Coastline - City On The Red Sea

City of the Red Sea Coast near Jeddah is to treble in size from the present $27 bn (USD) to an estimated $100bn. Developed by Dubai based developer and called The King Abdullah Economic City, construction started last December and is seeking to stimulate enormous economic activity, creating 000’s of jobs.

The expansion plans are personally backed by King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Sud who sites local economic stimulation as a key aim of the project. In keeping with recent real estate development in the Middle East, the proposed capacity of the project is expected on a gargantuan scale.

A specially developed seaport area will have capacity for the largest sea-going vessels in the world. An industrial area will house up to 3000 tenants comprising light manufacturing and trading businesses.

As well as several thousands apartments, villas and houses, the are will be intertwined with a network of “Amsterdam like” canals, a major feat in itself given the area’s desert conditions . Work is projected top complete in 2012.

Countrywide For Sale Boards - Homzz.net

Financial Times : Backed by 3i the private equity group, Harry Hill, Managing Director and other Countrywide board members are understood to be putting together management buyout package which could see the firm valued at near �900 mn GBP.

The Countrywide board are understood to have convened an approval meeting about the 550p per share, which could result in an announcement as early as today.

When land buyers purchase and hold a plot of land the value is in the price they paid. If the owner then applies for and obtains planning permission for how to use that plot of land, its value can increase dramatically.

Never mind the endlessly tortuous and convoluted process by which permissions are obtained, depending on what type of use is available for the property, the investor can start to think of how he might start to get some kind of return on his assets.

It is then that some estimates of future ROI can be quantified. In most cases the value of a planning approved plot of real estate can have large increases in book value.

Those who have the skills and investment capital to capitalise on this can artificially inflate their asset base by simply sitting on approved land. The balance sheets of many developers and builders have a considerable portion of their underlying values stored in this fashion.

This was seen by many in the UK government as a windfall accidental benefit to land holders and have sought to close or at least claw back some of the benefits.

When the UK government’s Treasury department started consultation on how best to approach this. The building and construction industry not unexpectedly protested in the strongest possible terms stating impracticalities of quantifying the value increase, administering the collection and mostly its impact on already over complex system of planning application.

Yesterday in his annual pre-budget review the Chancellor Gordon Brown announced that implementing any new regime could be put on hold until further consultation which would seek to clarify whether such a new scheme would be practical and workable.

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House Of Fraser

House Of Fraser’s iconic headquarters in Howick Place, London has been sold to AIM listed property developer for a fee of �60mn GBP.

Holiday makers looking to shop overseas for property for investment, retirement or just plain holidaying, don"t forget to pack:

"Buying Property Abroad" from the consumer group Which?.

The guide claims to help you avoid the common pitfalls and turn a pipe dream into and feasable investment. Book price GBP8.99

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