The Housing Industry Association said today that the housing shortage in Australia will increase at a rate of more than 400% by 2020. The Housing Industry Association released its report today.

In its report, HIA said that the country needs more than 466,000 new homes to be built by 2020. Currently the housing shortage in Australia is around 109,000.

HIA said it its report that the housing shortage situation is more serious in metropolitan cities such as Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

Savills Plc, the largest publicly traded property broker in U. K., released its annual results today. Savills said in its results that the company has returned to net profit in FY 2009.

The company said that the profit in the year was mainly attributable to the job reduction and other cost cutting measures applied by the company. The company posted brilliant results in the second half of the year.

The applications for mortgage fell in United States last week. The Mortgage Bankers Association's index was reported down by 1.9% in the week ended March 12. The decline in the mortgage applications was mainly attributable to the decline in purchase in the period. The MBA's index of refinancing applications and purchase loan demand index were also reported down last week.

The Mirdif City Centre was successfully handed over to Majid Al Futtaim Properties on 16 March 2010 by ALEC, part of the Al Jaber Group. ALEC was praised heavily at the opening ceremony of the mall on Tuesday, for successfully achieving the scheduled opening date to the highest standard of quality.

This was noted as one of the best and most completed malls in the region upon opening by Peter Walichnowski, Chief Executive of Majid Al Futtaim Properties.

Hindustan Construction Co. (HCC) is all set to acquire a major stake in Karl Steiner AG, the Switzerland based real estate player.

The Indian construction firm will be picking up a 66% stake in Karl Steiner for now. However, the deal is still waiting for approval from the regulatory authorities of India and Switzerland. HCC has long term plans to take full control of the Swiss developer.

As revealed by Ajit Gulabchand, Chairman and Managing Director, Hindustan Constructions, the company will be buying out the rest 34% stake in Karl Steiner in 2014 from its sole owner Peter Steiner.

Citigroup Plc. is going to focus more on the proprietary trading business, said the company to a private news agency Bloomberg.

The decision has been taken after eight employees of the bank left the organization. This happened after the US government proposed to ban all the banks that trade in stocks with their own money.

Talking on the topic, Kevin Russell, Head of Americas Stock Trading said that the bank is growing its focus on the division so as to increase the its trading limits and also the capital involved with it. He was talking to the employees of the group.

To make housing affordable to all, adequate planning coupled with provisions of smaller houses and removing red tape is needed, said Chief Executive of Stockland, Matthew Quinn.

He said that as the population of Australia keeps growing, making houses available for all is the need of the hour.

While talking during a lunch session organised by the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce, he said that to be able to maintain the Australian lifestyle it is imperative that the cities are planned and designed to meet the requirements of population of Australia. It is going to be 36 million by the 2050.

Marking its entry into the European real estate market, Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) has bought two-third stake in Swiss real estate firm Karl Steiner AG for nearly Rs. 150 crore. The all cash deal would also unlock the Gulf markets for the company.

Subject to approval, the acquisition would give Ajit Gulabchand-led HCC an entry to the high rise building construction segment. As per Mr. Gulabchand, "We agreed to acquire a 66 per cent stake in Karl Steiner AGKarl Steiner AG (KSAG) to enter the high-rise building construction arena."

HCC expects to wrap the deal by the first quarter of the next fiscal.

Mumbai, March 15 - Hindustan Construction Co Friday said it will acquire 66-percent stake in Karl Steiner AG, the second largest integrated services contractor in the Swiss realty market, for nearly $33 million.

The acquisition will not only give Hindustan Construction access to the European market but also help its entry into the $16.5 billion integrated building construction industry in India, the company said.

The Treasury Department said on Friday that the U. S. Home Affordable Modification Program surpassed the one million mark for modified mortgages in February.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that the program, designed to provide incentives to lenders to help struggling homeowners negotiate reduced mortgage payments, included 168,703 households with loan modifications considered permanent, up 45 percent from January, and 835,194 in the so-called trial stage.

Those homeowners, who keep up payments three months into the program, are considered permanent.

UK-based luxury brand Liberty PLC on Friday said that it has been approached for takeover by interested parties. However, it's too early for the company's board to say anything about whether the approaches would transform into formal bids or not, Liberty added.

The company had hired a group of advisors before eight months for a strategic review of its businesses.

The Financial Services Authority has warned the market that another crisis may pave in the country due to the commercial properties. The FSA has blown the whistle by analyzing the overall financial risks and positions of the country carefully.

The authority has raised concerns over improper fund management of several UK financial institutions. It has also informed that the companies are not in a proper financial frame to cover the losses on the sector. The funds won't be sufficient to prevent a probable meltdown in the commercial property.

The mortgage foreclosures were reported up by 6% in the month of February, according to an industry report released by RealtyTrac Inc., a California based seller of default data, on Thursday. This is reported as the slowest growth rate of Foreclosures in past 4 years. The foreclosures in February were reported lower by 2% when compared with the month of January.

UK's third-biggest property group, Liberty International has announced plans to split into two separate companies to have a more focused approach toward its business.

The company will split into two subsidiaries namely, Capital Shopping Centres and Capital & Counties who will manage separate parts of the £6.2 billion portfolio of Liberty. Capital Shopping Centres will be a real estate investment trust which will manage 13 shopping centres worth £4.6 billion while Capital & Counties will be a property company.

Liberty International, the numero uno mall owner in Britain, plans to split into two to drive stakeholders' wealth in a better and stronger way. Currently the realtor's portfolio stands at 6.2 billion pounds ($9.3 billion).

The company currently intends to demerge its existing business into two, with one of the new units, Capital Shopping Centres, looking after the shopping centers in the UK and the other one, Capital & Counties, concentrating on commercial properties in Central London. Liberty owns shopping malls across the country.

According to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the housing market of Scotland has seen a rise in sales in the previous month. Hence the market is gaining momentum as well as confidence after a downturn in later half of 2009.

The latest survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has suggested that there were more properties for sale last month as compared to January 2010. Now more people have shown their interest in buying a property.

As a result the sales figure of real estate market in the country have boosted up. The prices of the properties were also rising due to a reasonable demand from the consumers.

Lend Lease Group Ltd., the property developer, has appointed Scott Charlton as the new Director of Operations. He would be joining his new post from today itself. He would be reporting directly to the Chief Executive of Lend Lease, Steve McCann.

Details about his remuneration have not been made public as of yet.

Scott was earlier with the Leighton Holdings Ltd and was working there as the Chief Financial Officer. He had resigned from his earlier position in October last year.

Eleventh hour talks between the authorities over the Queensland land dispute issues are taking place.

Meanwhile, the Queensland government has said that a debate in the Parliament will take place. The issue is about making amendments in the land valuation laws of Queensland.

These talks have already been delayed by a fortnight.

Experts believe that as per the proposed tax rates, the property owners will have to shell out no less that $ 1,500 every year. For the large owners, the increase would be even higher.

Australian construction industry managed to show positive growth rate for two months at a stretch. But the data shows that the growth rate has slowed down, as the expansion rate went down.

The latest data collected in the Performance of Construction Index shows that the index has gone down by 4.9 points to become 52.8 for the month of February. The collection was done by Australian Industry Group and the Housing Industry Association.

Australian construction industry managed to show positive growth rate for two months at a stretch. But the data shows that the growth rate has slowed down, as the expansion rate went down.

The latest data collected in the Performance of Construction Index shows that the index has gone down by 4.9 points to become 52.8 for the month of February. The collection was done by Australian Industry Group and the Housing Industry Association.