Executive Accommodation & Services
China’s property prices cooling – MIPIM 2012
In January China’s house prices recorded their worst performance in a year signaling that the Chinese property market is finally starting to cool down. Prices fell in 47 of the 70 cities monitored by the Chinese government according to the National Statistics Bureau, while they remained unchanged in the remaining 23. New home prices in the country’s four major cities, Shanghai, Beijing, Shezhen and Guangzhou fell for a fourth straight month.
The data is a result of a two-year effort by China to curb unsustainable rising house prices through a range of measures including higher mortgage and down payment rates, as well as bans on mortgages for people who own more than two properties. It is expected that the measures will continue for the next year and that house prices could continue to fall by 10-20 percent after growing by 7 percent a year two years ago. The reason? China is fearful of creating a housing bubble and does not want people to be priced out of the market. The government has also stated that it will increase the construction of ordinary commercial homes to increase supply.
The problem China faces with effectively tampering with its property market is that property accounts for a fifth of the fixed investment in China and a collapse in the industry could have serious ramifications for the rest of the economy. According to the Financial Times, a 30 percent drop in property prices could precipitate a collapse in the fixed investment economy, which has seen year on year growth of more than 9 percent. Whatever the outcome, the cooling in the property market will result in a slowing of the Chinese economy, perhaps by as much as 2 percent over the next year.
For more information on the construction industry in China and the Asia Pacific head down to MIPIM 2012, where the movers and shakers of the property world meet in Cannes. Here at EAS we can promise you the best hotel rooms, the most sought-after rented apartments and even the odd luxury yacht or two. With our expert knowledge we’ll make sure your stay will be one you don’t forget. Click on this link to fill in our request form.
Dubai developers fall back onto retail
After three years of falling house and office prices developers in Dubai are turning their attention to retail as tourism continues to be the driving force behind the Emirate’s economy.
While the price of homes has fallen by more than 65 percent from their peak in 2008, retail sales have been rising since 2009. Retail revenue in the United Arab Emirates increased by around 5.3 percent last year to $31 billion according to the Business Monitor International and will probably increase to $42 billion by 2015. The trend has seen government-owned company Nakheel PJSC, which had to restructure $16 billion of debt last year, expanding its Dragon Mart shopping centre while trying to raise funds for 120 restaurants and 75 stores located on the tip of the Palm Jumeirah artificial island.
Emaar, the owner of the Dubai Mall, the world’s largest rentable space reported that 41 percent of its revenue and 68 percent of pretax profit came from hospitality properties and leased space including shopping malls in the first nine months of 2011. That compares with 24 percent of revenue and 27 percent of profit a year earlier.
Retailers have been flocking to the city, which has seen the opening of stores such as American Eagle Outfitters, Limited Brands, Rivoli Group and the second biggest department store in the US, Macy’s during the last year. Tourism is also up with hotels reporting an 11 percent increase in visitor numbers in 2011, while buyers spent $114 million in the first week of Dubai’s month-long shopping festival – up an incredible 53 percent on the year earlier. Companies such as Union Properties that don’t have assets in the retail sector have been suffering. The firm, which is mainly focused on homes and offices reported a full-year loss of $43 billion and had to hand over ownership of properties to settle $300 million of debt.
According to property broker Jones Lang LaSalle Dubai can expect to see a further 173,000 square metres of retail space added over the next two years. To find out more about property developments in Dubai and the rest of the Gulf head down to MIPIM 2012, 6-9 March at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France. If you’re after accommodation then look no further than EAS, your friendly local travel agents. We’ll find you the best hotels and rented apartments right in the heart of Cannes. Or if you prefer, why not try one of our luxury yachts – the choice is yours. Just click on this link to fill in our request form.
Sky heralds in new format
As a direct challenge to LoveFilm and Netflix, BSkyB is launching its own pay-as-you-go internet TV service which will enable viewers to watch TV content whether they are Sky subscribers or not.
The service, which as yet still remains unnamed, will be available across a range of different devices including Macs, PCs, tablets, mobile phones, games consoles, laptops and internet-connected TVs. The move is seen as a departure from the subscription model, which has seen the number of people subscribing to pay TV services slow substantially over the last year as people download content from other sources. New subscribers will be able to choose between a range of pricing options from unlimited monthly access to pay-as-you-go, marking the first time that a company has sold TV content without a contract.
