European construction is not expected to grow until 2014 according to the latest figures released from Euroconstruct. The organisation made up of a group of research institutes and consulting firms also warned that the industry would not recover to 2008 levels until 2023.

As a result of continuing uncertainty in the Eurozone economy and an increasing belief that Greece will eventually be forced to leave the Euro, Euroconstruct has also had to revise down its previous forecasts. Construction forecasts were downgraded from -0.3% to -2.1% in 2012 and 1.8% to 0.4% in 2013.

Even if a predicted forecast of 1.7% growth returns in 2014, construction output across the 19 Eurozone countries will still be down 12% on 2008 levels. On average growth rates of 1.5% a year the sector will not return to 2008 levels until 2023 according to Euroconstruct. The civil engineering sector will be the biggest drag on construction activity over the next three years declining at a rate of 1.4% annually.

Looking at the construction industry’s predicted performance for the period 2012 to 2014 there is now a clear north/south divide across the European continent. Countries from the north are performing substantially better than countries in the south. Top performing Denmark and Norway are expected to see growth in excess of 2% per annum, while the weakest performers Portugal and Spain will see construction activity in deep recession of more than -3% a year.

To see if these predictions are correct and for all other real estate and construction news from around the world check out MIPIM 2013 held at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, March 12-15. For all your accommodation, transportation and entertainment needs look no further than EAS, the local travel agents you can trust. Whether you’re after rooms in some of the most centrally located hotels, your own private apartment or villa, or are looking to charter a luxury yacht for upscale entertaining, we have the answers you are looking for. Click on this link to fill in our request form.

The world’s property markets are becoming more transparent according Jones Lang LaSalle’s latest Transparency Index.

The global real estate services firm reported that almost 90 percent of the countries surveyed revealed greater transparency within their property sector over the last two years.

The index, which rates the ease and safety of buying properties across the globe, named the United States as the most transparent market. The top of the list is made up of traditional established markets with the United Kingdom, Australia, the Netherlands, and New Zealand making up the rest of the top five. Canada, France, Finland, Switzerland and Sweden are also named “highly transparent” markets.

But emerging markets are catching up fast with a number, including Romania, Croatia and Indonesia, placing much higher than in recent years. Mexico and Brazil were singled out as locations that have improved their performance significantly over the past two years, while Turkey was named as the country that has made the greatest strides in improving the transparency of its real estate sector.

According to the report more still needs to be done within the real estate markets in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. Although Craig Plumb, head of Jones Lang LaSalle Middle East and North Africa, believes that big changes will be seen in the Middle East in the near future. He claimed that policymakers in the region are starting to take note that greater transparency leads to greater overseas investment and a larger number of multinational companies moving into the market. Watch this space to see how the Middle East real estate market changes over the coming year.

For more information on the transparency of the world’s real estate markets make sure you don’t miss out on the chance to mix with the movers and shakers of the global property and construction industries atMIPIM 2014. If you’re after the best hotel rooms, rented apartments and even luxury, private yachts in Cannes look to EAS for all your accommodation needs. We can also help you with restaurant bookings, nightly entertainment and will organise all your transportation requirements. Click on this link to fill in our request form.

The sale of existing homes in the US rose slightly in July, as did house prices, showing that the worst of the housing crisis may be coming to an end in the world’s largest economy.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) said that existing home sales rose by 2.3% from June to July, meaning that 4.47 million units were sold over the last year. The average house price nationwide was $187,300 in July, up 9.4% on prices from the same month last year.

Job creation, low borrowing costs and a small supply of properties for sale have been providing the foundations for price gains within the market. Regionally, existing home sales rose in the Northeast by 7.4%, in the Midwest by 2% and in the South by 2.3%, while sales in the West remained unchanged during July.

The length of time houses are on the market is also decreasing as NAR president Moe Veissi explained. “Correctly priced homes, regardless of price range, are selling quickly these days. A third of homes purchased in July were on the market for less than a month, and only 21% were on the market for six months or longer.” According to the NAR, house sales in 2013 are likely to reach five million.

Meanwhile rents increased nationally in July also, with 70% of the metropolitan areas surveyed experiencing rental increases from June to July. Chicago, Providence in Rhode Island and Baltimore experienced the highest increases posting double digit rises of around 12%. This is mainly as a result of continuing high foreclosure levels in these areas, which has boosted rental demand.

