Apartment Choice

College Terrace Market , the longed-for grocery store at 2100 El Camino Real in Palo Alto, finally opened on June 14, but the hoped-for crowds of customers have been slow to materialize. After a promising opening day , the market initially averaged only about 60 customers a day, said Ron Jensen, the market's director of operations. In the last couple of weeks, that number has grown as employees have moved into the First Republic Bank offices in the center's upper floors. But Miki Werness, one of the market's partners, estimated the market needs more than 200 customers per day to thrive. He said he did not anticipate that a summer opening would be so slow, adding that he anticipates many more customers will come with the start of the school year. The shaky start — and other factors potentially conspiring against the market — has customers and neighbors in College Terrace concerned . Under the planned community (PC) ordinance by which the College Terrace Centre devel...

From July 1, NSW doubled the stamp duty on foreign buyers to 8 per cent. THERE are nascent signs Chinese foreign buyers have toned down their enthusiastic buying of Sydney property . There are three pinpointed causes. Firstly, Beijing has narrowed the window for capital outflows to Australia. At the same time, Australian banks have tightened lending criteria to mainland China investors due to APRA regulatory requirements , and in some cases won’t lend to foreign investors at all. This week Chinese local and international estate agents reported a sharp drop-off in sales over the last six weeks as new property taxes took effect after the NSW state budget . From July 1, NSW doubled the stamp duty on foreign buyers to 8 per cent and increased the land tax surcharge from 0.75 per cent to 2 per cent. Chinese local and international estate agents reported a sharp drop-off in sales over the last six weeks. It’s a little too early to say the allure of Australian property has gone, b...

ASX MARKET & MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT 23 August 2017 FINBAR REPORTS $5.1 MILLION PROFIT IN FY17 Key Points: Operating profit of $9.6 million After tax net profit of $5.1 million $2 billion project pipeline with $1 billion in approved projects 21 years of consecutive profit Perth, 23 August 2017: Finbar Group Limited (ASX: FRI) (Finbar or the Company) has delivered a profit after tax and impairments of $5.1 million for the full year ended 30 June 2017 after releasing its audited results today . This result represents 21 years of consecutive profit for the Company. The after-tax profit was directly impacted by subdued Perth property market conditions resulting in moderating sales conditions and further reduction in valuations on investment property totalling $4.5 million from an operating profit of $9.6 million. Finbar completed FY17 by more than doubling its cash position to $67 million. A portion of this cash has subsequently enabled the full repayment of facilities for...

Is a market with hardly any liquidity a market? Look at property in Hong Kong, where housing is the least affordable in the world and prices keep climbing in the face of official curbs. Up and Away Hong Kong home prices have paused in the past month but have been climbing for more than 10 years Source: Centaline Property There's very little buying and selling of old homes in the territory. Painful loan-to-value rules mean second-time buyers of property valued at more than HK$10 million ($1.3 million) -- just enough to bag an apartment of less than 500 square feet in Central District -- can only borrow a maximum of 40 percent; it's 50 percent for transactions below that level. An increase in stamp duty last November set the transaction tax at 15 percent of the cost of a resold home for permanent residents, and double that for foreigners (mostly those from mainland China). According to JLL, as Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. is known, transaction volumes in the secondary market have ...

Whether you’re a business traveler staying for days or months in the city, or you’re a leisure traveler looking forward to a relaxing overnight stay , newly opened Citadines Millennium Ortigas Manila promises to give you an ideal home away from home experience. A 32- storey international serviced residence , Citadines Millenium Ortigas Manila is managed by The Ascott Limited in partnership with CDC Holdings. It is The Ascott Limited ’s seventh property in Metro Manila and their first in the northern part of Metro The property, which is divided into serviced residence s and condominium units, has close proximity to lifestyle establishments and offices. Casey Faylona, The Ascott Limited director for sales and marketing said, “There is a big market that is still growing mainly because of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and some of the major companies that are based here including business process outsourcing (BPO) companies. It is an emerging market.” Faylona added, “ Serviced res...

Aug. 23--DANBURY -- A high- profile apartment complex has hit the market in the city, just as another apartment community with a large price tag has been sold. 1 Kennedy Flats, a 374-unit complex in downtown Danbury built in 2016, is on the market for an undisclosed price, according to the real estate website LoopNet .com. Real estate firm CBRE is the exclusive adviser in the sale, according to the website. An official with Greystar, the owner and developer of 1 Kennedy Flats, confirmed the news and said putting the complex on the market shortly after building it was part of the business plan. "It depends on the capital partner, but often times that's how we develop," Daniel Lee, Greystar's senior director of development for New England said. "It turned out great. It's a beautiful property and people really enjoy living there. I think it's a good addition to Main Street and we're very happy with the results." The news of Kennedy Flats bein...

The long retail spine of Sydney Road, Brunswick, just north of Melbourne's CBD, was once a prosperous trading outpost on the way to the goldfields. These days it's a bohemian mix of variety stores, op shops, halal butchers and Lebanese bakeries. Take a side street to the west, however, and a different picture emerges. Sandwiched between Sydney Road and the Upfield train line is an area undergoing rapid and widespread transformation. Light industry is fast being replaced by mid- rise apartment buildings , their inhabitants attracted by the short commute into town and cheaper prices than in the city's south-east. The quality of these units is, on the whole, depressingly bad; think poor ventilation and bedrooms that "borrow" natural light (a weasel word for being dark and windowless). The occasional jazzy façade tries feebly to make up for otherwise cheap construction amid a chorus of greys. At ground level, carpark roller doors alternate with mean pocket garden...

Residents check out the plans for a 294- unit apartment complex on Nixon Road at a meeting Tuesday night at the Traverwood Branch Library in Ann Arbor. Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com Neighbors of a proposed 294- unit apartment complex at Nixon Road and M-14 say they're concerned about adding more traffic to an already congested area. "It's hell right now," said Cathy Baker , who lives in the Barclay Park condominiums and says traffic regularly backs up on Nixon Road during rush hour. About two dozen residents attended a citizen participation meeting hosted by the developer Tuesday night at the Traverwood Branch Library in Ann Arbor. A map of the site location provided by the developer. Traffic repeatedly came up as a main concern with the project. Residents who live in neighboring apartments and condominiums said they're particularly worried about worsening traffic backups where Nixon Road meets Green and Dhu Varren roads — an unconventional four-w...