National Australia Bank is to abandon commercial property lending in the UK and cut 1,400 jobs,
XYNO Properties is an international property investment company, investing into commercial real estate in Switzerland, The United Kingdom and the USA. Follow our blog for updates on the international property market, related financial news and updates on our products
Showing posts with label retail property investment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label retail property investment. Show all posts
Monday, 30 April 2012
Monday, 20 February 2012
Home Sales in U.S. Probably Climbed in January to Highest Level Since 2010
Home sales in the U.S. probably climbed in January to the highest level since May 2010, adding to evidence the housing market is regaining its footing, economists said reports this week will show.
Combined purchases of new and existing houses rose to a 4.97 million annual rate from 4.92 million in December, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey. Claims for jobless benefits held near the lowest level since 2008, bolstering consumer confidence, other reports may show.
A strengthening job market, combined with record affordability driven by the drop in home prices and mortgage rates, will probably keep underpinning demand. Nonetheless, the Federal Reserve and Obama administration are striving to find ways to lend the industry additional assistance amid concern that mounting foreclosures will continue to hinder the recovery.
“Home sales have bottomed, and from here on, we should see a moderate pickup,” said Yelena Shulyatyeva, an economist at BNP Paribas in New York. “Hiring is improving slowly, so that’s helping.” More policy efforts are needed as “we still can’t rely on housing to recover on its own,” she said.
The National Association of Realtors will release data on existing house sales on Feb. 22. Purchases increased 0.9 percent to a 4.65 million annual rate, following a 4.61 million pace in December, according to the Bloomberg survey median.
Sales of new homes climbed to a 315,000 annual rate from 307,000 the prior month, the survey median showed. The report is due from the Commerce Department on Feb. 24. Last year marked a record low for the industry in data going back to 1963, as builders sold 302,000 homes, down 6.2 percent from 2010.
More Homebuilding
Reports last week indicated housing is on the mend. Builders broke ground on more homes than forecast in January, helped by warmer weather, and construction permits also advanced. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo index of builder confidence climbed in February to the highest level since May 2007.
Beazer Homes USA Inc. (BZH) reported that orders jumped 36 percent in the final three months of 2011 from a year earlier, and closings on new houses surged more than 60 percent. The Atlanta-based builder said it expects to sell more properties this year than last.
“While our visibility into the economic conditions for the remainder of the year is limited, I believe that we will benefit from a gradually improving housing market,” Allan Merrill, chief executive officer, said on an earnings call on Feb. 2.
Build Shares
Investors also are upbeat about prospects. The Standard & Poor’s Supercomposite Homebuilding Index (S15HOME) has advanced 21 percent since the end of last year, outpacing an 8.2 percent gain in the broader S&P 500.
Policy makers are working to help distressed homeowners. The top five mortgage lenders this month reached a $25 billion settlement with 49 states and the U.S. government over the use of faulty paperwork in foreclosures.
Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the central bank’s efforts to spur growth are being blunted by impediments to mortgage lending, and called for more steps to heal the housing industry.
“The economic recovery has been disappointing in part because U.S. housing markets remain out of balance,” Bernanke told homebuilders on Feb. 10 in Orlando, Florida. “We need to continue to develop and implement policies that will help the housing sector get back on its feet.”
One asset has been the improvement in employment. The jobless rate fell in January to a three-year low of 8.3 percent, and payrolls rose by 243,000 workers.
Fewer Firings
Firings are also waning, Labor Department figures may show on Feb. 23. Initial jobless claims rose last week to 355,000 after reaching a four-year low the prior week, according to the median forecast in the Bloomberg survey.
Greater affordability is also supporting home demand. The National Association of Realtors’ measure of whether households earning the median income can afford a median-priced house at current interest rates reached a record in the last three months of 2011.
Among other reports this week, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan final index of consumer sentiment rose to 72.8 in February from a preliminary reading of 72.5, economists in the Bloomberg survey predicted. The data will be released Feb. 24.
Thursday, 16 February 2012
Westfield: buy-back a missed opportunity
(Westfield, the Australian listed entity listed by Steve Lowy, built Westfield (White City) in London and also opened the new Westfield Stratford in the East End of London in October last year.)
February 15, 2012
Faster, higher, stronger is the Olympic slogan. Add bigger into the mix and you get Westfield, developer of the expansive shopping centre that hugs London's Olympic site in Stratford. But now the Australian property group, the world's biggest shopping mall developer by market capitalisation, is busy trimming its portfolio. On Wednesday, the controlling Lowy family said it would spin off a 45 per cent stake in some of its US malls to Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for nearly $2bn, and shed three malls in the UK to asset manager Hermes. In a tough retail market, the sensible move sent Westfield's share price up 5 per cent.
It is all part of the company's post-crisis slimline strategy. Westfield has already spun off a stake in its Australian and New Zealand malls and this latest move reduces its exposure in its next biggest market. It also frees up cash to invest as well as to fund a share buy-back for up to 10 per cent of shares (or about A$2bn at current prices). All told, Westfield has freed up A$9bn of capital since 2010, much of which it has spent on properties in Milan, New York's World Trade Center site, and chasing higher return opportunities in Brazil.
Having kept its head down during the financial crisis, which was particularly severe on Australian property groups, Westfield's re-emergence has relieved investors - its shares are up 13 per cent so far this year having fallen by half since 2007. The share buy-back, however, is a sideshow and, all else equal, boosts leverage. Net debt is currently a manageable 36 per cent of assets, and the new joint venture will offset some exposure. But if the Lowy family is so confident of the opportunities in emerging markets and other global centres, then rather than pointlessly handing cash back to shareholders, perhaps it should spend even more of its money to pursue them
February 15, 2012
Faster, higher, stronger is the Olympic slogan. Add bigger into the mix and you get Westfield, developer of the expansive shopping centre that hugs London's Olympic site in Stratford. But now the Australian property group, the world's biggest shopping mall developer by market capitalisation, is busy trimming its portfolio. On Wednesday, the controlling Lowy family said it would spin off a 45 per cent stake in some of its US malls to Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for nearly $2bn, and shed three malls in the UK to asset manager Hermes. In a tough retail market, the sensible move sent Westfield's share price up 5 per cent.
It is all part of the company's post-crisis slimline strategy. Westfield has already spun off a stake in its Australian and New Zealand malls and this latest move reduces its exposure in its next biggest market. It also frees up cash to invest as well as to fund a share buy-back for up to 10 per cent of shares (or about A$2bn at current prices). All told, Westfield has freed up A$9bn of capital since 2010, much of which it has spent on properties in Milan, New York's World Trade Center site, and chasing higher return opportunities in Brazil.
Having kept its head down during the financial crisis, which was particularly severe on Australian property groups, Westfield's re-emergence has relieved investors - its shares are up 13 per cent so far this year having fallen by half since 2007. The share buy-back, however, is a sideshow and, all else equal, boosts leverage. Net debt is currently a manageable 36 per cent of assets, and the new joint venture will offset some exposure. But if the Lowy family is so confident of the opportunities in emerging markets and other global centres, then rather than pointlessly handing cash back to shareholders, perhaps it should spend even more of its money to pursue them
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)