Middle Eastern property firm Emaar is again buzzing with the sound of investment murmuring this week thanks to the planned sale of units at a Turkish development. The firm’s country subsidiary for Turkey revealed property investors can snap up semi-detached villas in the second phase of a sale of its Tuscan Valley Houses development.

Detached properties are also up for grabs, with 75 per cent of the initial phase already sold ahead of December handover dates. Further phases are expected to follow with Emaar buying up an extra 500,000 sq metres after the high level of interest in the first units.

Emaar Turkey general manager Ozan Balaban said:

“International investor interest in Turkey’s property sector is growing given the country’s appeal as a tourism destination and its distinct location as the bridge between the Middle East region and Europe.

“Tuscan Valley Houses is a pioneering master-planned community in the country and offers investors a world-class environment.”

The Istanbul development includes houses in a Tuscan architectural style and an indoor recreation centre plus landscaped gardens. Last week Emaar unveiled the sale of units in two landmark residential developments being built in Marassi and uptown Cairo, Egypt.

Colorado is still among US states experiencing a wave of foreclosures and presenting unique opportunities to investors, with filings up 23 per cent. A total of 11,630 new foreclosure filings were made between January and March, up from 9,443 in the same period of 2007.

Adams County in the state had one foreclosure filing for every 86 households during the first quarter of 2008, while Weld County had one foreclosure filing for every 102 homes. The data from New Foreclosure Online suggests Colorado is the latest state to present the chance for people to grab a cut-price property investment as the sub-prime crisis in the US continues to have an impact.

The site said:

“When it comes to the sale of foreclosure homes, Colorado also saw an increase of five percent compared to the number of sales at auction in the first quarter of 2007.”

However, there are not as many homes up for grabs in the state as there now are elsewhere, according to other figures. The state is now seventh overall in the US table of foreclosure rates, according to RealtyTrac figures published by the Denver Business Journal, down from fifth in April.

Nevada currently weighs in as the US state with the highest foreclosure rate, according to the same statistics.

Local authorities should be given the power to provide financial support to certain households in order to prop up the UK housing market, a report says. Officials at the New Local Government Network (NLGN) called for councils to offer cash to homeowners hit hard by the credit crunch and faced with repossession.

The plan could also see support offered to some first-time buyers to help them get on the property ladder. Under the idea, councils would be able to borrow money via prudential borrowing rules and offer finance to select groups of people.

The NLGN unveiled the scheme in a report called Good House Keeping? Stronger Communities Through Local Housing Intervention. Study author Anthony Brand, said:

“With mortgage defaults up 17 per cent this year, and likely to top 100,000, supporting those areas hit hardest could be vital to sustaining communities.

“The government should set £2bn of its £50bn intervention package aside for supporting these measures, and allowing the hardest hit councils to apply for funding. This could help up to 15,000 people out of difficulty and even provide a long-term profit to the Treasury.”

The report also calls for local authorities to be given greater freedoms to build and invest in new homes.