U.S. mortgage applications increased by 7.5% for the week ending 3 February, suggesting that more homeowners and homebuyers are taking advantage of historically low mortgage borrowing rates, according to weekly data released today by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with both conforming loan balances and jumbo loan balances fell to the lowest rate in the history of the survey, suggesting that now is a good time to take out a mortgage in order to buy a home in USA.

For conforming loan balances average rates fell to 4.05%, from 4.09%, and for jumbo loan balances to 4.29%, from 4.33%.

Refinances increased 9.4% week-on-week, while mortgage applications for new USA property purchases increased by 0.1%. Refinances comprised exactly 80% of all applications, down from 81.3% the previous week.

In January, the share of applications for home purchase by investors was 6.4%, down from 6.9% in December. The adjustable-rate share of mortgage activity increased to 6% from 5.6% of total applications compared to the previous week.

FHA-backed 30-year loan rates dropped to 3.89%, from 3.96% the previous week, also the lowest rate in the history of the survey, while 15-year mortgage rates decreased to 3.33% from 3.36% – also the lowest rate on the survey’s record.

Source: Property Overseas Today

Source – http://www.internationaleat.com/news_features/orlando-to-lead-us-property-price-gains-in-2012
The analytics company has projected that home prices in Metro Orlando will increase by 11.7% during the year, compared with 2.1% for the nation overall.

The company cited a decreasing number of foreclosures as the prime reason for its forecasted gains. While 44% of the region’s housing market consisted of bank-owned properties at the end of 2010, by the end of 2011 only a quarter of the market was made up of foreclosed houses.

The property market in Florida is being supported by a significant slowdown in foreclosure levels, according to Alex Villacorta, the firm’s director of research.

He said: “This could be due to a slowdown in litigation, but the fact remains, since REOs are dropping from one-in-two sales to one-in-four sales, it’s allowing the market to recover and not compete with those distress listings.”

Colin Murphy of Florida-based estate agents Torcana says that “good deals seem harder to come by” in Orlando because of the reduction in inventory, which he reports is down by over 50% year-on-year.

Property in Orlando was second in the country for home-price increases in 2011, with prices rising 6.7%. Only Dayton, Ohio exceeded that gain with an annual increase of 11.5%. Miami had the third-largest gain for last year — 5.6% .

The report takes into account factors such as sales of the same properties, unemployment rates, and the number of foreclosures on the market.

The sharpest drops in price are expected in Atlanta, where they are forecast to fall 14.4%, and in Los Angeles, with a predicted drop of 10.3%.

Loxley McKenzie, managing director of international estate agents Colordarcy, said: “Orlando looks like a very strong investment opportunity for 2012 particularly as the gulf between property price increases in Orlando and the rest of the US are considerable to say the least.”

Clearance from Malaysian regulators for AirAsia X, a long-haul offshoot of Asia’s largest budget airline, AirAsia, to fly to Sydney came as the airline announced that it would ditch long-haul flights to Europe and India, blaming high jet fuel prices and weakening demand for air travel.

Goldman Sachs analysts downgraded their recommendation on Qantas from ”buy” to ”hold” yesterday, reflecting a weaker economic outlook, the high fuel prices and lower expectations for premium travel demand.

AirAsia X’s chief executive, Azran Osman-Rani, said yesterday he was hopeful of launching flights to Sydney but wanted to ensure all the ground work was done before confirming services.

”Hopefully everything will come together and we will be able to … [launch] it quickly,” he said.

Mr Osman-Rani will visit Sydney next week to meet executives from Sydney Airport.

AirAsia X – in which Richard Branson has a 10 per cent stake – has sought for the past four years to fly to Sydney at least twice a day but has been prevented from doing so by the Malaysian government, which has a cornerstone stake in Malaysia Airlines. The latter flies between Sydney and Kuala Lumpur.

But the launch of Scoot, a new budget airline owned by Singapore Airlines, last year put pressure on Malaysian regulators to ease the way for AirAsia X to fly more routes.

”When it came to Sydney, the thing that made a bigger difference was Scoot’s announcement [that it will begin daily services between Singapore and Sydney in the middle of this year],” Mr Osman-Rani said.

The arrival of both AirAsia X and Scoot at Australia’s biggest airport will intensify pressure on Qantas’ budget offshoot, Jetstar. AirAsia X already flies to the Gold Coast, Melbourne and Perth from Kuala Lumpur.

AirAsia X’s routes to Australia were profitable in 2010 and last year.

Asian currencies gained, led by the Philippine peso, as optimism European leaders will break a deadlock over a new Greek bailout bolstered demand for emerging- market assets.

The Bloomberg-JPMorgan Asia Dollar Index hit a 14-year high after Germany said Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy agreed on a joint position on Greece’s debt situation, boosting the chances of agreement at a summit today to stamp out contagion in European bond markets. Data today showed Thailand’s exports increased more than economists expected in June. Indonesia is likely to achieve an investment- grade credit rating before the end of next year, Fitch Ratings said this week.

The peso strengthened 0.2 percent to 42.618 per dollar as of 4:48 p.m. in Manila, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Malaysia’s ringgit rose 0.1 percent to 2.9955 and China’s yuan gained 0.1 percent to 6.4516, earlier touching a 17-year high of 6.4505.

“There’s a brief relief from the European debt situation now, improving sentiment for riskier assets,” said Shigehisa Shiroki, chief trader on the Asian and emerging-markets team at Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd. in Tokyo. “Funds have been flowing into the region, especially to Southeast Asia. We’ve seen some positive news for this part of the region, including a possible credit-rating upgrade.”

