photo credit: robertpaulyoung

One of the world’s biggest shopping centres is nearing completion and is expected to attract even further real estate investment in a development hot spot. The Dubai Mall is to finally open in August and will feature an area of around 1.1 million square metres and around 1,200 shops.

Developers Emaar Malls said the ambitious site would become the

“premier lifestyle destination of choice”

when it opens its doors to the public. Retail outlets at the massive installation are in the process of being fitted out and organsier are hoping for 30 million visitors in its first year.

Chairman of Emaar Mohamed Ali Alabbar said:

“Business growth is about seizing the right opportunity at the right time. With The Dubai Mall, we are creating a unique combination of several niche malls. The mall will include two anchor department stores and 120 food beverage outlets, with the total space covering the equivalent of 50 football pitches.

Jim Badour, Emaar CEO said:

“The Dubai Mall will revolutionise the modern shopping experience by introducing several new and innovative leisure and entertainment concepts to the region.

“We are creating a new lifestyle destination that will energise the retail, tourism and consumer audiences.”

Emaar’s ambitious plan is to become one of the world’s most valuable companies by 2010, and has more than $4 billion worth of investments in malls. When complete, it is hoped the latest venture will further boost the area’s already booming real estate investment industry.

UK Property investors are focussing their interests on lettings as the sales market falters, a new reports says. Statistics from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) shows owners are turning back to renting properties that have failed to sell.

Many appear to be taking advantage of rising rental yields while they wait for the effect of the credit crunch to abate. RICS spokesperson James Scott-Lee said:

“The sales market’s loss is the lettings market’s gain.

“Some would-be sellers are retreating from selling and letting or re-letting their properties as they wait for mortgage lenders to offer buyers more favourable lending criteria.”

He added rent rates are rising and called the lettings market

“increasingly lucrative”.

A total of 28 per cent more chartered surveyors reported a rise rather than a fall in tenant lettings, up from 17 percent in the last quarter. RICS has 140,000 members globally and represents, regulates and promotes the work of property professionals throughout 146 countries.

The organisation’s latest figures could show a way out for some property investors who have failed to sell on homes. As the housing market continues to fall, more and more would-be first-time buyers are likely to be heading into rented property, presenting a promising potential income boost for some investors.

Another UK new homes developer is targeting first-time buyers with a new purchase scheme. David Wilson Homes unveiled the Head Start scheme, specifically designed to help the new homes buyer, by allowing them to pay just 85 per cent of the purchase with no deposit.

Purchasers take out mortgages for only 85 per cent of the value of their homes, while David Wilson Homes provides an interest free loan to cover the other 15 per cent. The deferred amount is then paid back as 15 per cent of the property’s open market value, either within ten years of purchase or at the time of resale if this is earlier than ten years.

The developers new financial package was announced just after a similar move by Redrow, which is offering to pay a five per cent deposit and £500 worth of mortgage payments on behalf of some applicants interested in its Solihull development.

David Wilson’s main catch is that their offer is not indefinite. Sales and marketing director Rebecca Littler said:

“Head Start is only available for a limited period, so anyone looking to take advantage of its benefits should register their interest now.”

David Wilson Homes hopes the offer will attract buyers to the Chase, its new Norfolk development. The new scheme will feature proposed facilities including a brand new school, local village centre, community hall and an array of shops, play area and football pitches.

US senators are working on a rescue package for troubled homeowners which could help revive the country’s real estate market. The Senate’s banking committee approved a plan that would see the availability of government-insured mortgages expanded in a bid to bail out hundreds of thousands of people threatened by foreclosure.

The New York Times reports the Republican Bush administration has suggested it could consider the idea because it involves no direct cost to taxpayers. Quoted by the paper, banking, housing and urban affairs committee chairman Christopher Dodd said:

“The primary goal here is to keep people in their homes, but also to establish a floor, a bottom to all this.”

If approved the new bill would create an affordable-housing fund which would provide about $500 million (£254 million) towards helping foreclosure-hit homes in its first 12 months.

White House experts are said to be keen to see more of the bill’s detail and welcomed the efforts being made. Earlier this week online real estate auction site RealtyBid reported interest in foreclosures was fuelling a sharp rise in its visitor numbers. Site president Tony Isbell said

“We are definitely seeing a growing number of people looking for real estate bargains. The swell of bank-owned foreclosure properties populating the majority of our website is a huge appeal to real estate bargain hunters.”

According to Isbell, In April RealtyBid attracted 630,000 unique visitors, its highest ever amount in a single month.

A new chief planner has been appointed by the UK government and charged with the aim of speeding up the country’s new homes development processes. Steve Quartermain was unveiled on Tuesday and immediately given the task of helping local councils deliver their local plans for better housing and sustainable communities.

He is expected to have a key role in reform of the planning sector at local levels, with the government concerned it is currently taking too long for local authorities to make decisions. Planning minister Caroline Flint said of the appointment:

“As chief planner Steve will help drive forward our ambitions to improve the skills and capacity of planners across the profession.”

She added his remit also included ensuring councils delivered

“high quality housing and infrastructure with environmentally friendly developments for communities.”

Mr Quartermain said:

“I am delighted to take up this role. It is a challenging and exciting time for planners in Government, councils and throughout the profession.

“My aim as Chief Planner is to make a positive contribution toward ensuring planning promotes the development of prosperous and vibrant communities.”

