International Property Journal - News and information on global property markets

Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia were the strongest performing property markets in the world through the first part of 2010, while Europe continued to struggle with the economic tide.

Ireland was the worst performing market, posting a 16 percent drop in prices from a year earlier, compared to a 34 percent jump for Singapore, according to inflation-adjusted data tracked by the Global Property Guide.

On any project, a developer is rolling the dice, betting a string of unrelated and often uncontrollable events will fuse to create a success.

If they do their homework, control their ego and fortune shines, then they might make money, maybe a fortune. Just as likely, the commercial or residential real estate developer will be buried in bad luck, wrong assumptions and torrential misfortune.

As they say, mistakes happen.

Pundits are already calling a London penthouse the “world’s most expensive home,” after it sold for £140 million, or about $220 million.

The six-bedroom apartment sits atop One Hyde Park, the opulent complex under construction in Knightsbridge. Developed by the Candy brothers and designed by Rogers Sirk Harbour + Partners, the four hexagonal towers offer 86 apartments, with prices starting at $31 million.

A drop in U.K. housing prices will likely erode much of the “unsustainable price rise of the last 15 months,” says Savills, the property company.

“This will not be a repeat of 2008 as some doomsters have suggested, but a necessary short term correction of recent growth which was driven by abnormal market conditions rather than fundamental demand and wealth,” said Yolande Barnes, head of residential research at the property adviser, in a press release. “The market now faces short-term price falls followed by a period of low or zero growth.”

Jones Lang LaSalle’s latest study found global commercial real estate investment has more than doubled since the dark days of 2009, which makes for a nice headline.

But the real story was the disparity in investment activity from region to region. Asia, for example, saw investment volumes drop by 34 percent from the first quarter of 2010, despite increases in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Pondering this year’s Best Tall Building award winners, architecture geeks will find much to love and loath.

The annual awards, presented by the Chicago-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, recognize projects that have made “extraordinary contributions to the advancement of tall buildings and the urban environment, and that achieve sustainability at the highest and broadest level.”

In others words, skyscrapers must show something more than a little flash and sparkle to win. To their credit, CTBUH judges don’t simply pander to the outrageous towers designed to gain attention, projects that offer plenty of bells and whistles on the outside, but little engineering on the inside.

That said, skyscrapers are meant to be ostentatious and grand, jaw-dropping and brash, inspiring devoted followings with their flair. Some may disagree, but this year’s regional winners deliver the goods:

Legislators in Cyprus adjourned for the summer without a solution to the island’s title deed controversy, which has helped spoil the island’s once fast-growing international property business.

Even with a recent uptick, property sales to foreigners on Cyprus are down by nearly 76 percent compared to 2008, and almost 84 percent from the peak in 2007, Cyprus Property News reports.

Vanderbilt Residences

Peter de Savary is one of those players other players watch.

The British investor and developer specializes in super high-end properties with a glamorous old world flair, such as Skibo Castle in Scotland and the Abaco Club in the Bahamas. He also has a contrarian streak, evidenced by his efforts to develop Grenada as a luxury destination.

That’s why it’s interesting to note that de Savary is buying real estate again in New England.

The number of foreign buyers in London has turned from an interesting footnote into a true phenomenon.

Overseas buyers now account for more than 50 percent of purchases, according to a report released today by Knight Frank, the property company.

In upper crust neighborhoods Mayfair, Kensington and Hampstead, international buyers accounted for 60 percent of prime purchases. For properties priced higher than £5 million, the percentage of foreign buyers is 68 percent, compared to 39 percent December 2008, according to Knight Frank's report.

Trump site on the coast of Scotland

Construction could begin as early as Thursday on Donald Trump’s new golf course project on the coast of Scotland, after a local council approved the plan.

However, the Aberdeenshire council won’t rule for several weeks on Trump’s controversial plan to build more than 1,400 holiday homes around the sandy dunes of the waterfront golf course. Located near Aberdeen, the project was initially turned down at a local level, but eventually gained support over the objections of environmentalists.