Sofia underground to connect national palace of culture with Nadezhda

BA to start flights to Transylvania

Swedish house prices continue to soar

Price falls continue on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast

Gulf real estate projects jump 59% to US$143bn

Soaring property prices worry Bank of Namibia

Major roads to be reconstructed in Lagos

LTV’s lowered in China to slowdown property prices

Swedish house prices continue to soar

New figures have shown that the Swedish housing market remains buoyant with apartment prices continuing to rise in all regions of the country.

According to figures gathered by Mäklarstatistik, the cost of buying an apartment has risen by 23% over the last 12 months, while house prices have seen a 9% increase.

The government’s promises to abolish wealth tax and replace residential property tax with a municipal charge are thought to have contributed to the rise.

“The result is lower running costs, which also has repercussions on the apartment market”, Per Johnler, CEO at Fastighetsbyrån’s told a Swedish website.

Apartment prices in central Stockholm have gone up by 18% over the last year but there are signs that the market there is slowing down.

“Nothing can keep climbing forever. We believe that the brakes will be applied slightly in 2008. The cost of an apartment in Stockholm city centre is approaching 55,000 kronor (€5,850) per square metre”, added Johnler.

The lack of new apartments in all of the big cities at a time of major economic growth has pushed the prices up and led to calls for a drastic increase in construction. While there has been a general rise in income levels, they have not risen nearly as quickly as house prices in recent years.

Price falls continue on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast

Some coastal regions in Bulgaria have registered a drop in prices in the last six months according to a new report by Property Wise Bulgaria Magazine. These include Sozopol, Slunchev Briag (Sunny Beach) and Pomorie. In the largest resort, Sunny Beach, there are currently 60 plots on sale at www.imoti.net. The average asking price is 11% less than it was in February 2007.

Sofia underground to connect national palace of culture with Nadezhda

When ready, the second section of the Sofia underground will connect the National Palace of Culture (NPC) and the residential district of Nadezhda in just six minutes. The Sofia municipality has started reviewing offers from companies wanting to participate in the construction of this section of the underground.

Municipality company Metropoliten head Stoyan Bratoev said that the second underground section would be ready by the end of 2011. Construction works would start in the spring of 2008 from the Nadezhda over-bridge and continue to the Central Station, Luvov Most (Lions’ Bridge), national Palace of Culture and Hemus hotel reaching Cherni Vruh blvd.

This section of the Sofia underground would have 7 stations between Nadezhda to NPC. Sofia’s underground extension received funding from the European regional development fund and is expected to cost around €185m.

BA to start flights to Transylvania

British Airways (BA) is looking into offering flights to Transylvania from the UK. The company doubled the number of flights it operates between London and Bucharest last year, and it is now likely to expand its services to other Romanian regions.

BA’s Romania commercial manager, Emil Delibashev, said: “Romanian destinations outside Bucharest are important to us and we are particularly interested in Transylvania.”

Targu-Mures airport, the gateway to Transylvania, has reported a three-fold increase in traffic over the last year, although only Wizzair currently offer flights there from the UK. Flights from the UK to Bucharest are a little more competitive, with Wizzair ( Liverpool, London Luton) and Easyjet (London Gatwick) offering flights to the Romanian’s capital’s Aurel Vlaicu airport.

Romanian national carrier Tarom slugs it out with BA on the route between London Heathrow and Bucharest’s main international hub, Henri Coanda airport.

Major roads to be reconstructed in Lagos

The Lagos state government in Nigeria has finalised the arrangement for the re -construction of 50 major roads spread across the three senatorial districts of the state.

The road reconstruction exercise is in tandem with the continuation of the ten-point agenda of the State Government to raise the human development index by pursuing plans, programmes and projects which have positive and direct impact on the lives of the people.

The improved road structure around the Nigerian capital is expected to greatly enhance future economic growth for the city.

LTV’s lowered in China to slowdown property prices

The Shenzhen branch of Huaxia Bank has raised its minimum deposit for housing loans to 40% at the end of August. The change is viewed by the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) as a pilot to test the effectiveness of the change with a view to rolling out the requirement nationwide.

Statistics show that property prices in China’s 70 large and medium cities rose by 7.5% year-on-year in July. Shenzhen and Beijing were listed amid the top five in housing price growth, with year-on-year increases of 16.1% and 11.6% respectively.

Soaring property prices worry Bank of Namibia

The Bank of Namibia (BoN) has expressed concern over the alarming pace at which residential property prices are increasing in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. The bank said the rocketing property prices could compromise price stability.

In its latest quarterly review the Bank warned that in the event of a surge in interest rates, ‘there is an attendant danger that the high property prices might raise the rate of default, and as a result increase the level of non-performing loans in the banking system’.

The First National Bank house price index indicated an increase in residential property prices in Windhoek’s of 13.25% and 18.72% in 2005 and 2006 respectively. These increases, said the bank, were very high given the low level of annual inflation of 2.2% (2005) and 5.1% (2006).

High demand combined with an apparent scarcity of houses and plots of land available are thought to be causing the price rises. The other factor has been the rapid fall in interest rates, which fell from 18.25% in 1999 to 9% now.

However, many in the real estate market argue that the bubble has already burst and that the number of people losing their properties because of inability to keep up with their mortgage payments is rising and there are calls for the Government to implement a standard system for valuations with banks varying their valuations on some homes by as much as 20%.

Prices are currently around €450sqm in the Namibian capital.

Gulf real estate projects jump 59% to US$143bn

The value of all Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) real estate projects announced within the last year (2006-07) has leapt 59% to $143bn, reveals research by Trowers & Hamlins the international law firm.

The figures show that the oil fuelled construction boom in the Gulf region is showing no sign of slowing down (GCC member states are Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and Oman).

In the previous 12 months (2005-06) the total value of new commercial and residential real estate projects announced was still an impressive $90bn.

Trowers & Hamlins explains that the Gulf regions real-estate mega-projects are only partly driven by a desire to diversify the regions’ economies away from oil, by creating regional financial services and tourism hubs.

According to the law firm there is also a need to provide additional housing to deal with the region’s unique demographics. With 70% of its population under the age of 30 the demand for new residential property in Saudi Arabia is driving some of the region’s biggest projects. For example Emaar Properties’ Jeddah Hills development (valued at $11.2bn) is expected to deliver nearly 20,000 new homes. Construction projects currently underway in Saudi Arabia alone exceed $53bn in value.

Trowers & Hamlins says that the construction boom is causing problems over and above the well advertised shortages of steel and sand. Nigel Truscott, Partner of Trowers & Hamlins explains: “There is now a shortage of capacity amongst engineering firms, skilled contractors and subcontractors. That means that they are able to negotiate some contracts where far too much of the risk is left with the developer.”