GSIS eyes real estate

Pension fund manager Government Service Insurance System said it will be more active in the real estate industry this year as a way of generating more income.

“We are looking at the possibility of building government buildings that may take on other government agencies as tenants to generate investment income. We already received interests from other government agencies that are currently occupying old buildings,” GSIS president and general manager Robert Vergara said in a media briefing Friday.

“But that is not easy because it takes approximately 18 months to get the buildings ready…. However, that is something that we are planning to do as a way to generate income from our assets,” Vergara said.

Vergara also said another option being studied by the agency was to invest in international investment markets.

For the original post visit: http://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/02/02/gsis-eyes-real-estate/

Real Estate Losses Weigh On Santander

Sergio Perez/Reuters

Emilio Botin, chairman of Banco Santander.

LONDON – Banco Santander, the largest bank in the euro zone, reported an increase in fourth-quarter net profit on Thursday even as it continued to set aside billions of euros to cover loan losses in its domestic Spanish market.

Santander, based in Madrid, said net income rose to 401 million euros ($544 million) in the three months ended Dec. 31. The bank posted a net income of 47 million euros in the period a year earlier, when it set aside 1.8 billion euros to offset exposure to Spain’s troubled real estate market.

Net profit for 2012, however, plunged 59 percent, to 2.2 billion, compared with the year-earlier period, as Santander was required to make provisions of billions of euros because of an increase in faulty real estate loans.

In total, Santander set aside 18.8 billion euros in 2012 to cover delinquent mortgages in Spain and an increase in other troubled loans across its businesses, particularly in struggling European markets.

While the bank now generates half of its earnings in Latin America’s emerging economies, a slowdown in Brazil and Mexico, combined with financial troubles in Europe, weighed on Santander’s earnings last year.

The bank’s management said it hoped the worst of the financial crisis was now behind it.

“In 2013, with the exceptional write-offs behind us, we should see a marked recovery in results,” Santander’s chairman, Emilio Botín, said in a statement.

Shares in Santander fell 2.3 percent in morning trading in Madrid on Thursday after the bank’s fourth-quarter earnings fell below analysts’ expectations.

The bank’s stock price has rallied more than 50 percent since July, after European policy makers gave renewed support to the struggling euro zone.

Despite growing confidence that the euro zone will survive its financial troubles, Spanish banks will continue to be hampered by weak domestic growth and potential further provisions to cover faulty loans, according to Citigroup analysts.

Since the beginning of the financial crisis, Santander has been shifting its focus away from its domestic market in search of growth. Yet as Europe’s debt troubles have continued to affect global markets, some of Santander’s new markets, particularly in Latin America, have also suffered.

Last year, Santander’s net income for its combined Latin American unit, excluding certain provisions, fell 8 percent, to 4.3 billion euros, compared with 2011, while its British operations reported an 11 percent drop in profit before provisions, to 1.1 billion euros. Santander raised $4.2 billion in September, after a dual listing of its Mexican subsidiary in New York and Mexico to increase its own cash reserves.

In Spain, Santander said it had cut its net exposure to the domestic real estate market by half last year, to 12.5 billion euros, after it sold almost 34,000 properties owned by the bank and real estate developers. The turnaround is likely to take some time. The bank’s ratio of delinquent loans in Spain rose 1.25 percentage points, to 6.74 percent, compared with 2011.

Santander also said deposits in its domestic market now exceeded loans, as the bank reduced lending to cash-strapped Spaniards. In December, the bank had announced that it would absorb Banesto, its main domestic subsidiary, as part of its plans to close 15 percent of its retail network in the southern European country.

The cutback in domestic lending comes despite a huge influx of cheap money from the European Central Bank at the end of 2011 aimed at easing institutions’ ability to raise money in the financial markets.

European policy makers had hoped that firms would inject the cash into domestic economies to stimulate growth. Many banks have instead hoarded the money in case Europe’s debt crisis further hurts their operations.

As fears over Europe’s future have waned, many of Europe’s largest banks have been able to tap wholesale markets for new financing. The European Central Bank said last week that 278 banks would now return a combined 137 billion euros of short-term loans to the European Central Bank.

On Thursday, Santander confirmed that it had returned 24 billion euros to the European Central Bank, adding that it still had 11 billion euros of outstanding loans from the agency.

By the end of last year, Santander said its core Tier 1 capital ratio, a measure of a bank’s ability to weather financial shocks, had increased to 10.3 percent, which is above targets set by regulators.

For the original post visit: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/01/31/santanders-profit-hit-by-real-estate-concerns/

Boosting Real Estate Industry Growth

The Philippines is experiencing a boom in the real estate market. The growth movers of the industry are funds sent home by Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and the robust Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry. The real estate sector registered growth of 18.8 percent in the third quarter of 2012, making it the country’s fastest-growing industry.

