The Australian real estate market is benefitting from the collapse of the property market in Dubai as Chinese and Russians buyers move their allegiance down under. Property investors from both nations are now the biggest foreign buyers of residential property and especially favour Queensland’s Gold Coast, it is claimed. Last year, Chinese buyers finalised deals for $22.76 million of houses and apartments, while buyers from the Russian Federation signed for $22.7m of Gold Coast homes.

Treasures await for real estate buyers investors in Pattaya but if you reach for it too soon you´ll get hurt, says Jugkarut Ruangratanakorn, vice-president of Ratanakorn Asset Co Ltd. Speaking at a seminar organised by the Real Estate Information Centre and quoted in The Bangkok Post, he says: “For Pattaya real estate, treasure is waiting ahead. But if you reach out for it today, you may get hurt. [You should] wait for a right time. Investors and developers should know its [Pattaya real estate´s] life cycle. 1997-2000 was its bottom, 2001-04 was a recovery and 2005-08 was a boom.”

Indonesia´s state minister for Public Housing Suharso Monoarfa said he would propose revision of regulation on foreigner ownership of property in the country. Suharso said he wants to give foreigners longer ownership to 95 years from 25 years at present to help revive the property sector. He said the revised regulation is expected to be effective by the end of June this year. He added the type of property that could be owned by foreigners are ones with prices between US$150,000 to US$200,000.

Thailand will not renew property tax breaks when they expire at the end of March as the economy is recovering and developers are returning to normal profits levels. The incentives, including a reduction in the property transfer fee, a cut in the mortgage registration fee and a lower special business tax, helped boost property sales which increased by 7% in 2009, officials said. But now developers are warning that they will have to pass on the additional costs to buyers and prices will rise from April as a result.

Major Thai resident property developer Land & Houses PCL said Tuesday it plans to launch 17 new projects this year intended to reap a combined 30.95 billion Thai baht ($942 million), but said profit growth could slow this year and cautioned that demand would be capped while domestic political tensions continue to linger.

Singapore´s Budget 2010 brought interesting news for the property sector – the progressive property tax for all owner-occupied residential properties. Under this structure, those who have properties with an Annual Value (AV) exceeding S$77,000 will see an increase in their property taxes; this equates to a mere 3 percent of private property owners or 0.4 percent of all property owners in Singapore. This, of course, pertains to those high-end property owners. This move by the Government is definitely catered to reducing the pressure on mass market owners and get more out of those in the wealthy segment of society but perhaps it is also a positive indication that it has noticed the improving market sentiments, and especially on the high-end property sector?

Hong Kong’s new fiscal budget for 2010/2011 includes additional taxes to reduce volatility in the property market and monitoring of speculators. Although Hong Kong’s gross domestic product (GDP) only fell by 2.7% in 2009 and growth in GDP of up to 5% is expected this year, the government is still concerned about the sustainability of the current economic recovery. Financial Secretary John C Tsang announced an HKD20 billion relief package that includes tax rebates, rates concessions and public housing rental waivers, to provide financial assistance to the community during the economic recovery.

After a bleak past two years during the global economic downturn the Vietnam real estate market needs foreign investment to recover, it is claimed. The industry is hoping that tentative signs of increasing interest will lead to more robust interest from overseas buyers. ‘Since the global financial crisis, many foreigners have left the country and foreign demand has dried up. Although fundamentally there is still demand for property, it is not as strong as it used to be since the foreigners left,’ said ECM Libra analyst Bernard Ching.

Luxury-home prices in central London jumped 17 percent in February from a year earlier, the biggest gain in almost two years, as more buyers competed for a dwindling number of properties, Knight Frank LLP said. The value of houses and apartments costing more than 1 million pounds ($1.5 million) rose 3.2 percent from January, the London-based property broker said in an e-mailed statement today. The annual increase was the largest since the market peaked in March 2008 and compares with an 11.5 percent advance in January. Prices are still 10 percent lower than the peak. “The continuation of the growth in prices and the recent increase in the speed of such growth has been caused by a dramatic shortage of supply,” Liam Bailey, head of residential research at Knight Frank, said in the statement.

Asian real estate investment markets posted a strong recovery in the second half of 2009 after witnessing a difficult start to the year, according to new data. Investment turnover bottomed out in the first quarter but improved thereafter as confidence gradually returned, underpinned by the strong rebound in the equity markets, the persistence of low financing costs and a stabilizing trend in price levels across key markets, says the report from CB Richard Ellis. Direct real estate investment in Asia jumped 56% year-on-year in the second half of 2009 to an estimated US$25 billion. However, overall transaction volume was still 22% lower in 2009 compared with the previous year, the Asia Investment Market View report for the second half of 2009 shows.