The number of airport expansions and new flight arrivals in Turkey is continually expanding.
Dalaman Airport has now been re-developed at a cost of £75m. Located between Marmaris and Fethiye resorts, the airport now receives international flights from London, Exeter and Manchester, and Easyjet has also recently started flights to Dalaman.
Istanbul Airport has secured £200m in a deal with an Indian investor to construct a new International airport terminal to cope with the increasing number of tourists visiting the city.
Antalya Airport is currently undergoing a £1.4bn expansion plan in an effort to improve the very busy coastal resort airport, which is 33km from the town centre and is scheduled to be open for flights by mid-2008.
Gazipasa Airport will provide a second international airport for the Antalya region. However, reports are currently being commissioned by various government departments and political parties before construction can begin.
BA has announced a new route to Antalya Airport starting in spring 2008. Flights will run from Gatwick to the Turkish terminal three times a week. Flights start on April 10th.
Poland and Ukraine will spend €30bn on transport for Euro 2012
The aggregate value of investments related to the organisation of Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine will near €38bn; projects executed in Poland will account for around 60% of this amount. As much as one third of total costs of preparations for Euro 2012 will be represented by road construction projects in Poland, which is twice as much as will be spent in Ukraine, according to market research company PMR.
In Poland, the value of road construction projects related to the organisation of the European football championships may total as much as €12bn. In addition to the construction of sections of the A2 motorway (eastern section) and the A4 motorway (western section), virtually the entire length of the A1 motorway and the expressway network remain to be constructed, with the S5 expressway linking Wroclaw, Poznan and Gdansk being the key project. Additionally, a substantial portion of investments will be represented by road projects in the cities hosting Euro 2012 matches, which will also encompass the construction of municipal ring roads.
Ukrainian road construction projects may total more than €5bn also including the Lviv-Krakovets and the Lviv-Brody sections, at an estimated cost of €800m.
The largest railroad construction projects in Poland include the modernisation of the main railway lines linking the cities hosting Euro 2012 matches, the construction of the second line of the Warsaw underground as well as the construction and modernisation of several railway stations and railway links between the airports and the city centres.
Projects in Ukraine include the electrification of railway lines of several hundred kilometres in length, the construction of fast-train routes linking the main cities, extensions of the underground lines in Kiev, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk as well as the completion of the construction of the first line of the Donetsk underground.
Both Poland and Ukraine plan to expand their municipal tramway networks by 2012.
PMR analysts believe that key airport construction projects for Euro 2012 include projects to be carried out at eight airports in Poland (in addition to the six airports in the main cities, new airports will be built in Modlin and Gdynia) and eight airports in Ukraine. In total, the value of expenditure on airport-related projects in Poland and Ukraine will near €2bn.
For Poland and Ukraine, Euro 2012 is much more than just a football tournament as the costs related to the construction and modernisation of stadiums will account for less than 10% of total investment. Euro 2012 will be an opportunity for the two countries to take a major step forward and make up for decades of underinvestment in transport infrastructure and 80% of investment (€30bn) will be allocated to improving their transport systems.
EC Harris wins largest shopping centre deal in Romania
EC Harris has secured the largest-ever retail deal in Romania to build four shopping centres worth more than €300m in second tier cities of Arad, Baia Mare, Cluj, and Satu Mare in Transylvania.
The centres, which will also contain a mixture of leisure development, office space and hotel accommodation, will cover almost 300,000sqm and are due to be completed in 2009.
Matthew Cutts, a partner of EC Harris, reportedly said: “Eastern Europe and Romania in particular, is a key target for retailers and highly attractive for investors at present. The success for retailers, such as Tesco and Carrefour, in Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary, suggests that there is real potential in the new territories of Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia.”
World’s biggest building to be built in Moscow
The biggest building in the world is to be built in Moscow and completed within five or six years. Crystal Island will be designed by Sir Norman Foster and will be 450m high and will have a gross area of almost 2.5m sqm. The total cost of the project is estimated to be around $4bn.
The development, which is being called a ‘city within a building’, will be Foster’s second large scale project in the Russian capital, and many people are calling the design the ‘Christmas Tree’ of Moscow.
The floor area alone will be four times the size of the Pentagon in Washington DC and will feature 900 apartments, 3,000 hotel rooms, and an international school for 500 students, cinemas, a theatre, sports complex and much more. There will also be a 16,500 space underground parking lot for all the visitors. The Crystal Island visitors will be able to enjoy panoramic views of Moscow on the viewing platforms located 300m above ground, which will be 30m higher than the highest viewing platform at the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
Energy management is at the heart of this structure and the exterior facade will be solar responsive and will include solar panels which, along with wind turbines, will generate electricity for the huge tower. Natural ventilation will be provided thanks to numerous strategically placed large atriums. The internal environment will also have dynamic enclosure panels slotted into the structural framing that will allow daylight to penetrate deep into the heart of the structure; the panels will also be controlled to modify temperature inside the building – closed in winter for extra warmth and opened in summer to allow natural ventilation.