BPO companies are fueling the demand for office space, said United States of America global property manager CBRE Global Corporate Services, noting that 80% of transactions in 2012 were made by BPOs. The trend is expected to continue in 2013 with the continued growth of offshore outsourcing and the call center industry.

Since 2006, the CBRE reported, over 50 percent of office space leased in the country has been taken up by BPO companies. Multinational companies are moving to the Philippines because of its excellent pool and low cost of skilled labor. CBRE projects that developers will also focus on the mid-income residential market in 2013, reflecting the demand from the growing population of young professionals and their families.

Another USA global property manager, Jones Lang LaSalle, said that more Filipinos are becoming homeowners because of low interest rates and affordable financing conditions. A big number of OFWs invest their money in real estate. CBRE and Jones Lang LaSalle, both international companies that do business in the Philippines, are optimistic that the country will get an upgrade to investment rating in the next six months to further boost the economy and the property market.

We congratulate the Jones Lang LaSalle International headed by Director David T. Leechiu and CBRE Philippines Chairman Rick M. Santos, all the best and success in all their endeavors. CONGRATULATIONS AND MABUHAY!

For the original post visit: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/391816/boosting-real-estate-industry-growth#.UQoXtJEWbDs

Seattle commercial real estate market stays hot

Seattle's commercial real-estate market was one of the "most active in the country" in the fourth quarter, according to a new report.

A report by the Seattle office of Cushman & Wakefield indicates Seattle's Central Business District (CBD) saw a significant drop in office vacancy rates.

"Seattle's CBD was one of the hottest markets in the nation in 2012, mostly due to Amazon.com taking up just shy of one million square feet of office space," said Dave Magee, Cushman & Wakefield | Commerce senior director and managing broker, in a statement. 

On the city's Eastside, the report said strong office leasing activity in the Bellevue CBD is producing steady occupancy gains.

"Looking into 2013, the data shows a downward trend in vacancy rates for most areas. And because of improved GDP numbers, we should expect to see a boost in demand at the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, fueling the need for additional warehouse space," Magee continued.

For the original post visit: http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/morning_call/2013/01/seattle-commercial-market-most-active.html

Falls Church Real Estate Assessments Up 2.9% Overall for 2013, City Hall Says

The total taxable assessed value for all properties in the City of Falls Church as of Jan. 1, 2013, is $3,324,120,300 ($3.3 billion), a 2.9 percent increase from January 1, 2012, a press release from City Hall released late this afternoon states. The City plans to mail assessments for 2013 in February, so property owners should receive the notices on or after Tuesday, Feb. 12. Updated assessment information will be posted on the City website Monday, Feb. 11. Individual assessment information will not be available until after the mailing.

According to today’s release, overall residential real estate values increased 3.1 percent over the last year. Single family home values increased by 3.5 percent, townhomes increased by 3.6 percent, and residential condominiums had varying changes.

Overall commercial property values increased 1.6 percent since January 2012. The real estate value of multi-family apartments increased 5 percent, large office buildings are up 0.2 percent and large retail properties are up 3.9 percent. The value of City hotels remained flat.

As set forth in the Virginia Constitution, real estate is assessed at 100 percent of fair market value. The City’s Office of Real Estate Assessment calculates property value annually using mass appraisal techniques that are standard in the real estate assessment industry.

According to the City, the forthcoming notice of assessment is an appraisal of the fair market value of the property; it is not a tax bill. Property tax payments will be due in two installments on June 5 and Dec. 5; property owners will receive bills prior to these dates.

The real estate tax rate will be determined on April 22, 2013, when the Falls Church City Council adopts the Fiscal Year 2014 Operating Budget and Capital Improvements Program and sets the tax rate. Public hearings on the Fiscal Year 2014 Proposed Operating Budget will be held on March 25, April 8, and April 22 at 7:30 p.m. in Council Chambers (300 Park Ave.). To see the complete budget schedule, visit www.fallschurchva.gov/Budget.

While individual assessments will be mailed in February, if after evaluating the assessment, homeowners questioning if their assessment is correct are advised to ask the question, “Would my home sell for the assessed value if I put it on the market?” If the answer is “yes,” the assessment is probably accurate. If the answer is “no,” contact the Office of Real Estate Assessment at 703-248-5022 (TTY 711).

Deadlines for assessment appeals are Friday, March 15, 2013, for an Office of Real Estate Assessment review and Friday, July 5, 2013 for a Board of Equalization review. More information about the assessment review process is available online at www.fallschurchva.gov/AssessmentProcess.

