years as average prices also fell significantly, according to report released by the US Commerce Department. In August, new home sales fell by 11.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 460,000 units. That’s the slowest pace for new homes since 1991. Economists in the US had been expecting about a one percent...
American real estate tycoon Donald Trump recently announced that he was about to move into the Indian market. His first move will be to construct a 47 story high rise luxury residential tower in the heart of Bangalore and will cost some 500 crore rupees. The new project is set for construction on a one acre site at the intersection of Brigade Road and Residency Road near the central business district....
Whilst the news out of the Ryder Cup wasn’t very good for European golfers who wanted to keep the Cup, a report indicated that the golf industry on the European side of the Atlantic is thriving. According to a study released at the Ryder Cup from the KPMG Golf Advisory Practice, the business of golf is now worth more than €50 billion a year in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). One reason...
The central Albanian town of Berat was recently added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list as an example of the co-existence of religions and cultures. The town joins Gjirokaster to its south as UNESCO sites in the central part of this country. Both of these towns are full of Balkan architecture and culture and have been around for thousands of years. The origins of the town of Berat date back the third...
The average price of existing homes across Canada took a big hit in August, falling by 5.1 percent according to data released from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). The average price of a home sold through the Canadian Multiple Listing Service was CAD $316,052 in August, compared to a little over $332,000 a year ago. Additionally, the number of sales across the country dropped by 19.3 percent in...
The current global crisis being faced by governments worldwide has provoked various responses to help remedy the situation. The real estate sector is seen as key to consumer and business confidence and has been subject to various degrees of governmental interventions. The an on-line property research house.Global Property Guide report the latest efforts employed by governments: In the US, the...