UAE Property Portal Raises $9m Venture Capital for GCC Expansion
One of the UAE’s most successful property portals, Bayut.com has announced plans to expand further into GCC property markets, after securing $9 million in venture capital from three global investment funds.
Bayut.com ‘s holding company Zamzama Property Group, which also controls Zameen.com, Pakistan’s leading property portal, has received investment from three funds including Vostok New Ventures, which also invested $34m in BlaBlaCar, the world’s largest long distance ride-sharing community last month.
Vostok’s managing director Per Brilioth has joined Bayut’s board of directors and the portal also welcomed Middle East property experts Simon Baker, Roland Tripard and Gilles Blanchard to its team as part of its significant push towards expansion in the GCC.
Haider Ali Khan, CEO of Bayut said: ” Bayut has been busy working on its business intelligence and gathering quality resources for expansion into Saudi Arabia and other GCC markets. The results have been overwhelming and, with the right people on board who possess the right know-how for expanding into new markets, we’re set to move forward aggressively “.
Property markets across the Middle East have shown mixed performance in 2015, with speculation swinging like a pendulum between boom and bust forecasts, particularly in residential markets. A shortage of affordable supply across the region has significantly reduced transaction volumes, according to official statistics.
However, foreign investment in GCC property is on the up, as property price declines outstrip falls in rental values, resulting in significant yield opportunities. This dynamic is particularly strong in Saudi Arabia which has seen transactions plummet 14% since last year, according to figures released by the Ministry of Justice in August. The Saudi Gazette reported that the total value of real estate deals completed so far this year has reached $74bn, including commercial and residential transactions.
Saudi property developer Ibrahim Al Subaie was quoted in the Saudi Gazette as saying: ” The percentage of real estate deals in some parts of north and south Jeddah and in Asfan and Dhahban dropped by 20% since the beginning of the summer holiday. In areas with low population density the rate dropped by 30% “.
Despite difficult market conditions, Bayut has continued from strength to strength, returning more than 100% year-on-year growth across all metrics so far in 2015, including paying agencies and traffic while its competition stagnated in the face of a slow UAE market .
The portal’s newly appointed Chairman Gilles Blanchard, one of the founders of SeLoger, the largest French property portal commented: ” Bayut not only has the best brains in the business but also boasts the requisite expertise and resources for providing the best solutions to the industry’s needs. With the excess capital at our disposal, we are going to invest further in technological innovation and providing an unprecedented quality of service in the markets we tap into “.
There are plenty of opportunities for price growth in Saudi’s property market, with realtors Colliers International identifying an investment hotspot called Half Moon Bay, located south of Al Khobar and Dhahran. The region is frequently visited by Saudi families during weekends and holidays and it’s a popular place to own a vacation home.
With significant residential development in the area and more in the pipeline, Half Moon Bay has experienced high demand, achieving 152% higher than average selling rates in 2014 and on target for a similarly stellar performance this year. Colliers attribute the significant rise in interest in Half Moon Bay to its leisure focus, with villas and chalets in midscale and upscale resorts in the area.
Bayut’s considerable experience of operating successfully in difficult conditions and identifying growth areas ahead of the competition through its dedication to top quality property market research is set to project the portal to dominance in the Middle East, as it expands further into other GCC markets.
Article by +Roxanne James on behalf of Propertyshowrooms.com
London Still Tops Popularity Polls for European Property Investors
According to the latest LaSalle Investment Management’s European Regional Growth Index (E-REGI) , which ranks Europe’s top 100 cities, London has once again taken first position in the ranking.
The report highlights London’s resilience combined with its deep investment market, justifying the city as a target for a wide range of investment strategies. Other UK cities increasingly coming to the fore include Manchester, ranked 17 th and Bristol at 25 th position, both having climbed three spots in the European ranking, while Birmingham is up two places at 37.
” Having published this index for 16 years, we now have an unrivalled understanding of the different economic patterns in Europe’s leading cities, ” said Mahdi Mokrane, LaSalle Investment Management’s head of research and strategy for Europe.
” The index not only determines which real estate markets are likely to out or underperform in the medium term, but combined with our on the ground expertise, we also use the index as a strategic framework to match cities with the most relevant investment styles, ” he explained.
Paris takes second place once again according to the survey and the top two cities are Europe’s most consistent performers, although balanced scores and consistent performance over time are not limited to the top of the ranking. Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Stuttgart and Amsterdam are also suited for value-add or opportunistic strategies, the report states. Düsseldorf, Mannheim-Karlsruhe, Cologne-Bonn, Rotterdam-The Hague, Utrecht, Edinburgh and Leeds are also included in the group but the report says core investment in prime markets would be more suited given their smaller market size.
Emerging markets that are receiving increased attention from real estate investors seeking enhanced returns are found in Turkey the report states, with Istanbul scoring highest due to strong growth performance and outlook and the cities of Izmir and Ankara as solid contenders. The cities of Warsaw and Prague continue to benefit from balanced economies and progressive policies, leading to increased growth and investment activity in the Polish and Czech Republic capitals.
Meanwhile in London, there seems to be no let-up in foreign buyer interest in the city’s real estate and there are still plenty of entrants in the market wanting to buy in the capital. Foreign investors are particularly dominant at the top end of the market. Of the 111 deals worth £150m in the past three years, 84% involved foreign buyers, according to international estate agents Cushman & Wakefield.
