Show me an example Israel Real Estate News: May 2011

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Israel’s Elbit Imaging to invest $500 mn in Indian realty

Israeli conglomerate Elbit Imaging Ltd and its subsidiary Plaza Centers NV are making fresh investments of at least $500 million (Rs.2,235 crore) to develop real estate projects in India.

The Tel Aviv-based company is globally known for developing shopping malls, having built 84 centres in Europe, the US and Israel.

In India, it is looking to build a diversified real estate portfolio, including residential and office spaces besides shopping malls.

Elbit Plaza India Management Services Pvt. Ltd is close to signing its first residential, joint development project in Thiruvananthapuram on an 11-acre land. It will develop the project together with Pune-based Panchshil Realty and a local builder.

Property analysts say India is the foremost emerging property market along with China and Brazil. But many developers had scaled down their plans for these markets after the 2008-09 economic downturn and returned to established regions.

“We are again seeing interest slowly coming back from foreign developers in India, particularly among those who had already entered the market and got a feel of it earlier,” said Anshuman Magazine, chairman and managing director, CB Richard Ellis South Asia Pvt. Ltd, a property advisory.

Elbit entered India in 2006. It has since invested about $400 million to buy land in central and southern Indian states, said Oren Kolton, country director for Elbit.

As part of its previous investment in the country, the firm is also developing two projects in Pune—a shopping mall on its own and an office space-cum-shopping mall with Panchshil Realty. The estimated investment in the two projects is around $200 million, said Kolton.

“Someone like Elbit brings with it a lot of expertise and international quality because they have developed properties globally,” said Sagar Chordia, a director with Panchshil Realty.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Gazit-Globe Real Estate - NYSE offering

Gazit-Globe has already approached several US investment banks to accompany the strategic move to improve the company's financial flexibility.
Gazit-Globe is an income-producing real estate company that operates in Israel, North America, and Europe. The company has 662 properties, which generate NIS 5.6 billion in annual turnover. The properties include 610 commercial centers, 12 centers under development, 15 assisted living facilities (with 1,650 housing units), and 15 office buildings.

Sunday, May 08, 2011

Stanley Fischer is dealing with demand for real estate

Fischer, in contrast, has the power to immediately affect real estate, because he has the power to impose on the banks directives about mortgages and financing from one day to the next. Fischer is trying to cool demand and take effective action, whereas Atias and Yishai throw out declarations.
This is a paradox, since Atias and Yishai are the men with real power to change something with regard to home prices. They are responsible for the supply side - Yishai through planning and Atias through marketing by the Israel Land Administration.
There is no dispute that only a massive effort on the supply side - improving procedures by the planning and building commissions and increasing the ability to market land - only these measures can really lower home prices. But Fischer steals the show, as if he has real influence to lower home prices.

Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Not all overseas buyers of Israeli property are millionaires

Demand for local real estate from overseas buyers is growing anew as Jews from the US, the UK, the CIS and other countries are busy buying property. Many of them buy property at the very high end of the market -- apartments of more than $1 million At these times, overseas buyers have more modest needs; and since money is less plentiful than it was two or three years ago, these buyers might need financial help. In real estate terms, that means a mortgage.

Not all overseas buyers of Israeli property are millionaires, and the properties they buy are adapted to their level of income and the depth of their pockets. Some of the potential overseas buyers of local real estate have the necessary funds to purchase a property outright, but others don’t want to see their money tied to brick and mortar.