Mr Quartermain is likely to have his hands full quickly – on Monday the government announced it had appointed 14 experts and given them the task of ensuring developers improved their current ideas on how to implement eco-town developments in 14 short-listed locations.

Mr Quartermain is also set to play a major part in ensuring the development of new homes is speeded up to make sure the government hits ambitious new homes building rate.

UK house prices remain on the slide as demand for homes continues to weaken, experts have said. The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) says 95 per cent of surveyors are now reporting a fall rather than a rise in house prices, compared to a figure of 79 per cent it released in March.

Regionally, all surveyors in East Anglia, the North and the North West agree house prices are going down. RICS spokesman Ian Perry said:

“Although most surveyors are now seeing price declines, the extent of the fall, is at this stage, quite modest. The real issue is the collapse in the number of housing transactions.”

Mr Perry called on the bank of England to cut interest rates when its monetary policy committee next convenes. He also said sellers of ‘white goods’, such as washing machines and fridges, could soon end up being hit if the slump in the market continued for much longer.

The stats indicate would-be property buyers could be struggling to raise the necessary finances while some real estate investment professionals could be holding out due to the UK’s current climate of economic uncertainty.

RICS members offer advice on land, property, construction and environmental issues. The organisation has 140,000 members who operate out of 146 countries, supported by an extensive network of regional offices.

Real estate rentals in central Delhi, India, have rocketed by up to 13 per cent in the first three months of 2008, a report says. Indian Realty News reports demand in Delhi continues to increase despite the city undergoing a massive development boom which has seen new homes spring up in large numbers.

The site says information from real estate investment consultant Cushman and Wakefield shows the rate of rental growth in central locations is rising by between seven and 13 per cent. Quoted by the site, a Cushman and Wakefield report said:

“The majority of the south Delhi locations registered an increase in the range of seven to 11 per cent primarily due to limited scope of development and buoyant demand.”

Information also suggests capital values of the south Delhi locations are also up, to the tune of around ten to 34 per cent over the quarter, with a healthy demand and limited supply contributing to the figures. The Delhi Development Authority has played a vital role in the rapid development of the city since the organisation was founded in 1957.

The city is now home to 11 million people and counting, with the authority overseeing the ongoing construction of new homes, schools, and commercial developments.

An award-winning UK new homes developer is offering financial assistance to first-time buyers by paying deposits and even initial mortgage payments. Redrow is hoping to help out young house buyers interested in its new Solihull development with a new programme called ‘re:assure’.

It is even offering to pay a five per cent deposit and £500 worth of mortgage payments on behalf of some applicants. Redrow’s group marketing director Simon Bennett said:

“It’s all about being flexible and treating each first time buyer as the individual they are, with their own set of individual needs.”

The new homes developer says it could match whatever parents or family members of homeowners are contributing towards the purchase of a new apartment at its Aquatude development, in Dickens Heath. Mr Bennett added:

“Getting help from parents is another stepping stone to home ownership. Parents can act as a guarantor, come in on the mortgage, or simply help out with the costs of moving.

“At Redrow we may be able to match whatever parents are contributing - up to five per cent of the purchase price on selected plots.”

Redrow builds new homes and commercial property across England, Scotland and Wales and runs a UK-wide network of regional offices.

UK home builder Barratt has started work on the first major residential section of one of London’s key strategic regeneration schemes. The £160 million transformation of Dalston, Hackney, is now under way and when complete will provide a total of over 550 new homes, shops, a library and archive.

Work has begun on the first batch of 250 homes in buildings rising to a maximum of 17 storeys, with the first apartments ready by around June 2009. At the heart of the scheme will be Dalston Square, a major new town centre space around which the new homes, shops and restaurants will be built in a range of striking modern buildings.

Barratt East London managing director Alastair Baird said:

“It’s a tremendously exciting scheme that’s great news for Hackney and inner-London as a whole, and we are delighted to be part of it.”

The company said more than 30 of the new homes were reserved ahead of the sales launch, with interest from the real estate investment sector believed to be high.

Barratt was selected for the project by Hackney Council, the Mayor of London’s office, Transport for London and the London Development Agency.

The majority of homes for sale in the first phase of Dalston Square will be one-bedroom apartments aimed at first-time buyers, at prices from £265,000.

A commercial property giant says investment activity in the sector could be returning to normal as it posted high enquiry and rental levels. However, UK-based Segro also said weaknesses in the credit and real estate investment markets had hit UK commercial property development values.

In the UK and Europe, Segro is responsible for over 340,000 sq m of developments currently under construction, with just under half of them already pre-let or sold. Segro chief executive officer Ian Coull said:

“We are seeing some signs of investment activity returning generally and will, ourselves, be seeking to test the market in the coming months with a view to possible renewed recycling of capital – both in the UK and Europe.

“Despite the continuing negativity of sentiment in investment markets, occupier demand has held up well across all our key markets, with further healthy letting volumes achieved.

“Our balance sheet remains strong. Segro remains primed and well placed to use the current dynamic market conditions to drive value over the longer term.”

He added the firm would

“remain vigilant”

in managing risk exposure and had adopted a cautious approach on speculative developments in the UK and in Western Europe.

The firm’s first interim management statement of 2008 also revealed the it has invested c.£200 million in previously announced acquisitions and in its development pipeline, leaving the group with net debt of c.£2,010 million.