Hotel Condo Resort Information

A place to call home

2007-07-15T03:35:00.001-07:00

It seemed like a great idea at the time: Rent a fabulous apartment and spend a week living like a Parisian.

First of all, look at all the money we would save with four of us staying in an apartment instead of pricey hotels, then doing our own cooking to avoid expensive restaurants and cafés where even a café crème costs $8 these days.

Of course, it didn’t turn out quite as blue sky as we had planned. There were a few bumps along the way, a broken toilet being the most serious, but all in all it turned out well. Read more » »

Apartment rentals slow down dramatically

2007-07-15T03:34:00.001-07:00

The pace of apartment rental in Dallas-Fort Worth has ground nearly to a halt this year.

And the dramatic slowdown in apartment demand in North Texas has left industry analysts scratching their heads.

“It’s pretty ugly,” said Greg Willett of apartment consultant M/PF YieldStar. The latest leasing numbers were released Thursday.

“Results for the second quarter fell way below expectations,” he said, with virtually no increase in apartment rentals.

For the first half of 2007, net apartment leasing has added up to only about 300 units. Compare that with the more than 7,000 net apartments leased in the first six months of 2006.

Mr. Willett blames a combination of homebuilder giveaways and for-rent homes for stealing the apartment market’s thunder. Read more » »

National apartment vacancies dropping, San Diego’s are rising

2007-07-15T03:33:00.002-07:00

The national and the local apartment vacancy rates, far apart in recent years, are much closer now.

Reis, Inc. (AMEX: WRP) a New York-based research firm, said the nation’s average apartment vacancy was 5.8 percent as of the end of the second quarter, down from 6 percent during the first three months of 2007 –reportedly the highest level in seven quarters.

The national survey covered about 9.3 million apartments in 79 metropolitan markets.

For San Diego County, in its bi-annual survey, MarketPointe Realty Advisors reported in March that San Diego County had about a 4.54 percent vacancy rate.

Although this was the highest level in a decade, the industry considers anything around 5 percent to be an apartment market in equilibrium. Read more » »

Japanese firm to launch condos

2007-07-15T03:33:00.001-07:00

The Japanese property developer Thai Nissan Rinkai Mark Co Ltd plans to launch a high-end condominium worth 900 million baht to tap the high-end market, according to managing director Satoshi Kato.

The Rise Sukhumvit 39 will be located on a two-rai site on Soi Prommitr, Sukhumvit 39. It will have 77 units sized between 98 and 305 square metres and priced from 7.8 million to 27 million baht or 81,000 to 85,000 baht per sq m.

Unit sizes are large as the company aims to differentiate its building from others that feature mainly studios to two-bedroom units. As well, large units will attract expatdhriates who prefer more space.

The company expects to close sales by mid-2008. Target buyers would be affluent Thais and foreigners interested in condominium investment for rent. Currently, rental rates for condominium units in the Sukhumvit area are around 550 baht per sq m per month.

‘’The political situation seems to be unstable but it is short-term and we are confident in the project’s strength with quality construction. We have experienced in the development of mansions in Tokyo,'’ Mr Kato said. Read more » »

Muneo House used as hotel

2007-07-15T03:32:00.002-07:00

The bilateral friendship facility dubbed Muneo House on Russian-held Kunashiri Island has been used as a hotel, deviating from its original purpose, according to sources from the two countries.

Since fiscal 2003, Japan has paid some 3.7 million yen annually to maintain the facility. Officially called the House of Friendship, it was built on the disputed island in 1999 for 463 million yen under a Japanese aid project, according to the Foreign Ministry.

The facility was nicknamed Muneo House after House of Representatives member Muneo Suzuki, who once had strong influence over Japan’s policy on the Russian-held islands and was reportedly heavily involved in the facility’s construction.

“We have not confirmed this yet, but I think it can be called out-of-purpose use,” said an official in the ministry’s Russia Division. Read more » »

Brewer InBev sells Belgian, Dutch real estate for 419 mln euros

2007-07-15T03:32:00.001-07:00

Belgian-Brazilian brewing giant InBev is to sell some Belgian and Dutch real estate assets to Belgian property manager Confinimmo for 419 million euros (560 million dollars), the company said late Friday.

Under the deal, the brewer will sell 90 percent of its Immobrew subsidiary which directly owns 824 pubs and some residential properties in Belgium and indirectly 245 pubs in the Netherlands.

After the sale, InBev will pay inflation-indexed rent worth a total 26.8 million euros per year to Immobrew.

InBev, the biggest brewer in the world in volume terms, said that the deal was part of its strategy to free up capital tied up in its non-core activities to focus on its main beer business. Read more » »

Hotel buyouts a bonanza for many mutual funds

2007-07-15T03:31:00.001-07:00

Hotel buyouts are proving a bonanza for mutual funds which snapped up Hilton, Marriott and other hotel stocks after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Private-equity firm Blackstone Group’s (BX.N) $20 billion bid for Hilton Hotels Corp. (HLT.N) on Tuesday sparked a 27 percent rise in shares of the second-biggest U.S. hotel chain over Thursday and Friday, and boosted those of Hilton’s rivals.

But for funds that bought Hilton at its lows in 2001 and still own them, the gains are nearly 500 percent.

Bank of America Corp.’s (BAC.N) Columbia Real Estate Equity Fund is one such fund. According to data from Lipper, the fund bought 536,700 shares in the last quarter of 2001 and held 667,514 as of the last filing in April. Read more » »

About 45 percent of Kuwaitis own real estate overseas

2007-07-15T03:29:00.000-07:00

Up to 45 percent of the Kuwaiti people possess real estate abroad, 60 percent of which are for tourist purposes and enjoy moderate weather in the summer, the Kuwait’s Professional Real Estate Company said on July 7.

This rate is the highest at the Gulf and the Arab level, Chairman Faraj Al-Khudhiri of the company told the Kuwait News Agency.

He urged the Kuwaiti firms’ overseas real estate marketing teams to study the “tourist mood” of the Kuwaiti citizens and the destinations they preferred for summer holidays. Read more » »

Liberty Forge plans housing, resort hotel

2007-07-15T03:28:00.000-07:00

Owners of Liberty Forge recreation complex in Lower Allen Township unveiled plans Monday for a resort community built around the golf course.

Plans for the Villages of Liberty Forge include 582 condominiums, a 200-bed resort hotel and a 100-bed nursing home with the 18-hole executive length golf course remaining as the centerpiece of the project.

The design, which is very preliminary, also calls for the construction of a bridge across Lisburn Road for pedestrians and golf carts to link the resort site to a new restaurant already approved on the west side of the road, adjacent to the driving range and Yellow Breeches Creek, project engineer Bony Dawood said.

The commissioners took no action Monday on Liberty Forge’s request for changes to the township zoning ordinance to allow the development of age-qualified senior communities, condominium apartments, nursing home, continuing-care retirement communities and rural resorts in an area zoned for single-family homes.

A public hearing on the proposed zoning changes is scheduled for 7 p.m. Aug. 20. A second hearing will follow at a later date should the commissioners agree to draft zoning law changes. Read more » »