Worldwide News
Cambodia considers changes to freehold laws
Nuth Nurang, Secretary of State at Cambodia’s Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction has revealed that the government is considering an amendment to Cambodia’s law that would allow foreigners to buy freehold property.
Currently the best option for foreigner investors is to buy on a leasehold tenure of up to 99 years. Another option being considered is to form a company with a Cambodian partner but this carries complex tax issues and needs to be considered carefully said Nurang.
David Stanley Redfern is selling apartments in the capital Phnom Penh on a 99 year leasehold tenure. The contract includes the option to buy the properties freehold if and when the law is amended and the company predicts that foreigners will be buying freehold in Cambodia before the end of 2008.
Global investment in commercial property hits record $930bn in 2007
Global investment in commercial real estate totalled a record $930bn in 2007, an increase of 29% on 2006 according to the latest report from global real estate consultant Cushman & Wakefield - International Investment Atlas 2008.
Trading volumes slowed by 12.5% between the first and second halves of the year, however, and the global total for 2008 is now expected to reach around $770bn, a fall of around 17%.
Emerging markets were the strongest performers with China appearing in the top ten global destinations for investment by volume with around $15bn invested, and Brazil just behind in 11th place with around $14bn invested. Ten of the top 15 fastest growing markets were emerging markets including European hotspots such as Ukraine, Turkey, Bulgaria and Hungary.
The strongest regional growth was in the Americas with investment in Latin America increasing 87% and North America up 49%. Asia also enjoyed a strong year with investment increasing 27% to reach $145bn. Investment in Europe also rose albeit by a more modest 10% to stand at $349bn. The top five global investment targets remain the USA, UK, Germany, France and Japan.
Cushman & Wakefield’s predicted total of $770bn for 2008 would still represent nearly three times the level of trading seen only five years ago; evidence that commercial real estate should remain an established global asset class.
In Europe, foreign investors are now the dominant player accounting for 55% of the $349bn market. The major markets of Germany and France both posted gains of around 30% although the UK, Europe’s biggest market, was the principal victim of the credit crunch in the region and saw a 13% fall in activity. Many more investors began targeting Central & Eastern Europe where there was a 47% increase in activity. Markets such as Turkey, Russia and Ukraine offer higher potential returns but with higher risk and all are expected to see a further marked increase in investment in 2008.
Michael Rhydderch, head of cross border investment, Cushman & Wakefield EMEA said: “In some of the more established Western European markets prices are adjusting quickly to the new reality. We believe that capital is starting to flow back into those markets most affected by the credit crunch as prices begin to appear comparatively attractive. Countries like the UK, which have seen values fall significantly, could in fact start to stage a rally in the second half of this year.”
New markets continue to be added to the target list of investors - be that new country targets in established regions such as Ukraine or Vietnam - or new regions, with South and Central American economies looking highly promising for near term gains and the more established markets in the Middle East and Africa also attracting more capital.
Vietnamese government wants 3% corporate tax cut
The finance ministry of the Vietnamese government plans to take a proposal for a 3% tax cut to the state’s National Assembly . The reduction would take effect on 1 st January 2009.
The government of Vietnam has requested that the finance ministry prepare a draft of a Corporate Income Tax Law to replace the current law and a draft version of the new law is now in circulation.
The tax rate cut will be from 28% to 25% in an effort by the government to be more competitive in the region and attract more foreign investment.
The ministry is also working on a new VAT law and plans to cut car import taxes.
Canada ranked most affordable English-speaking housing market
The 2008 Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey examined the housing affordability situation of 227 English-speaking urban markets in the UK (28), Republic of Ireland (6), Canada (29), the US (129), Australia (28) and New Zealand (7) and discovered that Canada has the most affordable housing market.
Demographia rated the urban markets by the ‘median multiple’ method, where the median house price of a market is divided by the median annual household income and this is the method recommended by the UN and the World Bank.
Overall, the New Zealand and Australian urban markets have the worst housing affordability at 6.3 times its annual household earnings, followed by the United Kingdom (5.5) Ireland (4.7), the United States (3.6) and Canada (3.1).
The firm said that countries where property is worth less than 3 times the annual salary is judged ‘affordable’; three to four times ‘moderately unaffordable’; four to five times ‘seriously unaffordable’ and property over five times the annual household income as ‘severely unaffordable’.
In addition, when interest costs on mortgages are added, New Zealanders are in the worst position. Based on local interest rates, a 100% LTV 30-year mortgage to a New Zealand household can expect 18.6 years of income to go towards the mortgage costs (excluding rates, taxes, maintenance and other costs); Australians 17.9 years, the British 14.1 years: the Irish 9.6 years; the Americans 8.3 years and the Canadians 7.9 years.
In the UK, the best ratings of ‘seriously unaffordable’ were in Falkirk and Dundee in Scotland, and Middlesbrough & Durham in the Northeast of England, all with a multiple medium of 4.4. The most unaffordable markets were Bournemouth & Dorset (8.9), Belfast (8.8) and Exeter & Devon (8.2).
In Canada, there are 13 ‘affordable’ markets and the capital Ottawa is the country’s most affordable market at just three times the local salary.
