Increasing bad loans a worry for Indian banks

The rising bad loans are set to pose a huge challenge in the next few years for the banking and finance industry. Banks have already stopped or tightened lending norms for consumer finance and auto loans for fear of higher defaults. Rising interest rates have increased the possibilities of defaults, particularly among customers holding credit cards.

There has been a slight increase in delinquencies for the bank in the credit card and personal loan segments. But the medium-term outlook remains positive.

ICICI Bank, the leader in retail lending in India, is expecting retail lending this year to grow 5-10% after frenetic growth in the last couple of years. Credit growth will do better at 16%. But she denied higher interest rates will have an impact on the bank’s loan portfolio. Business growth for the industry may be impacted, but not ICICI’s loan quality. The bank’s net non-performing assets have increased to 1.74% of total assets in the quarter ended June 2008 from 1.33% in the same period earlier. No flats my friends, not yet!!!

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Expansion at Spanish airports

Two major airports in Spain are set to be expanded, potentially boosting the country’s property market and tourist industry.

The Spanish government has approved plans to extend the operating hours at San Javier Airport in Murcia, as well as the use of another runway.

However, flats in the immediate area will have to be soundproofed before the work is completed in order to reduce the noise for people living nearby.

Meanwhile, a new runway is set to be built at Malaga Airport, which is already having a new terminal building constructed.

The runway is set to be completed within two years, prompting experts at Homes Worldwide to predict that Malaga could be an investment hotspot in 2010.

The average property value in Spain has risen by 100 per cent since 2002, beating the continent-wide average of 40 per cent.

Comment please!!! Cheers!

Internet? Yes, please

Overseas investors could benefit from choosing a location equipped with broadband internet access, after a new poll highlighted the importance of the web to many expats.

Almost three-quarters of Britons living abroad used the internet each day to contact family and friends in the UK.

In addition, 40 per cent of overseas buyers were said to go online for at least an hour seven days a week.

Many were also found to use the internet for other reasons, such as banking and keeping up to date with current affairs.

Being distanced from the UK, are reliant on it to keep in touch with family and friends in their own flats, monitor the news and manage their finances.

The firm added that the internet enabled them to carry out these tasks regardless of where they were in the world.

Approximately 345,000 British people moved overseas in the year to July 2007, according to official figures.

Take care!

Spanish inflation implicates more countries

The rate of growth in the Spanish property market is continuing to outpace many other European countries, according to a new report.

Inflation was slowing down across much of the continent, flats prices in Spain continued to grow at a strong rate.

Figures showed that during the last year, the price of property in Spain increased by five per cent.

This rate of house price inflation is much higher than in many other European countries, suggesting that overseas investors hoping for capital appreciation could still profit from the Spanish market.

During the same period, prices in the Republic of Ireland rose by just 0.9 per cent.

In addition, there was also a fall in the average price increases in Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands and France.

The study concurs with recent research by Halifax, which found that growth in the Spanish property market had outpaced other countries in the eurozone since 2002.

Flatiron

Small Spanish cities benefit from regional airports

Many towns and cities have benefited from being located near regional airports, an expert has said.

Neil Weston from the British Air Transport Association said that regional airports had made foreign destinations more accessible to those in the area, including holidaymakers and property investors.

He added that the immediate area often saw further material benefits beyond people being able to travel more, buy flats, houses, whatever, such as improvements to the local infrastructure.

Mr Weston continued: “If the services don’t work then airlines won’t run them. If they don’t have enough passengers then they won’t be running them.”

He stated that the benefits applied in the case of both UK airports and those in other countries, as these areas had benefited from extra tourism and investment.

This comes after the Airport Operators Association praised regional airports for making overseas travel more convenient for many people.

Cheers mates!

Spain still appeals to overseas investors

Many overseas investors still find Spain an appealing destination for buying property, according to an expert.

 People were continuing to enter the Spanish market at a high rate, both for investment properties and holiday homes or flats for personal use.

