Friday, November 17, 2006

Foreign Reits Gain Flair : by Nicholas Yulico

Foreign REITs Gain Flair By Nicholas Yulico TheStreet.com Staff Reporter 11/16/2006 7:26 AM EST Click here for more stories by Nicholas Yulico With valuations getting lofty for U.S. real estate investment trust stocks, now might be a particularly good time to spread your real estate bets internationally. It used be the case that investing across several domestic REIT property types was an adequate way to get diversification. You could buy Simon Property (SPG - commentary - Cramer's Take - Rating) for mall exposure, Vornado Realty Trust (VNO - commentary - Cramer's Take - Rating) for office exposure and Avalonbay (AVB - commentary - Cramer's Take - Rating) for apartment exposure, for example. Now, industry players advise on adding international real estate stocks to the mix. Since 2002, non-U.S. real estate stocks have outperformed their domestic peers, says Amos Rogers, managing director of the Tuckerman Group, a real estate-focused investment management firm. That's saying a lot, since U.S. REITs have beaten the broader U.S. stock indices for this entire period. For the first three quarters of this year, U.S. REITs returned 24%, while overseas real estate stocks returned 26%, Rogers says. Bullish international investors believe this trend will continue, with the general thesis holding that there are more growth opportunities overseas. Moreover, valuations might be cheaper. The mid-1990's boom that occurred with U.S. REIT stocks is now happening with international REITs, but even faster, says Steve Carroll, managing director with CBRE Global Real Estate Securities. Back in the '90s, U.S. real estate owners converted their properties into REITs to offer a tax-advantaged platform that also gave investors nice dividends. Since 2000, seven countries have adopted REIT or REIT-like structures, including Japan, Singapore, France, and Hong Kong. Countries such as Australia and Canada already had the vehicles in existence. Next year, REITs will be introduced into the U.K. and Germany. The fact that there are still so many REIT conversion opportunities is one major arena for potential growth, industry watchers say. Stephen Coyle, chief investment strategist with Citigroup Property Investors, which manages money for institutional investors, says his firm is currently underweight U.S. REIT stocks because he believes they're expensive. Private equity companies are paying big premiums to take U.S. REITs private, which has been part of the reason the stocks are priced so high. In contrast, in Japan (which approved REITs in 2000), a number of real estate operating companies continue to seed public REITs, Coyle says. Nonetheless, the general strategy of going overseas is a good way to spread risk. "We have found there's very strong diversification benefits going global with regards to REITs, rather than focusing on any one continent," Coyle says. The correlation between real estate stocks in the U.S. and Japan, for example, is just 7%, he says. Even between the U.S. and Europe, the correlation is 40%. Those looking to invest in international real estate stocks currently must buy the stocks from brokers, oftentimes overseas (there are none on U.S. stock exchanges). There also are a host of mutual funds offering international real estate-focused products. But in coming months, the first global real estate exchange-traded fund will be launched by State Street Global Advisors and the Tuckerman Group. The streetTracks International Real Estate ETF will invest solely in real estate stocks located outside the U.S. and will track the Dow Jones Wilshire ex-U.S. Real Estate Securities Index. The ETF will be half REITs (which are required to pay dividends) and half real estate operating companies. The fund's geographic mix will be: Australia, at 19.6%; the U.K., 18.2%; Japan, 17.8%; and Canada, 8.1%, with other Asian and European countries making up the bulk of the product. Barclays Global Investors also is rumored to be planning a global real estate ETF, but the company declined to comment for this story. The global real estate stock market now has a market capitalization of $720 billion, with half of that in the U.S. Much of the recent international real estate boom continues to be driven by institutional dollars. Countries like Japan and Australia have been heavily investing their citizens' retirement dollars outside their own countries for many years now. Recently, U.S. pension funds such as CalPERS have earmarked a large amount of money for overseas real estate investment. In Asia, the story of the recent boom in real estate stocks is not just about institutional money, but also retail investors flocking to the sector, says Antony Green, an investment banker with Macquarie Bank of Australia. In Asia, there's a huge demographic change that's going on," Green told attendees of a panel discussion at the annual National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts convention last week in San Francisco. Aging populations and growing wealth are spurring demand for investments with yield, he said. As well, there's a particular amount of demand from wealthy individuals in Asia who were unable to invest in commercial properties until the REIT structure came along, he added. Macquarie was involved with the first REIT IPOs in Singapore in 2002. At the time, the bank was trying to sell the stocks at an initial dividend yield of 8%. Now, these stocks trade at 5% yields, Green said. This shows that cap rates, or initial rates of return on real estate, continue to fall globally, putting us all in a "low-return world," as many industry watchers like to say. Of course, all this again raises the question of whether overseas real estate stocks are really that much cheaper, given that cap rates across the globe continue to compress. "Nobody overseas is arguing that property-linked stocks are undervalued," says Barry Vinocur, founder and editor of REIT Zone Publications. Nonetheless, "in the real estate investment space, (international) is the fastest-growing area," he says.

