Britt Robertson

  The US Federal Reserve declared this week that its quantitative easing (QE) program of purchasing mortgage-backed securities and US government bonds, which it started in 2008 in an effort to boost the economy by lowering long-term interest rates, would come to an end.  propertyfinder The news did not come as a shock. The Fed has been signaling this for over a year, in fact taking the Band-Aid off gradually. The market's immediate reaction was measured, with the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rising just slightly in the previous week—less than 10 basis points (bps) as of midday on October 30, 2014. The end of quantitative easing is a significant move forward in the recovery from the Great Recession. While the medium-term consequences are difficult to forecast at this time, popular wisdom suggests that interest rates will rise in 2015. Several factors, in our opinion, reduce the risk of a significant increase in interest rates in the medium term. The most significant fact...

  According to global real estate consultancy CBRE, four major transactions worth more than $500 million each were completed in the third quarter of 2014, bringing overall real estate investment value in Asia Pacific to $35 billion, up 40% quarter-on-quarter. South Korea, Japan, and Australia saw particularly high levels of activity. The region's cross-border investment activity has remained active, totaling $16 billion in the first nine months of 2014, up 20% year on year.  qatar seal Greg Penn, CBRE's Managing Director of Capital Markets, said, "Looking ahead, we anticipate a busy market for the rest of the year, with Japan and Australia leading the way in terms of transactions. Investor confidence is also that in Southeast Asia and India, especially in Vietnam, as the country's economy improves and prices rise. With India, we're seeing more international investors interested in forming joint ventures with local companies. Following the May election of a new go...

  Fundamentals are improving in many office markets across the Americas, Asia, and Europe, according to Cushman & Wakefield's latest 2015-2016 Global Office Market Study.  doha property finder "From a global perspective, 2014 was a better year for the office real estate industry, with many markets entering 2015 on stable footing," Maria T. Sicola, head of Cushman & Wakefield's Americas Research division, said. "Of course, certain markets in or near areas of political unrest and those with stagnant economic growth continue to struggle, but overall, things are better than they were a year ago." THE AMERICAS AND THE UNITED STATES U.S. cities are witnessing economic growth, well beyond those dominated by the robust technology and energy industries, which is translating into solid office business fundamentals. "Demand is increasing, especially for newly constructed or refurbished space," Sicola said. "While rental growth has slowed in...