Total investment volumes in the central London market hit a record £24.6bn last year, Cushman & Wakefield’s data shows, and the agent predicts that this year could exceed that figure. The autumn deal-making season is usually the busiest, as investors seek to empty their bank accounts before the year-end and experienced advisers expect the coming months to see a particularly large number of transactions.
Stephen Down, head of central London and international sales at estate agency Savills, says there will be a ” fairly substantial uptick in stock coming on to the market “.
” The temptation is to think that this means they are calling the market, but that’s not the case, ” he adds. ” It is often private equity companies looking to take profits and return them to investors “.
The extended global downturn after the financial crisis meant that London’s commercial property market took a long time to recover, Mr Down says, and some fund managers that brought early in the cycle are reaching the end of their fund’s life and need to cash-in.
It seems that those leaving through the revolving door of London’s property market are still bumping into newcomers heading in the other direction. Despite prices and yields being back at pre-crisis levels, plenty of investors are still piling in.
The biggest buyers in the city in the year to date have been Canadian and US investors, according to Cushman data, investing £6.5bn between them so far this year. They are ” the bedrock of the market “, Mr Down says. ” The market in the US has recovered and there is limited stock to be bought, so as a result that money is flowing over here “.
Article by +Roxanne James on behalf of Propertyshowrooms.com
Montenegro Emerging as Europe’s Tourist Hotspot
The tiny nation of Montenegro, one of Europe’s newest countries, has been attracting the attention of both holidaymakers and large-scale real estate investors in recent years. Developers are building golf resorts, marinas and residential and hotel resorts aimed at a sophisticated international audience who are attracted to the natural beauty and easy accessibility of this Balkan country.
Montenegro, dubbed the Pearl of the Mediterranean, lies south of Croatia and north of Albania. It is small in size – just 14,000km² with a population of 650,000 – but big on beauty with mountains, canyons and stone Venetian architecture. Inland there are five National Parks, ski resorts and the Balkans’ largest lake and deepest canyon but it is the slim and rocky Adriatic coastline, extending just under 300kms and in particular the waters of UNESCO Heritage site Kotor Bay that is attracting most international attention.
Back in the 1960s the region was something of a celebrity hangout, popular with stars including Sophia Loren and Elizabeth Taylor but the Balkan Conflict of the 1990s marked the end of that era. After years of destruction, modern Montenegro was created in 2006 from part of the former Yugoslavia and Serbia and today the country, which uses the euro as its currency, has applied to join NATO and the EU.
Tourism in Montenegro has increased hugely in recent years, with visitors from across Europe and Russia helping to make tourism the fastest growing economic sector in the country with revenues rising 17% annually. The latest data form the World Travel and Tourism Council placed Montenegro at the top of a list of 184 countries for predicted tourism growth over the coming decade.
International brands have taken note of this allure and acted on it. Mighty Asian-based hotel company Aman opened their vive star 188-suite resort on the small island of Sveti Stefan in 2009, transforming the former fifteenth century fisherman’s homes into an oasis of simplicity and beauty with night room charges from €700. Last year, leading tennis player Novak Djokovic chose the resort as the venue for his summer wedding in the country.
In August 2014 Regent Hotel in Porto Montenegro became the second five-star international brand to open and will be joined in the coming years by One & Only and Four Seasons.
Montenegro has plenty to interest second homeowners seeking waterfront properties with the outstanding beauty of Kotor Bay, with its glassy waters surrounded by brooding dark mountains – Montenegro means ‘Black Mountains’ – and it’s the perfect location for boating and sailing activities. Meanwhile the country’s position in the Mediterranean provides thousands of islands to the north and south to explore as well as Venice, Corfu and Croatia within a short distance.
Porto Montenegro’s marina is a hugely popular destination for property investors in the country. The marina has more than 400 berths including space to moor the world’s longest yacht and plans for another 70 super-yacht berths by the end of the year. There is a newly opened Regent Hotel, seven residential blocks with over 200 apartments, a tennis club, sports facilities including pools and a gym together with a range of smart shops and restaurants.
Montenegro’s government are taking steps to stimulate the property market with a range of measures including the abolishment of all buying costs on new-build property. Resale homes meanwhile incur a 3% property tax to avoid the pre-recession days of escalating property prices, driven by the consistent popularity for older Venetian-style stone houses in prime areas.
Kiernan Kelleher, managing director of Savills associates Dream Estates Montenegro said: ” To really delve into the market, it is important to know that there are two distinct breeds: the shiny, spanking new apartments at Porto Montenegro or Lŭstica Bay for instance which sell for over €5,000/m2 and the traditional perfect stone houses and apartments which dot Kotor Bay “.
” There is still excellent value to be had on the coast whether you want to dock your big yacht next to your penthouse or get out your paint scraper and renovate an older beauty, ” Kelleher continued.
” Both are still priced well below more established destinations and experts forecast continued growth in Montenegro as additional 5-star hotels, the lifeblood of any property market we say, are introduced. Phase One of Montenegro’s transformation into a world-class, high-end tourism and property destination is complete “.
Article by +Roxanne James on behalf of Propertyshowrooms.com
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