Dropping real estate values are sending more British Columbians into financial crisis and causing a spike in personal bankruptcies, according to professional debt counsellors.
Federal Industry Ministry data show that B.C. consumer bankruptcy filings for August were up more than 10 per cent over the same period last year.
August also saw a 16.3-per-cent increase in proposal [...]

House prices in Britain will continue to plunge over the coming year as the economy deteriorates, two leading housing reports said Monday.
Average house prices will be 25 percent – or 50,000 pounds ($77,000) – cheaper by the end of 2009 than they were in the peak autumn 2007 market, the Centre for Economics and Business [...]

The central government yesterday stepped in to bolster the sagging real estate market by lowering transaction taxes, reducing down payments and lowering mortgage rates.
But analysts said the measures may not hold back price corrections because the current prices have surged far out of reach of many buyers.
Fleshing out a directive issued last Friday by the [...]

The number of people signing up for rented accommodation rose in September, with demand up 50 per cent year on year, according to the UK’s second largest lettings agent Your Move, which has 250 branches nationwide. The number of leases commencing in September jumped 4.34 per cent compared to August 2008 – far beyond normal [...]

Italian rental companies are reporting continued growth in the country’s rental market despite the economic situation, with particular opportunities in the south of the country.
“Overall, our business growth rate is 20%,” said Mendes Migotto, managing director of Gruppo Venpa 3, Italy’s largest rental company. “Our growth is accelerating. Despite the crisis, the rental market is [...]

Shockwaves from the financial crisis are rippling through Sweden’s housing market, resulting in falling prices and accelerating the already slowing pace of new construction.
The slump in housing prices between July and September has been felt primarily by owners of apartments rather than houses, and for people living in the Stockholm area.
According to a survey by [...]

China’s real estate market may enter another round of expansion around 2010, after the adjustment and transformation of the market, predicted a professor from Zhejiang University.
Jia Shenghua, deputy of the real estate research center in Zhejiang University, said that unlike ordinary consumables, the real estate sector is a quasi-financial market with periodicity.
“Judging from the current [...]

THE STOCK of rental properties on the market is growing at a rate of 10 per cent per month and is now approaching 10,000 homes according to the property website myhome.ie.
The rapid growth in the rental market suggests that would-be buyers are opting to rent rather than buy homes because of the uncertainty in the [...]

Fewer Canadian homes were sold in the third quarter but the number put on the market also dropped – a sign that a slide in housing prices is beginning to slow, says the Canadian Real Estate Association.
A total of 76,391 homes were sold in major Canadian markets in the summer quarter, a dramatic 10.7 per [...]

The average cost of a home dropped to 211,410 during the month, driven down by a 5.1% fall in the value of flats and a 3% slide in the cost of terrace houses, according to Communities and Local Government.
Across all buyers, a total of just 42,200 mortgages worth 6 billion were advanced for house purchase [...]