Property

  • US REITs may be takeover targets

    US commercial real estate investment trusts may be takeover targets possibly as early as next year, the head of Macquarie Group's US and European real estate investment arm says.

  • Only four weeks to restructure debt

    A syndicate of Australian lenders could end up owning 80 per cent to 100 per cent of Centro Properties Group if the struggling shopping centre owner's proposed debt-for-equity rescue plan is successful.

  • Underlying values of increasing concern to banks

    Commercial property is "an emerging headache" for Australian banks, according to a Citigroup broker report released this week.

  • Harley: Valuations worth nothing at this point

    Last week, after the Colonial Property Office Fund revealed its September valuation update, one of the nation's leading valuers fired off an email.

  • Colonial to sell Marriott Gold Coast hotel

    Colonial First State Global Asset Management's flagship direct hotel property fund is looking to sell the Surfers Paradise Marriott Resort & Spa for about $100 million to fund redemptions.

  • Perennial settles action against GPT over raising

    Perennial Investment Partners has settled its legal action against GPT's controversial $1.6 billion capital raising, on undisclosed terms.

  • Four levels in St Leonards go for $1.47m

    A four-level commercial property at 23 Chandos Street in the North Sydney suburb of St Leonards has sold for $1.47 million. It showed a passing yield of 3.88 per cent and the building has a net lettable area of about 500 square metres with parking on-site. Colliers International's Tim Fox negotiated the sale, with Raine & Horne acting as co-agents.

  • Briefs

    Dividend deferred again

  • Brief: Programmed Maintenance Services

    Corporate news snapshot for: Programmed Maintenance Services

  • Becton has second thoughts on Byron site

    The Becton Group is reconsidering plans to develop the Club Med site at Byron Bay in the wake of the credit crunch, which has already claimed the scalps of several developers in northern NSW.

  • Sign of times as cashed-up buyer swoops

    MAB Funds Management has sold a prime retail block opposite Melbourne's Bourke Street Mall for $23.6 million - and in a sign of the times, the buyer is an undisclosed cashed-up private investor.

  • Flour mills lift Brisbane

    Sales of new apartments in Brisbane's suburbs spiked in the September quarter, but sales in its central business district continued to flatline at just 17 transactions - down on the previous corresponding period when 111 units sold.

  • Historic chance passed by

    Sydney's soft residential market, and a GST shock, delivered Housing NSW a less than encouraging result when two historic terraces in harbour-side Dawes Point went up for auction last night.

  • Funds turn to market as refinancing sources dry up

    Recent capital raisings on the stockmarket point to the debt-refinancing difficulties set to hit direct property funds, where a wave of debt expires in just over a year.

  • Third-Age enters a new age

    Mariner Financial's retirement living business, Third-Age Retirement Living, has severed its ties with the embattled firm and is looking to start a series of senior housing investment funds..

  • Big strides for Walker

    Property billionaire Lang Walker is taking a bullish approach to South Australian developments with about $3 billion of projects in train.

  • Office offers utilitarian ideal

    Telstra's standardised office is functional, saves on fit-outs and is quite soulless, reports Paddy Manning.

  • Satterley buys on Melbourne fringe

    Western Australia's biggest private property developer, Satterley Property Group, has snatched up its second landholding in Victoria just five months after making its first foray into the market.

  • Youth charity begins to spread its reach

    The Property Industry Foundation, a charity that focuses on helping homeless youth, has expanded to Melbourne where it hopes to emulate the success it has found in NSW.

  • Pubs go dry as investors lose thirst

    The credit crunch has produced a stalemate in the pub industry - buyers and sellers are unable to agree on valuations.

  • Peet calls a halt to projects

    Australia's third-largest listed holder of residential land, Peet has shelved plans to develop some of its property in Queensland and has cut its dividend payout ratio by a third as it moves to conserve cash in the coming 12 months.

  • Home owners sue council over gas leak

    Residents in a Melbourne housing estate have launched a class action against their local council after their homes were engulfed by dangerous levels of methane.

  • Record dive in NZ home sales

    QBE's Ian Graham House sales volumes in the fragile New Zealand property market fell by a record amount in the first half of 2008, a report by economic consultants Infometrics has revealed.

  • Crunch hits UK housing

    Barratt Developments, Britain's second-biggest home builder, will write down land values and cull jobs as the housing slump depresses sales and prices.

  • Shark's price feels crisis bite

    Australian golf champion Greg Norman has become another victim of America's sagging real estate market.

AFR Market Wrap

ASX down 51pc on year

Markets: Shares down 4pc

Commodities: Crude slips 

Bassanese: Little optimism 

Currencies: $A tumbles   

Economists see red as right response

The idea of a first federal budget deficit in a decade might prove controversial, but market economists agree now is the time. Read more

All not lost if we learn these lessons

RBA governor Glenn Stevens goes in search of silver linings, and manages to find a few.

China's Hu a bull in a Latin shop

China's President, Hu Jintao, is leading scores of Chinese businessmen on a sweep through Latin America. Read more

Number's up for projects growth

Capital expenditure on mining and energy projects - a major driver of economic growth in recent years - has fallen in the last six months. Read more

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