Professor David Swensen : Yale Economics : Chief Investment Officer

David Swensen From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search David Swensen has been the Chief Investment Officer at Yale University since 1985. He is responsible for managing and investing the University's endowment assets and investment funds, which total about $18 billion. Realizing an annual return of more than 17.2 percent on his investments over the last ten years, Swensen has added more than $12 billion to Yale's coffers, and his consistent track record has attracted the notice of Wall Street portfolio managers. He is chiefly notable for having invented what has become known as "The Yale Model", a mechanism for Multi-Asset Class Investing. After receiving his B.A. and B.S. in 1975 from the University of Wisconsin at River Falls, Swensen pursued a Ph.D. in economics at Yale, where he wrote his dissertation, A Model for the Valuation of Corporate Bonds. Prior to joining Yale in 1985, Professor Swensen spent six years on Wall Street as senior vice president at Lehman Brothers, specializing in the firm's swap activities, and as an associate in corporate finance for Salomon Brothers, where his work focused on developing new financial technologies. Swensen is a trustee of the Carnegie Institution of Washington and treasurer of the "Hopkins Committee of Trustees". He serves as a trustee of TIAA (Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America), and a non-executive director of Schroders PLC. He has advised the Carnegie Corporation, the New York Stock Exchange, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Courtauld Institute of Art, the Yale-New Haven Hospital, the Investment Fund for Foundations, the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, and the States of Connecticut and Massachusetts. At Yale, where he teaches endowment management at Yale College and at the Yale School of Management, he is a fellow of Berkeley College, an incorporator of the Elizabethan Club, and a fellow of the International Center for Finance. Swensen authored Pioneering Portfolio Management: An Unconventional Approach to Institutional Investment in 2000, and Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment in 2005, both published by Free Press. [edit] The Yale Model The Yale Model was developed by David Swensen, and is described in his book "Pioneering Portfolio Management", it consists broadly of dividing a portfolio into five or six roughly equal parts and investing each in a different asset class, each as far uncorrelated to the others as possible. The Yale Model is an example of Multi-Asset Class Investing. Particularly revolutionary at the time, but now becoming increasingly mainstream, was his recognition that liquidity is a bad thing to be avoided rather than a good thing to be sought out, since it comes at a heavy price in the shape of lower returns. The Yale Model is thus characterised by relatively heavy exposure to asset classes such as private equity compared to more traditional portfolios. His ideas have taken some time to spread beyond the USA, but are slowly being adopted in Europe where a particular advocate has been Guy Fraser-Sampson, whose book "Multi-Asset Class Investment Strategy" builds on Swensen's theories and shows how they can and should be adopted by European pension funds. [edit] External links http://mba.yale.edu/faculty/profiles/swensen.shtml http://www.brookings.edu/comm/news/20040701trustees.htm Yale's Money Guru Shares Wisdom with Masses by Chris Arnold All Things Considered, October 5, 2006 · Yale University recently announced a 23 percent return on its investments, swelling its endowment to a whopping $18 billion. The man behind that investment success is David Swensen, one of the most gifted investors in the world. He's made an average 16 percent annual return over 21 years -- better than any portfolio manager at any other university. Nobody has numbers that good. Not at Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, or any foundation or pension fund; Swensen consistently beats them all. And recently, Swensen has become passionate about trying to teach individual investors how best to save for retirement. For a long time, universities invested in a plain-vanilla mix of stocks and bonds. Swensen helped change that. He has built a portfolio with stakes in venture capital funds, real-estate partnerships, emerging market stocks and scores of small, specialized investment outfits. Any tiny market movement changes the balance of the whole thing. So how does Swensen keep track of it all? "I have a calculator," Swensen says with a chuckle. "And then I talk to one of my colleagues, who executes the trade. So it's decidedly low-tech." He also has a nice computer with two flat-panel monitors on his desk, which sits in the middle of the small trading floor where he and his team of 20 analysts work. The monitors show the value of Yale's investments by category. Swensen says he could use automated software to help him balance the numbers each day, but that would take all the fun out of it. The Billion-Dollar Man Swensen, 52, is an unassuming, affable Midwesterner. He could easily pass for a friendly high-school math teacher or a town pastor. But he makes more money than they do. Yale pays Swensen $1.3 million a year. That sounds impressive until you realize that, with his track record, if Swensen started his own hedge fund, he could earn $50 million to $100 million a year. But Swensen would rather work for Yale, where he earned a Ph.D. in economics. He spent five years on Wall Street and then, 21 years ago, agreed to return to lead Yale's investment office. "I had a great time on Wall Street, but it didn't satisfy my soul," he says. "And I've always loved educational institutions. My father was a university professor, my grandfather was a university professor. So there must be something in the genes." Swensen teaches a course at Yale in which he airs his unorthodox view of the basics of a well-diversified portfolio. He argues that, by owning not only stocks and bonds but also holdings in real estate, timber, oil and gas, and other investments, you can get strong returns with less overall risk. A few years ago, he decided he wanted to spread his message to more people. So he wrote a book, Unconventional Success, with advice for the average investor. Swensen warns there's no "one-size-fits-all" approach to investing. But if you want to follow his advice, he shares some basic tips below.

