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Buy-to-let landlords in the UK are being offered an escape plan from investments if they are struggling to cover their mortgage repayments.

It comes after the latest Financial Stability Report from the Bank of England highlighted the threat to buy-to-let investors and suggested they were likely to face higher levels of repossessions.

But advisory firm Egerton Partners believes this can be avoided. ‘There are some excellent buy-to-let investors out there doing an excellent job. But they might need some help,’ said Chris Fleming-Brown, managing partner at Egerton.

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He said that the firm is launching a vehicle to bring investors not already in property and landlords together. ‘We have come across landlords who are struggling and investors with cash. This is an opportunity to put these two groups together,’ he said.

Under the deal, buy-to-landlords with large portfolios can swap future gains from their properties for a steady income from investors.

‘Investors would take gains and landlords would continue to manage properties and own them. Landlords would also maintain an interest in the properties by receiving a percentage of gains over a certain threshold,’ he explained.

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It is not for small investors. ‘It is aimed at those with large property portfolios worth between £5 million and £30 million. It is the large scale factor that makes it work,’ he added.

Investors should really come to the table with a minimum of £0.5 million, he added, with the product aimed at those who are willing to invest in property but have missed the opportunity so far and do not want to be involved in the day-to-day running of a property portfolio.

Different landlords’ portfolios will not be pooled by the scheme – with a link-up between owners and investors. Fleming-Brown added the returns for investors would be ‘reasonably enticing’ with deals lasting for around seven years.

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Construction on mixed and retail developments are being stopped across the UK as the credit crunch curbs lending and banks pull loans.

An £80 million mixed development project in Cumbria, North West England, is one of the latest casualties of the credit crunch as analysts warn that many more schemes in the UK are likely to be halted.

In particular it is a lack of finance and the banks withdrawing funds that are threatening many developments, they claim.

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A £600 million city centre project in Sheffield has been delayed. Work on Sevenstone, a new retail quarter, now won’t start before the end of next year.

In the commercial property sector in Scotland, a number of developments have been put on hold. In Glasgow, Buccleuch Property’s 71,008 square feet development in the city centre has been halted, as has Gladedale Capital’s 100,000 square feet Broomielaw project.

Commentators say this is a result of too many developments in the pipeline and a lack of funding.

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The town centre regeneration project in Penrith, Cumbria, has been stopped part way through construction because its bank has pulled its development finance and highlights the fact that major retailers will have to delay the opening of new stores.

Developer Lowther Manelli had started constructing its Penrith New Squares scheme, which was intended to deliver 145,000 sq ft of shops, 200 homes and 12,000 sq ft of offices.

It is midway through construction on the scheme’s multi storey car park and a 55,000 sq ft supermarket which has been pre-let to Sainsburys but stopped after the National Australia Bank, which owns Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank, pulled the funding.

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‘Citing concerns with the current state of the market particularly the commercial and residential sectors as its reason, National Australia Bank has withdrawn its project funding for Penrith New Squares,’ a company statement said.

The company is now seeking new long term funding. It is not clear when the Sainsbury store will now open. Other retailers including JJB Sports and New Look have agreed to take space.

‘Nobody can get a loan if you are a developer. Conditions are very difficult especially in the UK and US,’ said Kenneth Simonson, chief economist for Associated General Contractors.

There is also concern about how this will affect the future of high profile retailers. John Lewis is another major retailer who has seen construction of future stores affected. The credit crunch is affecting a development in Leeds where the retailer hopes to open a new store. The main construction phase of the Eastgate mixed development scheme is now unlikely to start as planned in 2009.

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ISTANBUL- The Terrace Fulya project, being developed by construction company İnanlar İnşaat, is making show models available for interested buyers. The project gets its name from its location in Fulya, a district neighboring the Gayrettepe metro stop on the European side of Istanbul. The design for the development is luxurious and modern with a lobby that serves to comfort and sooth visitors. The furniture and all other decor for the building was chosen with great consideration from Italian catalogs and designers. The building features rust proof ceiling insulation, special wall paint with light holding properties and matching carpeting to provide a relaxing environment.

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We paid a lot of attention to the decor and materials we used in the construction, said İnanlar İnşaat Board President Serdar İnan. We tried to use only the best brands from around the world in putting this project together. The company has put together two show models for prospective buyers and residents to see the options available. İnan drew special notice to the decor of the two home designs, pointing out that all of the furniture was Italian. “We chose to decorate the show models with the same architectural aesthetic that we designed the buildings with ; simple lines. The things we have done differently will allow the resident to maximize his or her comfort,” said İnan.

