International Property Journal - News and information on global property markets

Despite fears of a looming slowdown, investors continue to gobble up houses in Australia, helping to make the Land Down Under one the top-performing residential markets in the world.

Lending to investors buying home grew by 30 percent in the last year, according to government data. In the first quarter of 2010, lending to buyers who planned to live in their new homes actually dropped by 10 percent, but lending to investors increased by 11 percent, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

A year after relaxing rules on foreign ownership of property, the Australia government moved this week to reinstate tougher standards.

Under the new proposals, temporary residents will also have to seek permission from the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) to buy any real estate in Australia. And they will have to sell property upon leaving the country..

Government officials are also vowing to crack down on foreign buyers who flaunt the laws, including estate agents, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Google launched an extensive marketing campaign in Australia this week highlighting the integration of real estate listings and Google Maps.

The star of the new campaign is a character named “Peg Man,” who is seen in videos searching Sydney for a home. (Example below). The search giant is also teaming with of Sydney’s largest agents, LJ Hooker, to dot the city with life-size versions of the pins found marking locations on Google Maps.

Dubai

Prices in Dubai fell 47 percent in the last year, the largest drop reported in the latest Knight Frank Global House Price Index.

Overall, Knight Frank’s news was fairly upbeat, with 68 percent of the countries reporting upticks in the third quarter. However 57 percent of the countries were still lower than a year ago, led by Dubai, Bulgaria (down 28 percent) and Thailand (down 18.4 percent).

The report spotlights the rollercoaster in Asia, where Singapore is down 14.5 percent from a year ago, but posted a 15.2 percent jump in the quarter. Hong Kong prices are up 5.6 percent from a year ago.

Headlines from the world of property:

U.K.: Commercial Loans Dry Up

Billions in troubled loans has lenders wary. (Financial Times)

Telstra to Float Chinese Real Estate Portal

The Australian company plans a public offering for SouFun. (The Australian)

U.S. Retirees Revive Mexcian Market

Latin American portal sees uptick in inquiries. (OPP, free registration required)

Despite jaw-dropping declines in places like Dubai and Bulgaria, the latest data from Global Property Guide shows signs of recovery in many housing markets. Of the 27 areas surveyed, 16 posted increases in the latest quarter, indicating “the trend is toward recovery,” the analyst site concludes.

Some of the markets showing in uptick from the previous quarter included Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and the U.K. For the year, Singapore and the U.K. are still down from a year earlier, “however the annual data is somewhat like a car’s rearview mirror,” considering the decimation of the later part of 2008, the report notes.

An “interpretation center” vaguely resembling a hobbit house, built at the convergence of two rivers in South Africa, won the “Building of the Year” award Friday at the World Architecture Festival in Barcelona, touted as “the biggest architectural awards program in the world.”

While commercial markets around the world show signs of stabilizing, evidence is mounting that the worst is still ahead for the United States.

Commercial property values in the U.S. are already down more than 40 percent since 2009, according to Moody’s Investor Services. And Goldman Sachs predicts commercial prices could fall another 17 percent through the fourth quarter of next year.

Google has taken another leap forward in its move to integrate real estate into its maps service, making it even easier to use Google to search listings. New features include one-click ability to find listings on any Google map, as well as the ability to sort the listings by a variety of criteria.

In many ways, this is ominous news for the industry. Many believe Google’s entrance into real estate is a game changer, setting up the search giant as the first-stop for real estate searches.