This is despite recent fluctuations in the country’s housing market and the current house price boom.

Mr Johnston added that prices were likely to continue growing if an expected five million European move to Spain in the next five years.

This would have the impact of boosting demand and prices in many parts of the country, as well as the value of existing investment properties.

According to official figures, net migration to Spain stood at 15.0 migrants per 1,000 of the population in 2005 – above the EU average of 3.7 per 1,000.

Cheerio!

What a difference a year makes in real estate

A well-maintained Victorian in Albert Park should be a million-dollar property – or at least it would have had a shot at hitting that mark if the auction had been held last year.

Instead, this two-bedroom house at 23 Dundas Place attracted just one genuine bid yesterday, delivered as an opening offer at $700,000 that was well below the quoted price of $930,000 plus. Two vendor bids bumped the price up to that level but with no further interest, the property was quickly passed in. The reserve was $955,000.

“We thought we had a couple of genuine buyers before the day, but they just held back,” said Cayzer agent Michael Szulc. “It’s a strategy that’s being employed a lot this year, with buyers hoping the auction won’t be successful and they can swoop in.

“But that doesn’t mean there’s going to be some massive difference (in the sale price), as they’re still going to have to negotiate and pay what the vendor wants for this kind of property.”

Negotiations are continuing with one party. The Real Estate Institute of Victoria reported that the median flats price in Albert Park was $1,065,000 in March, down 0.9% on last December.

Take care my friends!!!

Flatiron who loves flats

Brisbane’s most expensive units

Units and townhouses in most locations across Brisbane experienced strong growth over the year, but Milton’s median sale price rose by a whopping 90 per cent to $695,000. The increase, from $365,000 a year earlier, gives Milton the highest median unit price of any suburb in Brisbane.

In comparison, New Farm’s median increased to $445,000 while Hamilton’s median rose to $430,000.

The Real Estate Institute of Queensland said Milton’s meteoric rise was affected by the number of new properties and properties with water views sold over the course of the year.

However the area had also undergone significant transformation in recent years and been in high demand due to its central location, Colliers International residential research manager Jonathan Rivera said.

A scarcity of potential development sites in the inner-city area had seen Milton placed “in the firing line” of developers because of its location, he said.

As a result, industrial and commercial lots in the suburb could soon be replaced with new flats projects, he said.

Units in Milton represent almost 39 per cent of all dwellings, with a higher proportion of older properties built between the 1960s and 1990s.

Milton, don´t give up!

Adidas? Big in India

Expansion plans of footwear and apparel major Adidas India has been hit by high real estate prices ruling in the country, a company official said.

Adidas India Marketing Private Ltd’s Managing director Andreas Gellner told reporters, “Rise in flats and houses has been affecting our growth plans in India”.

The company’s was planning to increase the number of stores from 325 at present to 450 by the end of 2008. It operates the stores through franchisee route.

Talking about real estate prices, he said that the prevailing rentals were not realistic. Typically, the rentals should be around 15-17 per cent of turnover per square feet.

However, the rentals at the moment were more than 20 per cent per square feet. In some cases it was around 40 per cent per square feet, he said.

Gellner said Adidas was not keen to spend that high an amount since the brand was not new to India. “We are in India for the last 13 years.”

Calcuta stays Hot Amidst cooling Realty prices

The real-estate market in Calcuta has been largely unaffected by the soaring inflation and the US economic crisis, developers and experts say. While the sales and price figures in other metros and cities have shown signs of cooling down, the prices in Kolkata have increased by 7-10 per cent over the last four months.

In their opinion, the city has managed to avoid a crisis because prices here had never reached ‘unrealistic’ proportions. Kolkata’s real-estate market is also relatively stabilisedsince the number of speculative investors here is much less compared with end-users.

The proportion of end-users vis-À-vis investors is 70:30. Prices in some other cities had to undergo a correction because they were inherently over-priced. Prices in Kolkata never appreciated so much and have always been realistic in nature.

In the whole world the properties as flats or houses are overpriced…

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