Las Vegas Real Estate Blog

Romania: Romania is set to be the rising star of 2007

It's a romantic and beautiful country of dramatic mountains and rolling hills, fertile plains, rivers and lakes, plus the up-and-coming Black Sea resorts. Its fledgling property market is well worth investigating, before it really takes off...
 

Romania: Romania the Most Profitable For Real Estate Investments

11 January 2006 - Romania is on the first place of the most profitable 20 European states in terms of the estimated profit for the following 10 years in the real estate field. Amanda Lamb, an expert in property evaluation, explained that Romania has great economic growth perspectives, given the future EU entry. The analyst showed that a house with invested funds of some €175,000 might be sold for about €750,000 after 10 years.The analyst estimates that investors will be attracted to the Romanian real estate market after the EU accession. The top list was based on data supplied by consultancy company PricewaterhouseCoopers regarding the economic growth rate of each state.
Source:  A Place in the Sun

New Super-Highway to connect Budapest and Bucharest

05 May 2005 - Another promising development for Romanian real estate is created by the construction of a new 2 billion EURO super-highway being realized with the financial backing of the EU. This new super-highway built with the technology of the American firm contracted to complete it by the year 2010-12 will dramatically change the face of Romania. It will cut the travel time between Bucharest and major European cities down significantly and literally create new major destinations in Romania, overnight. View the path of the highway from Budapest to Bucharest.

Romania Join EU on Jan 1, 2007

16 January 2006 - The European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Union's financing institution, expects Romanian to enter the European Union on Jan 1, 2007, said EIB's vice-president Wolfgang Roth upon the meeting with PM Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, ACT Media news agency reports. ''When the exact data of accession will be known, most likely at the European summit in June, from that moment we'll consider Romania as any other partner, as a full-fledged member of the European Union,'' said Roth. The EIB's vice-president explained that starting from the moment when the European bank will consider Romania as a full-fledged member of the European Union, it would change its policy when it comes to the loans' interest rates. ''The interest rates which the accession countries pay are higher, not very high, but higher, and we will change this policy not after accession, but when the exact data of accession will be decided,'' said Wolfgang Roth. At the same time, EIB's vice-president said that, following a survey, he realized that out of the ten countries of the latest wave of accession and the two countries due to join the EU, Romania has the lowest foreign debt. ''So watching statistical figures about Romania does not send me cold shiver down my spine,'' said Roth. He said that the European Investment Bank would like to finance in the future projects based on the public-private partnership, adding that they will be done under better conditions than the ones of the International Monetary Fund. Since 1990, Romania has been allotted from the EIB loans worth 6.26 billion euros. The funds were mainly used for infrastructure projects, health and education.
 

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- This time last year the big question was whether the real estate market was going to slow down. Today it's "How bad will it get?"

The numbers tell a confusing story. For existing homes, buyers are trickling back into the market - sales inched upward in October even as the median home price fell by 3.5 percent, the largest year-over-year drop on record. And that comes after price declines in August and September.

On the new-home front, sales in October fell, but the median price crept upward. For homebuilders, cancellations are up and orders down.

"It's possible that the broader housing market will firm in the next few months, that the worst is over," says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "But that to me is a dead-cat bounce." In a word, yikes.

So Fortune asked Zandi's group and real estate valuation company Fiserv Lending Solutions to give us their take on what lies ahead for housing in the country's 100 largest metropolitan areas.

6 strategies to survive the real estate bust

The picture, as you probably have guessed, isn't pretty. In 2007, 36 of the 100 biggest markets are expected to see price declines. For 2008 that number rises a notch to 37.

The area poised for the biggest fall in 2007? Stockton, Calif., where prices are expected to drop by 7.1 percent and another 5.3 percent in 2008. If the forecast holds true, a home purchased in Stockton today for $350,000 will be worth a mere $307,917 two years from now. And that doesn't account for the additional toll inflation can take on the true value of your asset.