Nationally the number of foreclosures continued to decline, however, with 5.7 out of every 10,000 homes in the country being foreclosed. That was down from 6.5 out of every 10,000 homes in June.

For more information on the recovering US housing and property market head to MIPIM 2014 at the Palais de Festivals, Cannes. For the city’s best hotels, rented apartments and villas look no further than EAS, the local travel agent you can rely on. We have rooms in the most centrally located hotels, beach apartments with sea views, penthouses and even luxury loft apartments. We also offer yacht charters for those after something a little bit different and can organise all your transportation, dining and entertainment needs.Click on this link to fill in our request form.

Madrid has beaten off competition from Barcelona to be selected as the location for EuroVegas, a multibillion-dollar mega casino resort, which is the brainchild of gambling billionaire Sheldon Adelson.

The Las Vegas-style casino strip will be Europe’s biggest gambling centre and brings with it the promise of tens of thousands of jobs to the Spanish capital, at a time when unemployment in the country is at 25 percent.

The project is expected to be half the size of the Las Vegas strip and will be built in phases over the next 10 years. When completed EuroVegas will contain six casinos, 12 hotels with 36,000 rooms, a convention centre, three golf courses, bars, restaurants and shopping centres.

Adelson is hoping to attract visitors from around Europe and countries of the former Soviet Union and it is hoped that the project will be a boost to property investment in the region. Potential obstacles to the project, however, include Adelson’s decision to fund only 35 percent of the resort and a demand in changes to local laws.

Meanwhile Barcelona, which lost out to Madrid in the bid to host EuroVegas, has promised that it will build its own casino development. ‘Barcelona World’ will be located next to Port Aventura, cost €4.74 billion and create 20,000 jobs. The plan will include a casino, six large tourist complexes with 20,000 hotel rooms, shopping centres, a theatre and offices.

Both parks are expected to attract 10 million visitors a year.

For more information on construction projects in Spain and around Europe don’t miss out on MIPIM 2013, at the Palais des Festivals, Cannes, 12-15 March. . For the city’s best hotels, rented apartments and villas look no further than EAS, the local travel agent you can rely on. We have rooms in the most centrally located hotels, beach apartments with sea views, penthouses and even luxury loft apartments. We also offer yacht charters for those looking for something a little different and can organise all your transportation, dining and entertainment needs. Click on this link to fill in our request form.

Construction in Hong Kong continues to soar with contractors carrying out 33.6 percent more work in the second quarter of 2012 than in the same period last year.

According to figures from the Census and Statistics Department, $5 billion of construction was carried out in the second quarter in the Chinese city. The private sector saw the biggest rise in construction with works in this area increasing by a staggering 53.7 percent to total $1.7 billion. The value of public sector works also increased over the year, up 17.1 percent to total $1.8 billion during the quarter.

Looked at as a whole it appears that residential building projects are fueling the current construction boom in Hong Kong. The city has seen house prices double over the last four years as Chinese investors, driven by a desire to seek higher returns and to move their assets abroad, continue to snap up apartments. In order to meet increasing demand for new build properties residential construction was up 55.2 percent on figures in the same period last year.

The rapidly rising cost of homes is out-pricing Hong Kong locals, with many now unable to afford new homes in the city. In order to combat the overinflated prices the Hong Kong government in September announced the first step in a policy aimed at restricted foreigners from buying property in the city.

Under the policy known as “Hong Kong land for Hong Kong people” the executive of the city has said that only Hong Kong permanent residents will be able to buy flats built on two sites that will provide around 1,100 homes next year. In addition the resale of residential units will be restricted to locals for 30 years and incorporated companies will also not be allowed to purchase them.

Other measures include increasing land supply by converting 36 sites meant for government and public use to residential property to provide space for nearly 12,000 units.

MIPIM 2013 has all the latest information on construction projects from across the globe, so make sure you head down to the Palais des Festivals, Cannes from 12-15 March, 2013. For rooms in the most centrally located hotels, or luxury rented apartments look to EAS, your trustworthy local travel agent. Not only can we organise all you accommodation needs, but we can also arrange transport, nightly entertainment, restaurant reservations and even luxury yacht charters. Click on link for more information.