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Yahoo! Finance Story - How to Profit From a Cooling Real Estate Market: Why the Rich Get Richer - Yahoo! Finance

ling Ong (resortsofasia@gmail.com) has sent you a news article ------------------------------------------------------------ Personal message:

How to Profit From a Cooling Real Estate Market: Why the Rich Get Richer - Yahoo! Finance http://finance.yahoo.com/columnist/article/richricher/5766

============================================================ Yahoo! Finance http://finance.yahoo.com/

Saturday, September 09, 2006

City Developement and SANDS Las Vegas Wins Bid for Marina Bay Integrated Resort

Marina Bay Area : Gross Floor Area ( GFA ) : 570,000 Sq m. Land Cost $620Million Gaming Area ALlowed 4-5% of TOTAL GFA : Approx 15,000 sq m.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Jones Land Lasalle Releases Hotel Ownership Pendulum

Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels released the Hotel Ownership Pendulum in Motion Research Paper, examining the current ownership profile of Asian and global hotel real estate, how this has changed over the last 10 years and the emerging ownership trends. Historically the Asian hotel and resort real estate was largely held by family controlled public and private companies with some institutional and opportunity fund ownership. Over the last five years, international groups, especially U.S. investment funds have emerged as new owners of hotels in Asia, particularly in Japan and to some extent in Thailand. JLLH said a key factor of changing the ownership profile in Asia is the improvement in the region's macroeconomic environment which has strengthened after a period of structural reforms and consolidation as well as improved trading performance following a strong revival in tourism trade. Improved market transparency, greater availability of information about hotel trading and better understanding of the sector's cyclical nature have collectively increased the appeal of hotel assets. Better transparency helps investors to better understand the markets, which in turn leads to heightened interests in the sector and consequently greater transparency, according to JLLH. The sheer weight of capital seeking real estate globally in the current low-cost debt environment has been the key driving force behind the record levels of hotel transactions in 2005. U.S. based investors have been scouring the world for alternative opportunities such as hotels, Middle Eastern investors are looking for opportunities to buy. A lot of the transactional activities are driven out of the Americans but Asia and Europe too are witnessing a strong momentum. Japan single-handedly accounted for more than 2/3rds of the number of hotel transactions in Asia in 2005. Domestic and US opportunity funds have surfaced as the new owners of Japanese hotel real estate which were previously dominated by Japanese private and public companies. JLLH expects increased transactions compared to historical experience as opportunistic players typically hold assets for shorter periods. JLLH said China offers significant upside potential with attractive GOP margins and expectations for RevPAR growth supported by a rapidly developing domestic economy. They expect regional players from Hong Kong and Singapore to be active in the market while new players including private equity and investment banks are entering the market in China. These investors are expected over time to replace traditional owners such as state-owned enterprises, public and private hotel owners and developers. JLLH said that while they see continued divestment in China and Japan, the scarcity of assets across the region should provide support for more aggressive pricing and this could lead to a tightening of yields. Destination