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The Terrace Fulya living experience will be like the luxury of living in a spa, noted İnan. With the brand name bathroom accessories the experience will rival that of five star hotels, according to İnan. The Terrace Fulya kitchens were also designed with great care. Inan explained how they chose to use accessories from the German firm Poggenpohl and inlaid accessories from both Siemens or Miele. Terrace Fulya is monitored for security and fire purposes 24 hours a day and has a state of the art fire prevention and intervention system.

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ISTANBUL – One of Istanbul’s oldest residential neighborhoods on the Anatolian side of Istanbul neighboring the Ümraniye district, Sarıgazi, will feature a new development. The Sarı Evler project will stretch over 73,000 square meters and comprise 30 blocks of buildings, 720 residential units and other amenities.

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The development project is scheduled for completion in March 2009. The two bedrooms plus one living room layouts, are available for YTL 102,000. The three bedrooms plus one living room layouts, are being offered at YTL 237,000. The minimum down payment on homes in the development is YTL 25,000 and the price per square meter price is YTL 1.185.

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Agreements between the developers and banks such as Fortis Bank, İş Bankası and Yapı Kredi, have secured financing options for prospective buyers. The most generous financing option available extends the payment period to 10 years or 120 months. Seventy percent of the compound has been saved for use as a green space. The development project also features a shopping center, outdoor and indoor pools, a children’s pool, tennis courts, multi-use athletic facilities, a jogging path and a bicycle course.

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The bidding process will begin again for the nature and entertainment park in Halkalı after the Mass Housing Administration, or TOKİ, decided to cancel the previous bid because the guaranteed revenue from the winning offer did not meet expectations.

The Public Housing Administration, or TOKİ, announced Monday that it will not go ahead with the planned development project in Halkalı for a world-class entertainment and nature park.

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Instead, the organization has decided to invite a new round of bidders to the table for new offers to develop the park. TOKİ canceled the previous winning bid after it weighed up the offer and decided the guaranteed revenue offered by the proposal was not enough. The partnership made of Astay Real Estate and Aş- Özyazici Construction won the contract in the second round of the first tender, with the highest bid, guaranteeing TOKİ approximately YTL 84.8 million in revenue from the project.

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The partnership would have developed 1.4 million square meters of public land, of which 1.24 million square meters would be reserved for the nature and entertainment park that would be open to the public. The terms of the tender included a condition that the winner must develop the public part of the project Ğ the nature and entertainment park which includes parks, cafes, movie theaters and a cultural center Ğ free of charge, in exchange for the right to develop the remainder of the land as they deem fit. The Astay Real Estate and Aş- Özyazici Construction partnership envisioned using the remainder of the land for roughly 20,000 residences and commercial developments.

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The winning bid’s proposal, which the partnership submitted to the tender board, estimated a total of YTL 585 million in revenue for the whole project, of which the partnership would guarantee YTL 84,798,750 to TOKİ. Furthermore, it would pay one percent of revenue exceeding YTL 585 million to TOKİ. The tender board which envisioned a YTL 1.5 billion investment for the project found the guarantee amount too low and canceled the result of the tender that concluded Nov. 4.

More bidding

TOKİ will reopen the tender for the project Nov. 27 at 11 a.m. The agency will also scale back some of the conditions to qualify for participation in the tender. The previous tender rules stated that only firms who had work completion certificates of 100,000 square meters could take part in the bidding process. That number has been lowered to 70,000 square meters for the upcoming bid. Another condition that has been changed to be more accommodating to higher bids is the time restraint on the actual construction of the nature and entertainment park. The first round of bids required that participants agree to complete the construction of the entire public space in three years. In the upcoming round, the time restraint has been increased to four years.

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The president of TOKİ, Erdoğan Bayraktar, said the agency’s vision was to give Istanbul a world-class environment and nature park and for them to do that there needed to be more competition. “We are easing the conditions to enter the bid and the restrictions on the projects we are willing to accept,” said Bayraktar. Companies will be able to enter the bid with general projects under the new guidelines but this does not mean that the agency will settle for a project it does not find up to its standards, he said.

Meanwhile, Astay Real Estate issued a statement saying the whole process had been in the spirit of transparency, openness and fairness and that TOKİ was within its legal rights in reopening the bidding. In the statement the company also noted that, while TOKİ reserved the right to find the guaranteed amount inadequate, the partnership had not been notified of the estimated guaranteed revenue that TOKİ wanted.

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The 2nd Property Shopper opens its doors this weekend at the Grand Hyatt bringing together 40 real estate agents and brokers showing residential and commercial properties across the UAE with a key focus on rentals and the emerging end-user market.

‘Looking at the global financial situation, there are many concerns regarding UAE property. Speaking to brokers, we have noticed a shift in the market; now that more and more properties are being completed, property owners are looking to rent their properties to manage mortgage repayments. Hence the Property Shopper with 40 leading agents and brokers showing together at the same venue comes at an ideal time to help people looking to rent, or end-users and investors looking at completed and ready to move in properties.’