For the original post visit: http://fcnp.com/2013/01/28/falls-church-real-estate-assessments-up-2-9-overall-for-2013-city-hall-says/

UAE property prices at pre-crisis level - Al Ghurair

Emirates Banks Association (EBA) chairman Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair.

UAE property values have returned to their pre-crisis levels and in many cases have climbed higher, Emirates Banks Association (EBA) chairman Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair said.

Real estate prices started to rebound last year after Dubai suffered one of the world’s worst property market crashes following the 2008-09 credit crisis.

Al Ghurair said the recovery had helped to limit banks’ losses to an average 0.15 to 0.20 percent of the industry’s total home loan book. “That’s healthy,” he said. “Mortgage lending has been low risk so far.

“It went up and down and during the crisis time value of the property went under the value of the loan but now everybody has the value of the property or even higher... so it’s looking good.”

Home loans in the UAE make up about AED60bn (US$16.3m) of the AED500bn total retail market. “So it’s significant but it’s not really huge,” Al Ghurair said. “It’s a good risk for the banks.”

There has been concern that the UAE Central Bank’s intention to cap the loan-to-value ratio of a mortgage would impact on buyers’ ability to purchase property, limiting banks’ potential to grow in the mortgage sector.

The Central Bank initially said it would set the cap at 50 percent for expats and 75 percent for nationals but is now in negotiations with the EBA, which represents 51 banks.

The EBA said on Sunday it would recommend setting the cap for the first property at 75 percent for expats and 80 percent for nationals.

Al Ghurair said he did not expect the policy to negatively impact the property market or banks’ total mortgage book.

He said some regulation in light of the property market crash was needed. “It’s important that people should own their properties and we want to facilitate the ownership of property for everybody here in the country,” he said. “But some regulation, I think, is important.

“We don’t want the Central Bank to right a uniform mortgage policy and detail a 50-page policy [telling] the banks ‘here’s what you need to do’. Some freedom is important and some guidelines also [are] important.

“So far things [have gone] well... but we don’t know what’s going to happen next time so we don’t want there to be surprises.”

Al Ghurair said previously banks lent up to 100 percent of the property value on the expectation that the real estate value would rise. While it did for a period of time, inevitably there was a crash.

“Most of the banks took an aggressive view that it would go up and it did, they did fine,” he said. “[But] we want to protect the industry from such an aggressive view [again].”

For the original post visit: http://www.arabianbusiness.com/uae-property-prices-at-pre-crisis-level-al-ghurair-487439.html

Real estate developers give big to L.A. sales tax measure

The developer of a proposed downtown Los Angeles football stadium and the company behind two planned apartment towers in Koreatown have provided roughly two-thirds of the funds for the campaign to pass a half-cent sales tax increase in the March 5 election, according to a report released Thursday.

The committee for Proposition A reported that it had raised $185,000 by Jan. 19, $100,000 of it from stadium developer Anschutz Entertainment Group. The City Council, which is seeking the tax hike to address a $220-million budget shortfall, approved AEG’s proposed stadium last year, which involves the demolition and reconstruction of a section of the city’s Convention Center.

An additional $25,000 came from 3150 Wilshire LLC, a company created by real estate developer J.H. Snyder Co., which is building two residential towers -- one 23 stories and the other 29 -- at Wilshire Boulevard and Vermont Avenue in Koreatown. Two years ago, the city provided $17.5 million in financial assistance for the project, which is located in a district represented by council President Herb Wesson.

Kacy Keys, senior vice president of J.H. Snyder, said she did not know who asked her company to donate. But she lavished praise on Wesson, who launched the sales tax campaign last fall, saying he had been “very helpful” in getting her company’s project in Koreatown off project off the ground.

“I know this [ballot measure] is Herb’s effort and we wish Herb well,” she said.

Wesson was not available to comment.

But Jack Humphreville, who signed the ballot argument opposing the sales tax hike, said big donors to Proposition A had received “special treatment” from Wesson and the council. Making those contributions "is a cheap price for these special interests to pay,” he said.

The city provided a $12.5-million loan for J.H. Snyder's Koreatown development that can be repaid, in part, from new property taxes generated by the project, Keys said. An additional $5-million loan came from the city’s redevelopment agency and does not need to be repaid until the developer sells or refinances, she said. Excel Paving, a company that has received city contracts in recent years, gave $25,000. So did Crew Knitwear, a Los Angeles-based apparel company.

A $10,000 donation came from a political action committee representing the California Assn. of Realtors. Real estate groups lobbied successfully last fall to stop Wesson and his colleagues from pursuing a ballot measure that would increase the tax on property sales.

Wesson and his colleagues went with a sales tax hike proposal instead.

For the original post visit: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2013/01/real-estate-developers-give-big-to-la-sales-tax-measure.html