Retail stores and sectors of the construction industry that serve them should continue to do well into the internet age according to a report by leading real estate services firm CBRE.

The study, called The Role of Real Estate in the Multi-Channel World surveyed 50 leading international retailers with a combined network of more than 32,000 stores. Contrary to popular perceptions the immediate outlook is positive with physical stores continuing to play a significant role in multi-channel sales and strategies of distribution.

According to the CBRE, 72 percent of retailers around the world believe they will be operating the same or a greater number of stores in their domestic markets in the next two years, while 60 percent said they will be expanding across their whole international network.

“Our message to the retail and real estate industry is don’t panic,” explained Peter Gold, head of cross border EMEA retail for CBRE. “In reality, multichannel is encouraging shoppers to visit stores and is driving additional business to retailers – the overall pie is getting bigger and it is critical for retailers and landlords alike to embrace multi-channel, understand that it does not have to be expensive, and secure a greater slice of the market.”

All this is good news for retail constructors who can expect more work to come their way as the physical look and role of stores adapt to the internet and multi-channel age. The report expects more stores to act as pick-up points for online orders in preference to home deliveries. In addition 80 percent of retailers revealed that they want retrofit their stores with kiosks where customers can take advantage of multi-channel capacity.

For more information on the retail construction industry head down to MIPIM 2013, where the movers and shakers of the property world meet in Cannes. Here at EAS we can promise you the best hotel rooms, the most sought-after rented apartments and even the odd luxury yacht or two. With our expert knowledge we’ll make sure your stay will be one you don’t forget. Click on this link to fill in our request form.

Construction in India is expected to rocket over the next four years as demand for housing units in the country is set to rise to 12 million by 2016 according to a report by global property consultant Cushman and Wakefield.

Much of this construction boost will be seen in the country’s top eight cities of Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, NCR, Chennai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad, where 2.1 million units in total are needed. Bangalore in the south of the country is expected to be the most active of all India’s housing markets due to the large amount of industry and services based there. The report estimates that 338,546 units will be needed in the city to meet demand.

The calculations for the Cushman and Wakefield report are based on past population trends, household growth and the income classification of households.

Demand for mid-segment housing will be the highest, accounting for 59 percent or 1.3 million units across the country, followed by high-end housing with 451,000 units.

Meanwhile demand for commercial office space is also expected to increase in India’s major cities with 180 million sq ft needed over the next five years. The country’s top three cities of Mumbai, NCR and Bangalore will account for approximately 57 percent of this total demand.

“Based on the expected recovery of the economy, partly due to the global recovery, but largely due to the positive signals being sent out by the central government to promote business investments, office space demand is expected to witness a positive growth of 10 percent in 2013 and 20 percent in 2014. This is, however, likely to reduce over the next two years (2015-16) drawing from the forecasts that predict a slowdown in global GDP,” explained Sanjay Dutt, executive managing director, South Asia at Cushman and Wakefield.

For more information on India’s construction boom make sure you head down to MIPIM 2013, held in Cannes, March 12-15. If you’re after accommodation then look no further than EAS, your friendly local travel agents. We’ll find you the best hotels and rented apartments right in the heart of Cannes. Or if you prefer, why not try one of our luxury yachts – the choice is yours. Just click on this link to fill in our request form.

More good news for the US economy as construction spending in September climbed to an almost three-year high to reach an annual rate of $852 billion.

Despite the downturn in public construction this past year has seen an increase in spending on houses, apartments and private non-residential projects. According to the Associated General Contractors of America, this spending outstripped the reduction in public construction. And the firm predicts that this trend will continue despite the disruption caused by Hurricane Sandy.

Total construction spending in September rose by 0.6 percent and 7.8 percent for the year from September 2011, resulting in the highest rate since October 2009. The overall figures are comforting with private residential spending accelerating at 21 percent over the last year and private non-residential construction up 8.8 percent. Public construction contracted by 4.2 percent year-over-year.

Within the private sector new multi-family construction saw the biggest increases in spending followed closely by new single-family construction and then improvements to existing residential structures. This latter group is expected to get a huge boost from the storm reconstructions, which are already underway in New Jersey and New York.

Meanwhile construction employers in the US added 17,000 jobs in October pushing the industry’s unemployment rate down to 11.4 percent. Despite the good news overall construction employment is still down by 2.2 million compared to its peak six years ago at 7.7 million workers.