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Brokers including Sherwoods, Cobalt, Hunt and Harris, LLJ Properties, Great Properties, Engel and Volkers and Aqua Properties will be offering a cross section of residential and commercial property ranging from apartments and studios to villas and town-houses.

Vincent Easton, Sales Director at Sherwoods Property Consultants, said, ‘Contrary to popular belief not all property prices are falling in Dubai. We see a very clear end-user market emerging both in terms of rental, investors for buy to let and owner occupiers in projects that are completed or close to handover, these include areas such as JBR, Dubai Marina and Discovery Gardens. The fundamentals and dynamics of both living and working in Dubai are still strong meaning the medium to long term outlook for real estate investment remain sound.’

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Properties on display will cover Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ajman and Ras Al Khaimah and visitors can also expect to see some great bargains on both off plan and resale properties. Off plan prices are still being offered at very favourable rates with many completing shortly, providing good rental returns to cover mortgage repayments.

Launched in May 2008, the first exhibition proved to be a success attracting over 35 exhibitors and 5,500 investors over two and half days.

The Property Shopper concept is similar to that of a property high-street one would find in countries like England, Paris or Hong Kong, where one can look into an agents’ window to see the current deals on offer and compare prices. The 2nd Property Shopper runs from 13 to 15 November 2008 at the Grand Hyatt Dubai. Admission is free.

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UAE is ranked the third most optimistic nation in the latest Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index, despite a world-wide struggle in the wake of an economic slowdown, moving up from its previous fourth position ranking six months ago. Out of 52 countries surveyed, UAE consumers ranked third most optimistic for their local job prospects and state of their personal finances.

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“Despite being affected by the current global conditions, consumers in the UAE and other developing markets are aware that their medium-to-long-term prospects remain strong. Consumer confidence in UAE remains quite stable as the economy is driven by strong domestic growth particularly in the FMCG and retail sector, ” said Piyush Mathur, Regional Managing Director, Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan, The Nielsen Company.

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India and Denmark topped Nielsen’s global consumer confidence index in the latest round of the survey which polled 26,202 online consumers at the height of the global financial meltdown in late September 2008.

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Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC), designed by award-winning architects RMJM, has won Construction Week’s 2008 “Project of the Year” Award. The Gulf’s largest exhibition venue illustrates ADNEC’s commitment to providing the city with world-class facilities for business and its bold plans for the future development of Abu Dhabi as a commercial destination.

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Simon Horgan, ADNEC Group CEO said: “To be recognised for ‘Project of the Year’ at these prestigious awards is a significant achievement for us as it assists in positioning Abu Dhabi as a world class MICE destination. To be world class involves a team effort, and we thank RMJM for their unique concepts which has enabled us to be one of the most modern exhibition venues in the world.”

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ADNEC has been the built as the centrepiece of the Dh8 billion (US$2.2 billion) Capital Gate project, a fully integrated community development that is considered a strategic element of the Abu Dhabi 2030 vision.

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The 2nd Property Shopper, launched in May 2008, brings together 40 real estate agents and brokers showing residential and commercial properties across the UAE with a key focus on rentals and the emerging end-user market the Grand Hyatt, Dubai from November 13-15, 2008. Properties on display will cover Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ajman and Ras Al Khaimah and visitors can expect some great bargains on both off plan and resale properties.

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Pooja Rajani, Event Director, Property Shopper, said, “With more and more properties being completed, property owners are looking to rent their properties to manage mortgage repayments. Hence the Property Shopper with 40 leading agents and brokers showing together at the same venue comes at an ideal time to help people looking to rent, or end-users and investors looking at completed and ready to move in properties.”

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Brokers including Sherwoods, Cobalt, Hunt and Harris, LLJ Properties, Great Properties, Engel and Volkers and Aqua Properties will be offering a cross section of residential and commercial property ranging from apartments and studios to villas and town houses.

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A leading real estate firm in Abu Dhabi, ALDAR Properties inks signed a pact with The Ritz-Carlton Hotels Company for building a number of luxury hotels in Abu Dhabi to be managed by The Ritz-Carlton. The two announced the signing of the second hotel management agreement which relates to The Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi, Al Dana to be developed at Al Dana precinct on Al Raha Beach development.

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Paul Bell, Managing Director of ALDAR Hotels and Hospitality said: “The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company has a well deserved reputation for the delivery of memorable experiences and the best services and we look forward to working closely with them to bring the same to our customers.”

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The hotel property will be located in the heart of the Al Raha Beach development and will provide services to both visitors and residents alike and development is due to start in 2010.

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