The real estate market in New Zealand saw a record low level of new listings coming onto the market and a slight drop in asking price expectation in December.

A Russian developer has launched a multi billion dollar property development on the northern outskirts of Kenya’s capital Nairobi to cash in on a booming real estate market in east Africa’s biggest economy.

More new properties are being built in Australia but the outlook is weak with increasing interest rates adversely affecting the country’s real estate industry, it is claimed. The latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that construction approvals increased 9.3% in seasonally adjusted terms in October after falling for the previous six months.

European and Asian investors are buying up residential and commercial property in Australia as high interest rates are putting off national buyers, it is claimed.

Residential real estate prices and sales in New Zealand are falling but the latest reports show that good quality properties in good areas are selling Prices fell slightly in October and are now 5.5% below their market peak in late 2007, according to the latest QV Valuations report.

The rise in residential property prices in Australia is expected to slow in the last three months of this year and into 2011, according to a new survey. Real estate price growth over the last year has ranged between 10% and 12% nationally, according to varying measures of the market. Only the major markets of Sydney and Melbourne have achieved double digit growth.

Despite recent falls in the residential real estate markets in Australia, analysts are predicting strong growth in some areas going into 2012 and beyond.

Egypt is now one of the top destinations for investing in real estate in the Middle East and North Africa region, just behind Saudi Arabia, it is claimed. It ranks number two behind Saudi in terms of investor confidence, according to a survey of investors in the region, revealed Blair Hagkull, MENA chairman of Jones Lang LaSalle.

Residential property prices in New Zealand are continuing to fall with the latest figures showing they increased just 0.3% in August. It means that in the three months to August prices measured by the Real Estate Institute of NZ (REINZ) have fallen by 1.2% but they have increased slightly by 0.9% compared to August last year.

Confidence in the real estate market in the Cape region in South Africa is growing and has been helped by the recent football World Cup which focussed interest on the area, it is claimed.