Properties Co. Ltd. announced an agreement with ALiLA Hotels and Resorts to manage their 200 room lifestyle resort property in Phuket, Thailand. Formerly known as Kamala Bay Terrace Resort, it will be re-branded as ALiLA Phuket. Situated on the west coast of Phuket at the heart of the island's famed "Millionaire's Mile" this 4.25 rai development will comprise 200 sea-facing rooms and will be managed and maintained to international luxury standards by ALiLA Hotels & Resorts. ALiLA Phuket is expected to be completed by mid 2007. Jin Jiang International Hotel Management Company has completed the development of its new hotel brand identity and has commenced using their new logos. Jin Jiang Hotels developed the new identity over 12 months. The key element of the new logo is the double "J" mark which represents the first two letters of Jin Jiang and the roof line of a Chinese Imperial Palace. The target of the Jin Jiang Group is to set up a brand family comprising of five to seven multi-positioned sub-brands within three to five years. Jin Jiang's key brand strategies include: international expansion of Jin Jiang Hotels through acquisition and cooperation with international hotel groups; enhancement and renovation of key hotels; promoting the brand through the portfolio of heritage properties such as the Peace Hotel; develop branding elements that reflect the Chinese culture, Jin Jiang features and international standards, building on a highly regarded domestic reputation; promoting Jin Jiang's international reputation by association with the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games and the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai and in early 2007, they will launch a new Jin Jiang Hotels Loyalty Programme targeted to have several hundred thousand members within 5 years. Vietnam's Phu Quoc Island is aggressively seeking foreign and domestic development. The plan is for Phu Quoc to become a high quality tourism centre and a trade and services hub for Vietnam and the region. The People's Committee has approved 12 investment projects so far this year on an area of more than 60 ha and with a combined capital of VND670 billion. Most of the projects are concentrated in the tourism sector and include hotels, restaurants and a hot springs resort with the objective to develop the island as an international luxury tourist destination. Accor's Grand Mercure La Veranda Resort and Spa will open on Phu Quoc Island at the end of this month, developed with a total investment of US$4.2 million. Sunway City Bhd plans to set up Malaysia's biggest real estate investment trust in two years with a value of at least RM1.5 billion. Sunway will complete some property projects by September or October next year before starting the investment trust in 2008. The REIT will have assets such as hotels, malls, university campuses and houses located in Kuala Lumpur and Penang, according to Hwang-DBS Vickers Research. The REIT was planned for this year but was delayed to coincide with the completion of the company's projects. Marriott International appointed Richard Lyon as GM of the JW Marriott Mumbai. He was previously GM of the Renaissance Chancery Court Hotel in London. M Hotel in Singapore announced the promotion of Charles Lai to executive assistant manager. Sunny Sia Hai Chew was appointed executive chef of the hotel, andJamie Chua was named fire, safety & security manager. Fairmont Hotels & Resorts announced that Kent Cooper was named regional director, sales and marketing, Middle East & Africa. Cooper was previously director of sales and marketing for Fairmont's property, The Fairmont Dubai. Central Hotels & Resorts appointed Elaine Chua as new group Spa manager. Chua was previously business development consultant of Gorgeous Getaways, based in Malaysia.

