Top 10 most valuable property portal Co's in the world

Here is a list of the top 10 most valuable property portal companies in the world.
The combined value of this list is over USD 30 billion.
Heading up the list is the New York Stock Exchange listed Soufun which operates in China.  This company has seen tremendous valuation growth in the last 2 years.  Second place is taken up by the REA Group that has also seen significant valuation growth while Rightmove in the UK brings up third place.
Zillow is in fifth.

Company	Country	Market Cap (USD)	Method
Soufun	China	6,800	NYSE
REA Group	Australia	5,825	ASX
Rightmove	United Kingdom	4,401	LSE
HomeAway	USA	3,680	NASDAQ
Zillow	USA	3,440	NASDAQ
ImmobilienScout24	Germany	1,947	Sale to Hellman & Friedman
Zoopla Property Group	United Kingdom	1,667	Market Speculation
Seloger	France	1,500	Sale to Axel Springer + RMV Increase / 2
Trulia	USA	1,140	NYSE
Domain	Australia	1,000	Estimate

Real Share Houston 5/1/14 200+ Commercial Professionals

FYI






http://www.globest.com/events/realshare_event/houston/RealShare-Houston-2014-341054.html
RealShare Houston will take place at The Houstonian Hotel in Houston, Texas.  The event will bring together over 200 commercial real estate professionals across the sector. 
With the job market growing and the extension of the Grand Parkway there will be plenty of hot topics to be discussed. 
RealShare Conferences provide attendees with more networking opportunities which leads to more meaningful business connections. This half-day Houston event is designed to deliver the information and networking needed to succeed in today's market. Hear from the most prominent industry leaders in the region. Our informative panel discussions will cover capital sourcing and investment in Houston as well as development across the property types and what to look for in 2014.
 

Leasing Peak for USA Student Housing.

The peak for student housing leasing can begin as early as April and continue into 

September or November, according to a new study from Apartment Guide.

Of course, that challenges the traditional convention of June to August as primary student housing leasing months in the industry. But a study of prospect leads generated in 2013 for 208 student housing communities nationwide showed the April through November to be true..

“Student housing regional managers and marketing directors have anecdotally sensed that peak leasing seasons might be different from market to market, but until now it’s been difficult to pinpoint on a regional, month-to-month basis when peak leasing activity occurs,” says Hannah Crosby, a strategic sales account executive at Apartment Guide. “With this more detailed information,student housing community managers and marketing and leasing staffs can now make better decisions regarding marketing, advertising and prospect engagement.”

Crosby presents her findings this week in the session The Digitally Savvy College Student: Market Research to Help Operators Spend Advertising Dollars Wisely panel presentation. She will be speaking at  the National Apartment Association’s Student Housing Conference in Las Vegas.

Crosby’s data analysis offers visibility into lead metrics by print, phone, Internet, e-mail, mobile, and mobile e-mail lead source channels and reveals what she calls “surprising variances” in peak lead/leasing seasons by market. For example, in Auburn, AL, student housing leads start to peak in April and are declining by August. By contrast, in Virginia Beach the student housingmarket holds steady to the traditional peak July/August lease-up season. Bloomington, IN bucks the bell curve trend with two peak leasing seasons: one from March to May and another between September and November.

By Jennifer LeClaire | Atlanta  via Globe Street

Institutional investors now selling Homes in Colorado at profit.

Institutional investors now selling Homes in Colorado at profit.
One of the biggest institutional (e.g. Wall Street) investors in Denver Real Estate is Colony Financial.  
Their purchases peaked in the spring of 2013.  They are not buying nearly as many now as they were in April and May 2013.  Brokers at some of the hedge funds are actually quietly selling a few of the homes they purchases +/- 24 months ago.  They are taking a few chips off the table and locking in 20-30% gains.  While they all say they are “long term holds” that isn’t 100% true.

What this means FOR YOU:

If you are or work with first time buyers, inventory pressure this spring should be a lot less intense than spring 2013.
If you are listing lower priced properties, you should not see anything close to a repeat of the feeding frenzy in the spring of 2013. 
If your sellers are flexible on their timing, LIST NOW in March while inventory is still really low.  
Plan accordingly!  

information compiled by 
Ric Werremeyer Your Castle Real Estate services
Broker 20yr builder, remodel, new construction
RicW@ExpositionProperties.com
and 
Aaron Lebovic CDPE
Your Castle Real Estate
 

Marc Cuban expands affiliated Marketing.

Marc Cuban expands affiliated Marketing.  He and his partners, created a Facebook application that lets users add classified ads on to their Facebook Pages.  
The twist is that if a product is sold via one's "circle of friends" network, sellers earn a commission on the sale. 

The cost of waiting to buy a House in current market

The cost of waiting to buy a House in current market.
Take a look at the difference in the average price and interest rate from Dec 2012 to Dec 2013. 
The average price increased by $16,800 and the average interest rate increased by 1.11% 
This was an average monthly payment increase of $228.35 !

The person who decided to wait and purchase in late 2013 paid an average of $2,740.20 more 
than they would have if they had decided to buy a year earlier.

Not that they got a bad deal, prices are still going up and rates are still in the 4% range.
But they could have had substantial savings in total cost to purchase and their Monthly payment.
*What will the estimated cost of waiting be from Jan 2014 to Jan 2015? *

Non-resident Indians (NRIs) showing increasing interest in India property

19 February 24
Non-resident Indians (NRIs) are showing increasing interest in property back home, according to a new report.
UK-based property portal Rightmove Overseas noted an impressive leap in searches for West India in this November’s search report.
Of the three Indian cities to make the “Top 10 Climbers List”, Gujarat saw a huge 41.21% increase in searches, while Maharashtra and Karnataka jumped 16.41% and 7.61% respectively.
“The west side of India saw a huge increase in searches this month,” said Shameem Golamy, head of Rightmove Overseas. “With the Hindu Festival of Lights, Diwali in November 2013, it appears as though this has spurred many non-resident Indians to search for property in this area.”
Charles Purdy, managing director of Smart Currency Exchange, adds, “With the Indian Rupee above 100 to the pound it is no surprise that we’re seeing great interest in Indian property. Which makes the cost of an Indian property for a Sterling, Euro or US$ buyer 25% cheaper.”
The portal also noted a rise in the amount of traffic coming from India itself. “In November 2013, users in India ranked 20th in terms of our user location, an indication that buyers are looking to relocate within their own country or are looking to purchase property for investment purposes,” Golamy says.
While interest may be up, new launches of Indian property are down – property consultants Cushman and Wakefield reported in December 2013 a 12% drop in new residential project launches year-on-year, with Chennai reporting the sharpest decline at 39%.

By Francine Carrel, International Property Reporter, OPP