In brief

Despite slower sales and increasing foreclosures in some areas, the US housing market is showing surprising resilience in important categories, a HouseHunt survey of member agents has found. The most dramatic improvement was in the asking price versus sale price category, with 86 per cent of respondents saying clients were getting at least 90 per cent of asking prices. Just under half (47 per cent, were getting more than 95 per cent of asking prices.

Regarding house prices, almost equal numbers reported appreciation over the past year (40 per cent) as reported a decrease (41 per cent).

Buyers are still in the driving seat in most areas of the country with the second quarter survey results showing home sellers outnumbering buyers by almost two to one, said HouseHunt. And 59 per cent of member agents reported unsold property inventories up on a year ago.

But HouseHunt chief executive Michael Bearden said that overall the result countered the many gloomy real estate reports. ‘The fact that 86 per cent of sellers are getting at least 90 per cent of asking prices tells me that marketplace reality is replacing unrealistic home seller expectations. Potential buyers who have been sitting on the sidelines for the past 18 months are finding good value and lots of choices in their local marketplaces. Inventories of unsold homes are slowing building again in many parts of the country after levelling off in the first quarter of this year. Tougher mortgage loan qualifications will be a short term negative factor for first time and marginal buyers’.

Cyprus estate agents are reminding investors of a VAT change that is likely to drive up property prices by around 20 per cent. When Cyprus joined the European Union it obtained a VAT exemption on the supply of building land. That is due to expire at the end of the year, with VAT at 15 per cent payable on building land from 1 January 2008. ‘Clearly this will have two effects, new properties will become 15 per cent more expensive and this will drag the prices of built properties upward’, said Chris Richards of Overseas Property Centres UK. ‘This is good news for those who have already purchased properties and offers an opportunity to those looking to purchase over the coming months as some developments are currently being offered with no VAT’.

Florida estate agents have pledged $1m to support proposed property tax reform legislation. The change, which will be put to voters on 29 January 2008, would allow property owners to continue the 3 per cent tax cap they currently enjoy or to choose a new ‘super-homestead’ exemption. This option would reduce the taxable value of their home by up to $195,000, explained Nancy Riley, president of the Florida Association of Realtors. ‘Passage of this amendment is critical to the future of Florida. It will provide first time homebuyers a large tax exemption. It will begin to equalise property taxes among neighbours. And it will allow the people who are the foundation of our neighbourhoods — teachers, nurses, police officers and emergency first responders — to afford to live in the communities they serve’.

Marbella’s Banana Beach complex is one of five completed developments earmarked for demolition in the plans revised master town plan approved by the Andalucian regional government. Of just under 1,000 illegal building licences issued by the town – not all acted upon – most can be rectified by way of compensation from developers, it has been decided. However three completed apartment blocks with almost 400 units already sold, two as yet unsold, and five put on hold when the Marbella planning scandal blew up, have been declared so outside the law as to require demolition. Two unfinished hotel buildings and three houses are also in the same category. The final fate of these buildings is now expected to be decided by the courts.

Property investors looking to Bulgaria would be well advised to look out for announcements about improved access to areas, Jet2Let managing director Lance Nelson has suggested. For example, ‘the recent announcement of two new underground train extensions, including a line from Mladost district to Sofia airport, are the sort of thing that can drive prices’, he said. ‘The theme for 2007 is the need to be selective. My prediction is still for safe capital gains in the major cities with particular emphasis on Sofia. Recent reports show residential apartment prices in Sofia for the first quarter of 2007 seeing a 10 per cent average rise’.