Spanish developer about to become first ‘victim’ of credit crunch

Turkey to introduce new planning restrictions to slow construction 

Irish house prices fall for sixth consecutive month

Alanya given go ahead for International Airport

Cheap return flights started from London to Cape Verde

Dubai plans $11bn inland canal

Mortgage market in the UAE doubles in one year

Goldman Sachs to invest $1.7bn in Japanese property boom

Irish house prices fall for sixth consecutive month

House prices in Ireland slipped for the sixth month in a row in August and were 1.9% lower year-on-year, according to the permanent tsb/ESRI house price index. The average price of a house fell 0.3% in August after a 0.4% drop the previous month.

House prices started falling on a monthly basis in March 2007 for the first time in five years. The average price paid for a house fell by €892 to €300,375 in August and is now more than €10,000 lower than at the end of 2006.

Niall O’Grady, head of marketing with permanent tsb bank said: “The index confirms that the actual rate of change in house prices across the country remains modest. Since the start of this year, prices have declined by 3.3% on average.”

Alanya given go ahead for International Airport

After ten years of speculation, Alanya in southern Turkey has been given the green light for its own International Airport, 33km from the centre of the city.  Already a popular resort with UK holiday makers and overseas property buyers, the new airport looks set to fuel demand for property in the area.

The airport, at Gazipasa was previously completed in 1999 but will be further developed, including extending the runway, by TAV Airports Holding, which is also responsible for the operation and management of the international airports at Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir.

Gazipasa Airport will be fully operational by mid-2008. Tourists that currently visit Alanya need to fly to Antalya international airport, which is a 90 minute car journey away. The new airport will cut the travel time to resorts to 20-30 minutes.

Turkey to introduce new planning restrictions to slow construction     

The Ministry of Forest and Agriculture in Turkey has issued a White Paper on guidelines and restrictions to be introduced by the local Municipals and Town Planners up to the year 2025. These new proposals are aiming to restrict the intensity of construction generally in cities and along the coastline.

The White Paper spans all the major tourist areas which cover the Aegean and Mediterranean coastlines which until now have been subject to local planning strategies and have in some areas resulted in extensive building.

Robert Nixon, director of UK Operations for Nirvana International, reportedly said: “This is an excellent piece of legislation which covers not just the main tourist areas around the coast but also the cities and surrounding countryside. It is a sweeping approach to ensure that this beautiful country retains its very special appeal.”

Spanish developer about to become first ‘victim’ of credit crunch

After failing to avoid bankruptcy over a €300m debt, Valencia-based construction company Llanera Group is reported to have announced its insolvency.

Under normal credit conditions it is reported that the company would have had little problem securing added funds from Spanish banks, but as the global credit crunch worsens, banks and other institutions are hesitant to lend money - especially in Spain’s property and construction sectors.

“We have a liquidity crisis and we are talking to our banks in order to avoid filing for prosecution from creditors”, a company spokesperson said in an interview with the Financial Times. The developer told the paper it was in talks with Bancaja, a local savings bank, and other creditors to accept some of its land as payment for its debts.

However, several newspapers including the Daily Telegraph have since reported that the developer has declared its insolvency after failing to meet payments on debt.

Mortgage market in the UAE doubles in one year

The value of mortgages in the UAE nearly doubled to £6.1bn in the year to June 2007 from £3.1bn a year earlier. However, the growth is slowing and mortgage lending grew 9% in the second quarter, compared with 80% in 2006.

Dubai ’s population is growing at an average of 7.9% a year and may rise to 1.9m by 2010 from 1.4m now, a recent research report from Egyptian investment bank EFG-Hermes said.

Goldman Sachs to invest $1.7bn in Japanese property boom

Goldman Sachs plans to invest around Y200bn ($1.7bn) this year in Japanese property, because it is confident that real estate is still short of its peak after a two-year rally.

“Capital inflows will likely increase as various funds continue to be attracted to the Japanese property market”, Toshinobu Kasai, managing director of Goldman’s local real estate investments, reportedly said in an interview.

Japanese commercial land prices rose this year for the first time since the property bubble burst in 1991, crippling the world’s second-biggest economy with three recessions in the following 15 years. New York-based Goldman Sachs has spent Y2trn ($17bn) since 1998 buying Japanese properties including golf courses, spa resorts, jewelry stores and cinemas.

Morgan Stanley has also been on an acquisition spree in Japan spanning offices, hotels and residential developers. In April, Morgan Stanley agreed to buy 13 hotels in Japan from All Nippon Airways Co. for Y280bn in what was Japan’s largest real estate purchase by an overseas investor.

However, some local property experts have expressed concern that the Japanese real estate market has become ‘dangerous’.

According to the land ministry in Japan, commercial land prices surged in central Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya, by 24%, 14% and 18% respectively for the year ending 30 June.

Goldman Sachs, with more than half of its portfolio in office buildings, will continue to focus on properties in Japan’s three largest cities, Kasai said.

But they are not alone and according to STB Research Institute, REIT’s bought Y1.5trn ($12.75bn) of Japanese property in the 12 months to the end of June, with 52% being spent in Japan’s three largest cities.

Dubai plans $11bn inland canal

Dubai Authorities have decided to push ahead with an $11bn mega-project to build an inland waterway to expand its waterfront.

The limited natural coastline in Dubai has already been largely developed but the new 75km Arabian Canal will loop around ‘New Dubai’, the residential and business developments concentrated to the west of central Dubai, near the port and industrial zone of Jebel Ali, and enable property developers to offer thousands of more ‘waterside apartments’.

The canal will stretch into the desert as far west as the border with neighbouring Abu Dhabi - enabling a massive expansion of developed area of the desert state.

Ian Rayne, the project's development manager, said work would start in December and was scheduled for completion in three years time.

Limitless, a unit of Dubai World, the government holding company that includes Dubai Ports World, will transform 33km of the new waterway into residential, commercial and entertainment developments in the next 15 years in a project that could house about 1m people. The remaining 42km will go to existing residential and industrial developments.

Regional investment bank EFG-Hermes recently said that house prices could decline by 20% between 2009 and 2011 and the canal will lead to a further massive increase in new supply.

So far, Dubai’s offshore projects have expanded the natural 40km coastline into a beachfront that totals 2,000km.

The canal is expected to open up more options for alternative transport systems such as water taxis. Two locks will keep sea water flowing through the canal, which will be up to 150 metres wide and six metres deep.

Cheap return flights started from London to Cape Verde

The National Flag Carrier of Cape Verde, TACV, has announced a price of £214 return for its first flights between the island of Sal and London Stanstead beginning 29 October 2007.

The confirmed timetable shows direct flights every Monday and Thursday to Amilcar Cabral International Airport on Sal with outgoing connections to Fortaleza, Brazil and a round-trip to both destinations with TACV starts at £395.

Adam Cornwell, MD of GEM Estates comments, “When we first started selling on the Islands two and a half years ago accessibility to Cape Verde used to be a bit of a drag, generally having to stop in Lisbon to catch a connecting flight and pushing flying time from London up to 7 hours.