The news comes at a time when a number of online services battle it out for internet TV content domination, with US-based Netflix investing billions in new content deals to challenge Sky and Amazon’s Lovefilm. The movie rental market is worth around £400 million in the UK alone and digital downloads account for almost half of this market.
While BSkyB has a presence in more than 40 percent of UK and Irish homes it is hoped that the new offering will enable them to enter the other 13 million homes that are still to sign up to any form of pay-TV.
Is the way forward for accessing TV content? Watch this space to find out, or alternatively head down to MIPCOM 2012, 8-11 October, the world’s leading entertainment content market.
For the best accommodation look to EAS (Executive Accomodation & Services) your friendly local travel agents. With our expert knowledge of Cannes we’ll find you the best hotels, rented apartments and even luxury yachts right in the heart of the city. We can also organise nightly entertainment, take care of your transportation needs and reserve you tables at the best restaurants. Click on this link to fill in our request form.
Toulouse, Munich and Hamburg best for investment
Toulouse, Munich and Hamburg have been revealed as the most attractive places for buy-to-let investments in Europe according to a study carried out by German-based real estate agent Patrizia Immobilien AG. The study looked at 82 different cities across Europe taking into account their demographics and economic data such as population and economic growth, population density and unemployment and employment rates.
The results illustrated that the best places for high returns on investment were cities in north-west Europe including countries such as Germany, France, the Netherlands and Scandinavia, with Toulouse, Munich and Hamburg claiming the top spots.
The researchers divided the cities into four groups depending on the level of their returns in investment and the risks involved. At the top of the list were the cities and capitals of north-west Europe where above-average incomes could be achieved with low risks. The second group was composed of cities that have a below-average risk and below-average income prospects. These included Italian cities in addition to a few cities in Greece and Spain. The third group was made up of most of the cities in the Iberian Peninsula and English regional markets as well as some Eastern European cities where investors could expect a below-average income at high risks. The final group contained cities from the Baltic States, Poland and most Eastern European capitals where the comparative high risk of investing could be compensated by high returns.
To find out where the best European property investments can be made don’t miss the chance to attend MIPIM 2012, held in Cannes, March 6-9. If you’re after accommodation then look no further than EAS, your friendly local travel agents. We’ll find you the best hotels and rented apartments right in the heart of Cannes. Or if you prefer, why not try one of our luxury yachts – the choice is yours. Just click on this link to fill in our request form.
Tap and Go comes to Barcelona
Barcelona is to become the first ‘tap and go’ city in Europe thanks to La Caixa, Spain’s largest retail bank. Tap and go payment cards and terminals have already been rolled out throughout the city in one of the biggest deployments of financial services technology in Europe. The technology, which will see bank cards, mobile phones and even watches embedded with a wireless payment chip will gradually replace the use of physical cash for small purchases.
As part of the plan the bank will issue 1 million cards to its customers and provide 17,000 payment terminals in shops throughout the city from department stores to local retailers. The bank has also teamed up with Visa Europe and will be providing Barcelona with 500 ATM machines with contactless readers.
While there have been previous mobile payment systems initiated in Europe such as the contactless card readers introduced in McDonald’s and Starbucks chains and the Google Wallet launched by Google in partnership with Mastercard and Sprint, this is the first time the technology will be used on a large-scale throughout a European city. Barcelona was chosen to be the first city as La Caixa will be showcasing the new technology at next month’s Mobile World Congress. The whole process is expected to cost the bank around €9 million to kit out Barcelona and a further €40 million to provide the rest of Spain with the technology over three years. The bank carried out a pilot scheme for the payment system in Sitges last year, which was hailed as a “great success” and saw sales increase by 23 percent.
To see the unveiling of this new technology and a whole host of other telecommunications-related industry news head down to the GSMA Mobile World Congress, 27 February – 1 March 2012 in Barcelona. For the best hotels, rented apartments and other accommodation choices contact EAS, your friendly local travel agents. With our expert knowledge and experience we’ll make sure you have an unforgettable stay. We’ll even sort out your transportation and nightly entertainment needs so click on this link to fill in our request form.
Incredibly low charges to shake up French mobile market
The cellphone bills of French mobile customers are to be halved in what is being promised as the biggest shakeup in the French mobile market in recent years. New 3G player Free Mobile, a subsidiary of Illiad, has promised to use a variety of different network technologies to reduce its own costs and undercut the competition by half.