Resort Property Management.com (RPM) Partners With Club Lespri to Offer Unique, High End - Vacation Amenities

Resort Property Management.com (RPM) Partners With Club Lespri to Offer Unique, High End - Vacation Amenities RPM (online at www.resortpropertymanagement.com), a vacation property rental provider offering Park City lodging and vacation rentals for 25 years, has partnered with Club Lespri, Park City’s world-class Boutique Inn & Spa (online at www.clublespri.com) to offer unique, high end vacation amenities. Guests booking with RPM now have exclusive access to Club Lespri’s private Rain Forrest Spa, Bistro Restaurant and Cellars Prime Steak & Spirits. Bistros and Cellars restaurants are recognized as providing the finest dining experience in the Park City/Deer Valley area and the Rain Forest Spa was voted “Best day spa in Park City” by Mountain Spa magazine. Park City, UT (PRWEB) August 22, 2006 -- RPM a vacation property rental provider offering Park City lodging and vacation rentals for 25 years, has partnered with Club Lespri, Park City’s world-class Boutique Inn & Spa (online at www.clublespri.com) to offer unique, high end-vacation amenities. Guests booking with RPM now have exclusive access to Club Lespri’s private Rain Forrest Spa, recreation facility, Bistro Restaurant and Cellars Prime Steak & Spirits. RPM is a Park City, Utah-based vacation property rental provider that offers bookings for nightly to weekly rental in a variety of Park City venues, including private homes, condos and ski-in/ski-out properties in all areas of Main Street Park City, Deer Valley and the Canyons. RPM also handles ground and air transportation, in addition to lift tickets and ski rentals, and all leisure-related activities. Building on the idea that “it’s all here,” RPM President and Owner, Patrick Quigley, says, “We thought it was time to add more exclusive services for our clients visiting the Park City area. There was a real need to provide more intimate and specialized amenities to our guests, and we immediately thought of Lespri with its emphasis on community and personal service.” Since partnering with Lespri, RPM has received rave reviews. “We loved our stay in Park City and getting to use the club was simply fabulous!” says Donna Harden of Hudson, New York. “It had something for me, my husband and our kids---plus, we ate the best steaks of our lives at Cellars. And having access to a twenty four hour front desk provided us with a personal concierge, any time, day or night”. According to RPM, the leisure-travel industry is increasingly competitive. “You can book just about anywhere,” says Director of Marketing, Brian Pannell, “but RPM’s agents live where the clients want to go and they can offer personalized service and expertise---that’s something people are looking for.” Resort Property Management assists customers with Park City vacations online at www.resortpropertymanagement.com and by phone. RPM is a Park City, Utah-based vacation property rental provider that offers bookings for nightly to weekly rental in a variety of Park City venues, including private homes, condos, ski-in/ski-out properties in all areas of Main Street, Deer Valley and the Canyons. RPM also handles ground and air transportation, in addition to lift tickets and ski rentals, and all leisure-related activities and can be found online at www.resortpropertymanagement.com. # # # Press Contact: Brian Pannell Company Name: Club Lespri Email: email protected from spam bots Phone: 435-608-0542 Website: http://www.resortpropertymanagement.com

Thursday, August 10, 2006

FW: The Daily Lodging Report - Asia Pacific 8/01

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide announced the continuation of their aggressive expansion in China with the signing of two new hotels, the Four Points by Sheraton Tianjin, Zhongshan and the Four Points by Sheraton Hangzhou, Binjiang.  Starwood now operates 26 hotels in Mainland China, Taiwan and Macau, with 27 new hotels under construction and has become one of the largest international hotel operators in China.  The Four Points by Sheraton Tianjin, Zhongshan will be located within a mixed use development that will include retail outlets and residential units and will have 300 rooms and 7,500 square feet of meeting space.  The hotel is scheduled to open in 2008 and is owned by the Tianjin City Sun Real Estate Development Co. Ltd. and will be managed by Four Points by Sheraton.   The Four Points by Sheraton Hangzhou, Binjiang is also part of a mixed use development and will feature 350 guestrooms and 17,100 square feet of meeting space.  The hotel is scheduled to open in 2008 and is owned by the Zhejiang Dragon Happy Investment Group, Co. Ltd. and will be managed by Four Points by Sheraton.