Next in line to take a turn for the worse: Las Vegas, where our forecasters think prices will sink 6.6 percent next year and another 8.1 percent in 2008.

 The home sale price graphs I published recently (See below) were
extremely bullish on prices. On the other hand, there's Vegas.
The Las Vegas real estate market is fascinating to me. Las Vegas had a crazy red hot real estate market last year, much earlier than Phoenix. No one knows if Phoenix will follow the same pattern as Las Vegas, it seems unlikely, but the comparisons are irresistible.
Las Vegas had the highest annual home price increases ever recorded.
The median home price in Las Vegas increased 50% from April-June 2003 to April-June 2004.
Then last summer resale home prices peaked and leveled off.
New home prices in Las Vegas didn't level off until the autumn. The
prices of many new homes completed in the summer and autumn were set before construction began - back in the spring and summer when prices were skyrocketing.
After being flat for awhile, both new and resale median home prices in Las Vegas fell in February, according to graphs from SalesTraq. Is this the beginning of a price adjustment in Vegas? Or is this within the normal month to month variation of prices? We'll know in a few months. Looking back to the heyday of the Las Vegas market, it's hard to avoid parallels with metro Phoenix today. Look at this quote from a Las Vegas Journal-Review article from January

• People were having to camp out to get a new home and it would take six months to a year for the builder to deliver the product. Those who didn't want to wait turned to the resale market, where a home can close in 30 to 60 days. That pushed resale prices from $183,750 in January 2004 to $250,000 in July.

That first part sounds like Phoenix today even though metro Phoenix
home prices have increased at only half the rate mentioned.
One reason the article gives for the rapid Las Vegas price increases was the low inventory of homes for sale, it fell to only a 2-week supply. In metro Phoenix this past January and February, we had only a 2-week
supply of homes.
Hopefully the Las Vegas experience won't foreshadow Phoenix in all regards.

• A few builders, probably 10 percent, were overly aggressive with their pricing structure and got themselves in a situation where they had to cut prices, Murphy said.

Here are some more quotes from a February Las Vegas Journal-Review article.

• Some people who bought a new home for $500,000 in April or May saw the value drop to $425,000 by the time they closed escrow on it in November, and the builders weren't releasing buyers from their
  contracts, Cunningham said.

Most builders in Phoenix, however, stopped selling to investors last summer. Apparently, the builders learned from their Vegas mistakes.
Keeping out investors should help stabilize the Phoenix new home market.
In both the new and resale home markets in metro Phoenix, prices are still skyrocketing... but it won't last forever. Take advantage of it while you can.

• The resale median has been stuck on $250,000 in Las Vegas for six months and could stay there through July, Murphy said.

John L. Wake
Home Sale News publisher
HomeSmart agent
480-596-3851
March 31, 2005

Model homes and Phase One homes, offering early-bird specials are under construction at the Meadowlark and Nightingale neighborhoods within the Lennar Homes planned community, The Willows, according to marketing manager Rene Merlau.

"We anticipate a model opening by mid-December, with our first families moving-in by early spring. So, it is definitely not too soon to select a home site and floor plan."

Located at Gibson Road and Galleria Parkway, just east of Interstate 515 at Sunset Road in Henderson, The Willows will include three neighborhoods.

Meadowlark offers three two-story floor plans from 1,660 to 2,194 square feet with three to four bedrooms, 21/2 baths and two-car garages, with pricing from the $300,000s.

Nightingale features two-story homes from 2,047 to 2,525 square feet with four to five bedrooms, 21/2 to four baths and a two-car garage.

The homes are also priced from the $300,000s.

As Lennar Everything's Included communities, Nightingale and Meadowlark homes come ready for move-in with all appliances, including refrigerator with ice maker, microwave, washer and gas dryer, and window coverings.

