Canada’s housing market showed some resiliency through September and October, as national new home prices unexpectedly rose two months ago while the rate of construction on new homes was higher-than-expected in October, a pair of reports said Monday.
Statistics Canada reported that new-home prices rose in September even as the year-over-year increase fell to its slowest [...]

British house prices fell slightly less sharply in the three months to October than in the three months to September, a survey showed on Tuesday, but home sales hit the lowest in at least 30 years.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said its house prices balance rose to -81.8 last month from -84.5 in September, [...]

In a sign of worsening lending conditions, a British bank announced today it had stopped granting mortgages for UAE apartments and is now requiring a 50 per cent down payment for villas, a spokesman said.
“Due to exceptional global market conditions, Lloyds TSB Middle East has altered some aspects of its mortgage product offering,” the spokesman [...]

Canadian housing market has not been seriously affected by the global economic slowdown so far, according to the annual rate of housing starts posted in October which showed a mild decline from the previous month, as the latest report by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation shows.
Starts of new homes have declined 3.1% from September [...]

A six-year real estate boom in Dubai that spurred a $475 billion building frenzy has ended, according to agents who say sales are collapsing amid fears that the global economic downturn will hit the sheikdom.
“Last month was a real disaster and worse is coming I guess,” Mehdi Zoghbi, an agent at Middle East Real Estate [...]

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 [...]