Favorable Outlook

Global funds bought $2.7 billion more Indonesian, South Korean and Thai equities than they sold this month through yesterday, exchange data show. Developing economies in Asia will expand 8.4 percent in 2011, outpacing growth of 2.5 percent in the U.S. and 2 percent in countries using the euro, according to International Monetary Fund estimates released last month.

The peso reached the strongest level since November after the International Monetary Fund said the near-term outlook for the economy is favorable. The government’s budget deficit in the first half was below its ceiling, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported today, citing Budget Secretary Florencio Abad. IMF mission chief Vivek Arora said yesterday the Philippines will likely continue to attract capital inflows given its strong growth outlook.

“The markets are bullish because of the positive news flow,” said Dave Estacio, a senior fixed-income trader at First Metro Investment Corp. in Manila.

The ringgit strengthened for a third day after a government report showed inflation quickened, boosting speculation the central bank will raise interest rates. Consumer prices increased 3.5 percent from a year earlier in June, the most in more than two years, according to data released yesterday after the markets closed. Economists expected a 3.6 percent gain, a Bloomberg poll showed.

Source:- http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-21/asian-currencies-strengthen-led-by-philippine-peso-on-greek-optimism.html

Speaking at a roundtable meeting with captains of industry here as he began his official visit to the United Kingdom, Najib invited them to explore investment opportunities in Malaysia.

He said there would be many projects that UK companies, in partnership with Malaysian firms, could explore particularly in diverse areas such as business services, education, healthcare, electrical and electronics, green technology and information and communications technology.

“We’ll continue to welcome wider UK investment, particularly in high-technology, value-added and knowledge-based activities,” he said, alluding to increased opportunities under the New Economic Model, Economic Transformation Programme and 10th Malaysia Plan.

Najib, who is also Finance Minister, said the vibrant business environment and well-developed industry structure, as well as infrastructure in Malaysia would continue to be enhanced to ensure it remained a competitive location for foreign investors.

“Our bilateral relations must continue to focus on driving and incentivising Malaysia-UK private sector partnerships, and strengthen the already strong ties between our nations,” he said.

Najib, who is making his first official visit to the UK at the invitation of British Prime Minister David Cameron, flew into London on Tuesday after concluding his visit to Turkmenistan.

He updated the gathering in the British capital on Malaysia’s current economic position as he touted the Southeast Asian nation, which is in the process of transforming itself from a middle-income to a high-income economy, as an investment destination.

“Malaysia remains a favoured investment destination for foreign investors. In 2010, foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into the country increased by more than 540% to US$9bil (RM27bil) compared with US$1.4bil (RM4.2bil) in 2009,” he said.

The Prime Minister said at the end of 2010, the UK was the 11th largest source of FDI in Malaysia, with US$1.7bil (RM5.1bil) worth of investments in 394 manufacturing projects.

Najib said that Malaysia’s trade with the UK totalled US$4.1bil (RM12.3bil) last year with exports to the UK amounting to US$2.3bil (RM69bil), an increase of 1.6%, compared with 2009.

It saw the UK become Malaysia’s 18th largest trading partner.

Najib told the business leaders that in 2010, Malaysia achieved strong growth of 7.2% after a contraction of 1.7% in 2009.

“This is the highest growth achieved since 2000, with most sectors expanding and exports increasing,” he noted.

He said the Malaysian economy was expected to grow by between five and six per cent this year.

“We’re optimistic that as a result of our healthy reserves position, the Malaysian economy will remain strong,” said Najib.

He pointed out that the ringgit had strengthened by about 12% since 2010 and that high commodity prices had been coupled with strong domestic demand.

He said there was enormous potential for collaboration between Malaysian and UK companies for investment opportunities in new growth sectors.

“I am confident that the strength of UK companies in sectors like education, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and knowledge-driven industries will give them an edge in seizing these opportunities in Malaysia,” he said.

In addition, Malaysia’s strong foundation in halal products and services and Islamic finance offers opportunities for exciting partnerships with UK companies, he said.

In its quarterly report released yesterday, the global financial institution said increasing mineral prices serve as an incentive to fasttrack investment and increase production in the mining sector.

“The strong performance of the services sector in the first quarter is expected to remain robust throughout the year. The agriculture sector is projected to continue being a net contributor to growth,” Eric Le Borgne, World Bank senior economist, said in the report.

Le Borgne added that the prospects on the supply side is favorable, with manufacturing and construction projected to benefit from the end of the trade disruption linked to Japan’s post-disaster reconstruction, and the relative calming of the political unrest in the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) nations.

Net exports are projected to recover due to a combination of a technical rebound in exports combined with a potential boost in exports of goods and services (including labor exports) to Japan, as Philippine companies and workers contribute to the reconstruction of affected areas.

It added that private consumption will to be buoyed by strong wage growth and employment among relatively well paid and formal sectors.

Likewise, the optimism in the Philippine economy was anchored on the November 2010 upgrading of the country’s sovereign foreign currency rating by global credit watchers Standard and Poor’s and Moody’s.

The challenge, however, is sustaining the momentum of reform for achieving inclusive or broad-based growth that benefits the poor, Le Borgue said.

Reform measures already achieved include improving the transparency of the public sector budget and of public financial management to improve governance, and launching an ambitious Public-Private Partnership (PPP) program to address infrastructure bottlenecks as well as help foster the development of inclusive sectors such as tourism.

The World Bank report said that regional airport development combined with partial ‘open sky’ agreements would enable international tourists to reach tourism hot spots in the Philippines directly, thus generating jobs for the poor as well as business opportunities from micro and small enterprises.

Source:-

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/07/06/11/world-bank-sees-ph-economy-growing-least-5