And so far it seems to be working. The firm has already launched a contract-free plan priced at a mere €19.99 a month, which includes unlimited calls and text messages, in addition to 3Gbytes of internet usage. Customers also have the option of an entry-level option priced at €2 a month with no contract which includes 60 minutes of calls and 60 text messages. Customers who use Iliad as their broadband supplier will receive the unlimited mobile plan for the reduced amount of €15.99. The move by Free Mobile as already seen established networks such as Orange, Bouygues and SFR forced into offering their own reduced price plans.
In order to make the price plan work Free Mobile will have to keep its costs lower than its competitors, which it claims it can do through combining a use of Wi-Fi, HSPA and in the future 4G. The firm also has the advantage of being able to use its installed base of home gateways, which when it rolls out femtocells will increase the cost efficiency of its mobile data delivery systems.
For more information on the French mobile market and other telecommunication markets around the world make sure you don’t miss out on the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, 27 February – 1 March. If you’re after accommodation then look no further than EAS, your friendly local travel agents. We’ll find you the best hotels and rented apartments right in the heart of Barcelona. Or if you prefer, why not try one of our luxury yachts – the choice is yours. Just click on this link to fill in our request form.
Insurers to provide more finance
European-based insurer Axa has created a €2.5 billion fund which it will put towards the development of new offices, shopping centres and other commercial properties across Europe as it hopes to enter the gap in the property market created by retreating banks and other debt lenders since the financial crash.
The French firm has so far invested in high profile developments including the Kohm Pederson Fox-designed office block Sixty London and the new Coface headquarters in Paris. The move comes as more and more European banks look to cut the amount of money they lend to the property sector as a result of the subprime crisis in 2007 and the ongoing European debt problems.
“We are already beginning to see a strong pipeline of potential investments…. ranging from land or speculative developments through to refurbishments and we expect to see a further increase in such opportunities in 2012,” explained Laurent Vouin head of opportunistic funds at Axa Real Estate.
The move by Axa could see insurance companies regain their position as key sources of finance to the property sector, a role they lost in the 1980s to an aggressive banking sector. The next two decades left banks dangerously overexposed to bad property debt following the collapse of the market in 2007. Since then they have been forced into heavy writedowns on billions of euros worth of non-performing loans and are now more cautious in providing debt to the sector.
However no matter how much movement there is from the insurance industry it is unlikely that it will be able to cover the shortfall in property finance caused by the retrenchment of the banks. According to a recent report by BNP Paribas it is estimated that insurers will only be able to fill a mere 17 percent of the financial hole left by European banks shedding exposure to the sector.
To see if they are right and for more information on the state of the property and construction sectors in general, head down to MIPIM 2012, March 6-9 at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France. For the city’s best hotels, rented apartments and villas look no further than EAS, the local travel agent you can rely on. We have rooms in the most centrally located hotels, beach apartments with sea views, penthouses and even luxury loft apartments. We also offer yacht charters for those after something a little different and can organise all your transportation, dining and entertainment needs. Click on this link to fill in our request form.
Cannes president and director to stay on
Cannes Film Festival president Gilles Jacob and director Thierry Fremaux will stay on at the festival for another three years after it was announced in December that they would remain in their posts through 2014.
Jacob, who is 81, has been working with the festival for the past 30 years, first as the event’s director and then from 2001 in his current role as president. His term was due to expire in May 2012, but the Cannes board of administrators voted to extend it until 2014. This was despite rumours abounding that industry heavyweights such as French Culture Minister Frederick Mitterrand had shown interest in the position.
Director Fremaux who has been a working partner with Jacob for over a decade has also been given greater powers over the festival’s budget, its staffing and its development, creating what Fremaux described as “a new governance at the head of Cannes.” Jacobs explained the duos relationship saying: “We’re going to continue to mix my experience with his youth and dynamism. People know us as silhouettes in tuxedos at the top of the Palais steps every night to welcome the stars, but in reality we’re the workers shoveling coal below deck while everyone else is dancing and singing on the bridge.”
Work for Fremaux will begin again in earnest in January when he has to pick the official selection for 2012’s festival – a process which involves viewing around seven films a day. To see which he picks make your way to the Cannes Film Festival 16-27 May. For the very best in rented apartments, 5-star hotels, and even luxury yachts contact EAS, the local travel agent you can trust. We’ll make your stay as relaxing as possible, organising not only your accommodation needs, but transport and nightly entertainment as well. Click on this link for more information.