An interest list is now forming for the Mockingbird neighborhood of two-story homes from 1,475 to 1,909 square feet. The homes offer three bedrooms, or three bedrooms plus a loft, or four bedrooms with 21/2 baths and a two-car garage.

Included upgrade amenities are prewiring for security, cable and ceiling fans, ceramic tile entries, raised-panel cabinetry, cultured marble vanity and ceramic tile shower/tub surrounds in the master bath.

Exterior highlights include two-color paint accenting pop-out detailing and concrete tile roofs, with selected elevations offering stone facing.

"A Lennar home gives you all the extras you need at no extra cost," Merlau said. "When you don't have to worry about the added expense of purchasing window coverings, a refrigerator, a washer and dryer, it makes a big difference."

To visit the Welcome Home Center at The Willows, take Interstate 515 to Sunset Road, exit east to Gibson Road, then north on Gibson to Galleria Parkway.

The sales offices are open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For more information on Meadowlark, call 604-7315. For more information on Nightingale, call 273-8922.

For interest list information on the upcoming Mockingbird neighborhood, call 202-0772 or visit online at www.lennar.com.

Summerlin will host Light up your Holidays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Dec. 9 and from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday Dec. 10 at the master-planned community's Ladera neighborhood in The Mesa Village, located off Town Center Drive just south of Tropicana Avenue and west of Hualapai Way.

Ladera neighborhood builders Engle Homes, KB Home and Richmond American Homes all participate in the community's holiday family festival.

The outside event will feature holiday décor, holiday activities and crafts for children, photos with Santa Claus and a gingerbread house raffle. Proceeds from the sale of photos, activities, craft sales and refreshments will benefit the Henderson Allied Community Advocates (HACA), a local nonprofit organization. Founded in 1991, the organization serves more than 1,800 families annually affected by poverty and homelessness.

According to Bonnie Hernandez, director of marketing for KB Home, it was important the event have a charitable benefactor. "As a valley home builder, we recognize and appreciate the many charitable organizations, such as HACA, that serve Las Vegas and make it a better community in which to live, work and build," she said.

Ladera is the first neighborhood in The Mesa Village. The 600-plus-home neighborhood offers 17 different floor plans ranging from 1,642 to 2,804 square feet. Prices start in the low $300,000s.

To date, more than 150 homes have sold in the neighborhood, according to Julie Cleaver, director of planning and design for The Howard Hughes Corp., developer of Summerlin.

"The location, home diversity, architectural style and surrounding amenities make Ladera a popular choice for new home buyers," she said.

The Mesa Village is a nearly 500-acre residential property and features a desert contemporary architectural style. Village and neighborhood entry monuments are accented with stonework and back-lit metal signs.

Streets are lined with desert-appropriate trees and flowering bushes to emphasize shade and color in a setting designed to accentuate the natural landscape of the surrounding desert area of the neighboring Spring Mountains.

In addition to The Mesa's residential development, the village offers an array of recreational and educational projects. A 19-acre neighborhood park is in its early phases of development with plans to feature tennis courts, little league baseball fields, a basketball court, tot lot, large open/play area and covered picnic ramadas.

Summerlin's newest private school, Bishop Gorman High School, is also located in The Mesa village and is scheduled to open its 187,000-square-foot campus in early 2007.

Developed by The Howard Hughes Corp., an affiliate of General Growth Properties, Inc., the 22,500-acre master-planned community is located along the western rim of the Las Vegas Valley and features more than 100 neighborhood and village parks and more than 120 completed miles of the Summerlin Trail System.

Home to more than 93,000 residents, with 7,500 acres still to develop, including its urban core, Summerlin Centre, the community encompasses shopping centers, medical facilities, cultural facilities, business parks and more than 80 model homes.

Homes are available in a variety of styles, from single-family homes to townhomes, condominiums and lofts, priced from the mid-$200,000s to more than $2 million. Custom home sites in The Ridges are priced from the $500,000s. Luxury apartment homes offer monthly rents starting from the $900s.