The week in real estate: Airbnb problems, MRT price spikes and futuristic travel

Our pick of the property news from the past seven days

Why are real estate investors selling up and leaving Japan?

What’s the latest in Airbnb’s legal headaches?

What futuristic travel invention could change how we all live…forever?

Find out all this and more in this week’s market digest…

New research

RICS: UK Residential Market Survey – September 2016

The September 2016 RICS Residential Market Survey (UK) results show new buyer enquiries increased for the first time since February, however house price growth is not expected to increase any time soon.

Find the survey here.

CBRE: Global Prime Retail Rents 2016

With online shopping becoming the new normal, many retailers are opting for fewer branches. With fewer stores, the location is more important than ever, and prime locations in important fashion capitals have seen some of the greatest growth in rents as a result.

Find the research here.

Country news

Japan

Foreign investors are turning their backs on pricey Japan real estate, we heard this week, with sales far outnumbering the number of new buys.

There were JPY595 billion (USD5.72 billion) more in property sales from foreign investors than purchases in the first nine months of the year, data from the Urban Research Institute of Mizuho Financial Group has shown. In a new record since 2012, total purchases between January and September collapsed 80 percent to JPY130.2 billion (USD1.2 billion) from the same period last year.

USA

Airbnb, the short-term rental platform is planning to sue New York City.

On Friday Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation which means anyone advertising a short-term rental apartment on a home sharing site can face a fine of up to USD7,500.

The bill, which is effective immediately, aims to reduce the amount of people who turn their homes into hotels. Doing so takes potential rental housing off the market and means cities miss out on tax revenue.

“This is an issue that was given careful, deliberate consideration, but ultimately these activities are already expressly prohibited by law,” Cuomo spokeman Rich Azzopardi said.

Airbnb argues that by holding them liable for third-party rental listings on its platform, the New York law violates a federal law.

“A majority of New Yorkers have embraced home sharing, and we will continue to fight for a smart policy solution that works for the the people, not the powerful,” Airbnb said.

Airbnb and similar sites have become increasingly popular in Asia, and despite legal restrictions of their own, these have rarely been enforced, meaning the platforms have thrived.

Hong Kong

Two districts in Kowloon, Hong Kong are currently experiencing an uptick in home sales, courtesy of an expanding rapid transit line.

Residential capital values in the city’s Whampoa and Ho Man Tin districts have risen 95 percent and 80 percent respectively since the gazetting of a new MTR line in 2009, according to The South China Morning Post, citing data from the latest report on Hong Kong residential sales by Jones Lang LaSalle. The route opened Sunday after months of delays.

“Residential projects with railway connections have always been more popular with buyers,” said Henry Mok, regional director of capital markets at JLL. “Once the railway extension starts operation, properties in Whampoa and Ho Man Tin should be able to draw more interest from buyers, leading to an increase in transaction volumes and a possible boost in property prices in the two districts.”

Trends

Elon Musk, of Paypal and Tesla fame has designed ‘Hyperloop,’ which he describes as a “cross between a Concorde, a railgun and air hockey table.” He believes this could be the next standard mode of transportation— after the standard trains, planes and automobiles we are all accustomed to.

The Hyperloop, which would see levitating pods travelling in near-vacuum tubes at almost the speed of sound, claims it can reduce the standard five-hour journey from London to Manchester to just 18 minutes.

But why is relevant to the property world?

Well, by shortening the commuting time between cities to mere minutes, it would no longer be necessary to live close to your work place.

You could, for example, live in rural harmony in Chiangmai, Thailand, and commute to Bangkok every day.
Also, any areas in easy access of a Hyperloop station would shoot up in value.

Hyperloop could be so relevant to the real estate industry, that LendInvest has said: “Hyperloop would have such a monumental impact on property and housing you could call it PropTech.”

Read more about it here.

Source: Property Report