MIPIM 2013 has all the latest information on construction projects from across the globe, so make sure you head down to the Palais des Festivals, Cannes from 12-15 March, 2013. For rooms in the most centrally located hotels, or luxury rented apartments look to EAS, your trustworthy local travel agent. Not only can we organise all your accommodation needs, but we can arrange transport, nightly entertainment, restaurant reservations and even luxury yacht charters.  Click here for more information.

For the first time since 2010 investor confidence is on the rise in Europe’s three largest economies Germany, France and the UK and 2013 should see an increase in investment according to a survey by Union Investment.

The study, which involved a representative survey of 165 investment decision-makers in Germany, France and the UK, also anticipates that real estate markets in Turkey, Poland and Ireland will emerge stronger in 2013.

Investors still raised caution regarding shrinking credit markets with 70 percent expecting loan rates to rise, while others highlighted higher taxes in France as an added burden.

Some 85 percent of those surveyed said the euro crisis would lead to a stronger focus on core products, such as those with long leases, central locations and high-quality assets.

In addition only 30 percent of investors now expect a Europe-wide recession. This compares with 42 percent when the survey was last conducted. While a mere 3 percent still believe that there is real possibility of the euro-zone collapsing, compared with 12 percent previously.

The news comes on the back of positive results from Europe’s commercial real estate sector. Investment volumes in European commercial real estate hit nearly €44 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012, the highest quarterly level since 2007.

Cross border investment rose by a healthy 19 percent last year and according to property consultants Cushman and Wakefield, it could rise by 6 percent to €141 billion in 2013 despite the still-fragile economic recovery in Europe.

“Cross border investment was the biggest area of growth last year, it outpaced the domestic buyers,” explained David Hutchings, head of European research at Cushman & Wakefield. “In any country in the world you will find people shopping for property in Europe.”

Property investors are still focusing on the larger markets of France, the UK and Germany, which make up 61 percent of the market share. However, the Nordics have seen their slice of the pie increase from 15.3 percent in 2011 to 17.9 percent last year.

For more information on the health of Europe’s real estate market and construction and property news from around the world check out MIPIM 2013 held at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, March 12-15. For all your accommodation, transportation and entertainment needs look no further than EAS, the local travel agents you can trust. Whether you’re after rooms in some of the most centrally located hotels, your own private apartment or villa, or are looking to charter a luxury yacht for upscale entertaining, we have the answers you are looking for. Click on this link to fill in our request form.

Over the past 10 years the student housing sector has grown to become a global real estate class that is now attracting attention from investors, developers and private operators, according to the latest research from property consultants Jones Lang LaSalle.

The firm’s Global Student Housing Report reveals that the student housing market is now worth more than $200 billion, while the number of students globally is expected to rise from 165 million today to 263 million by 2025, further increasing the need for new housing.

Transactions in the world’s biggest student housing markets, the UK and the US exceeded $3 billion and $2 billion respectively in 2012, over double the numbers seen in 2011.

This new demand has in part been caused by the rapid increase in the number of middle class international students from key Asian countries such as China and India. Over half of all international students now come from Asia, followed by Europe, Africa and South America. This sudden increase in demand has resulted in an undersupply of student housing.

The market for student housing is now outpacing other forms of commercial real estate with typical returns of between 11 -15 percent thanks to enrolments rising at a higher rate than supply. In addition, the sector has proved to be counter-cyclical in nature, with the number of international students growing during the global economic downturn.

The report pinpoints emerging markets in mainland Europe and Australia as key regions for growth. In Australia between 2002-2011 international enrolments into higher education almost doubled with 67 percent coming from Asian countries alone, making this and the wider Asia Pacific region areas of future growth and investment potential.

And the returns in this sector are attracting more than just the traditional developer/operators investors. The most active players of late looking to add these assets to their portfolios have been equity funds, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and investment managers.

For more information on growing sectors of the property and construction industry head down to MIPIM 2013, March 12-15 at he Palais des Festivals, Cannes. For the best hotel rooms, rented apartments and even private yachts look to EAS for all your accommodation needs. We can also help you with restaurant bookings, nightly entertainment and all your transportation requirements. Click on this link to fill in our request form.