 

Singapore's CapitaLand Ltd. said they agreed to sell its 44.6% stake in Hotel InterContinental for S$231 million to international property company Pacific Coast Assets Inc.  CapitaLand will book a net gain of S$40 million with the sale in line with a strategy to boost asset productivity.  CapitaLand owns the stake in the Singapore hotel indirectly through wholly-owned subsidiaries CapitaLand Retail Investments Pte Ltd., Victoria City Pte Ltd. and CapitaLand Retail Holdings Pte. Ltd.  The three subsidiaries own an effective 49.5% interest in Bugis City Holdings Pte Ltd. which in turn owns a 90% interest in the InterContinental Hotel.  The transaction will be completed on August 29th.

 

Korean Company BXT Corp. broke ground for a 616 room, P3 billion hotel waterpark complex in Barangay Maribago.  The complex will be called Imperial Palace Waterpark Resort and Spa and will be managed by Imperial Palace Hotel.   We gave you some information previously on this but the details are that the complex will include six medium rise buildings, three low rise apartments and forty single villas with individual pools.  The resort will also have complete recreational facilities that include swimming pools, a waterpark, tennis courts, function rooms and a ballroom.

 

Carlson Hotels Worldwide's Park Inn unit announced the City Heart Hotel in Ludhiana, Punjab will undergo extensive refurbishment and be renamed the Park Inn Ludhiana.  The hotel will be managed by Sarovar Hotels & Resorts, an affiliate of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide and will join a growing number of hotels in the Park Inn portfolio across India.  The hotel will close to begin renovations in September.  The hotel will feature 50 well equipped guest rooms, an Indian restaurant, bar and a banquet hall.  The new Park Inn Ludhiana is scheduled to open towards the end of 2007.

 

Accor announced that Townsville's first new international hotel in almost 20 years, the Hotel Ibis Townsville, was opened last night by Australian Prime Minister John Howard.   The 118 room hotel is to be followed by an all-suites hotel being developed next door to the Ibis.  Suites on Palmer, part of the Grand Mercure collection of hotels, will open in mid-2007.

 

The Ascott Group has opened its first Middle East property, Somerset Jadaf, Dubai.   The 84 unit serviced residence is in the Jadaf area, 15 minutes by car from Dubai International Airport.  The Singapore-based Ascott Group is one of the first international serviced residence companies to operate in the Middle East.  Somerset Jadaf, Dubai is owned by the Wafi Group.  The Ascott Group said they plan more properties in key regional markets as part of its Middle East foray.  Their expansion plans include about 15 properties by 2010 in the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.



Tuesday, August 01, 2006

FW: Afternic to visit domainers in Europe

Domainer Meeting in Europe Afternic is a sponsor for the Domainer Meeting in Barcelona, July 25-27. While the meeting is being held in Spain, this is not exclusively a European event. Domainers from around the world will be in attendance. This meeting stands apart from other domainer conferences because the primary purpose is networking. We have organized several lunches, dinners and receptions, and there will be many opportunities for relaxing, private discussions and tourist outings. I know that this is short notice, but there are still rooms available at the Ritz-Carlton. I haven't seen it, but I understand this is a terrific hotel in a great part of town. Be sure to register right away to reserve your place in the meetings and at the Ritz-Carlton in Barcelona. Real Estate Domains Remain Hot As Realty Marketplace Becomes More Virtual Article by: Peter Lamson, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Buy Domains "Old Rule: A picture is worth a thousand words. New Rule: A website is worth a thousand pictures," writes Dan Gooder Richards, in the online Realty Times (R) newsletter. Surveys show that the Internet is playing an increasingly important role in property marketing, agent selection and home selection. This shift away from bricks-and-mortar to a virtual real estate market is driving strong demand for real estate-related domains. How Is The Web Impacting The Consumer? Data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) shows that as a result of viewing listings online : 75% of prospective buyers previewed or drove by a home 57% walked through a home which they had viewed online More than 3 in 4 used the Internet in their home search Domain names are used to develop : Personalized realtor sites offering daily property updates, broad-based listings and statistics on target neighborhoods served Sites like zillow.com allow home buyers and sellers to conduct pricing comparisons on specific properties Micro-sites for specific listings even gives consumers the chance to experience a virtual tour before committing to a physical showing Traffic Patterns and Domain Name Selection You've found your domain name and developed your site. Now what? Web site promotion capitalizing on targeted domain names, through keyword and paid search (Google is the most popular venue for keyword purchases), incorporating direct marketing, is a cost-effective strategy to build site traffic. Research Web traffic patterns; Yahoo! (R) offers a keyword search tool allowing you to see total searches on keywords and phrases for the prior month. Visit: http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/srch/srch_pr.php and click on the Keyword Search Tool. Real estate-related searches number in the millions each month--identifying a domain name that will capitalize on this traffic is the first step toward a successful real estate business. Consider the example "CarolinasRealty.com", and let's examine May traffic to the following terms on Yahoo! (R): 50,233 searches on "Columbia, South Carolina real estate" 28,405 searches on "South Carolina real estate" 23,352 searches on "Greenville, South Carolina real estate" The sizeable natural search base for South Carolina-related real estate searches is an attractive proposition for a business person setting up the site "CarolinasRealty.com". Where Is the Real Estate Domain Market Heading? A recent study pegged domain name appreciation at 94%, based on study of over 2,000 domains from 2004 through 2005. While the study did not focus on real estate terms in particular, it highlights a general marketplace trend toward higher domain name pricing. The value and importance of virtual real estate tools continues to evolve in service to an increasingly global and more mobile population. This virtualization drive should ensure that real estate domains remain in high demand, with corresponding price appreciation. Featured Real Estate Domain Names BigAppleRealEstate.com 4,400.00 TexasRealty.net 3,088.00 CapitalRealty.net 1,400.00 SummitRealty.net 1,188.00 CoastRealty.net 800.00 FarmLands.com 5,400.00 SouthwesternRealty.com 700.00 RuralHouses.com 1,100.00 ViewRealty.com : 2,300.00 BluffRealEstate.com : 1,650.00 QualityHouses.com 700.00 CanyonRealEstate.com 1,200.00 BeachfrontProperty.com 31,000.00 MAhouses.com 700.00 LuxuryTownhouses.com 3,200.00 MEhouses.com 900.00 Best Regards, Michael Collins VP Marketing Afternic.com

Thursday, July 27, 2006

FW: Sri panwa Newsletter----Land At tg Pungai!

Dear Khun DANIEL, Welcome back, friends & neighbors, into Sri Panwa's busy world. It has been a few months since we last spoke and we have much to share. There are the obvious events to speak about; such as hotel updates and villa sales… as well as a few visits that even surprised us! Our residential villas are going fast, we have sold 8 more. The villas ranging from one bedroom to five bedrooms have now vanished from the market. We now have new neighbors from South Africa, France, England & Thailand. Welcome to Sri Panwa! We're sure you will enjoy the view from the top and the top of life here. With Warmest Regards, Wan Vorasit Issara Phra Thanissaro Our “Dream Maker”, Khun Songkran, just recently completed a month long journey through monk hood. He entered his monk hood on the 3rd of June, the entering was made at Wat Cholaprathan Yuwaraj Rangsarit. The Abbot who is a high rank monk, Than Panya Nandha Bhikkhu aged 94, was so kind to preside over the ceremony. Phra Thanissaro (Khun Songkran's monk name) took only one meal a day and spent most of his time meditating in a peaceful forest premise of the monastery in upcountry. In Thai beliefs, to enter a monk hood once in your lifetime is the optimum merit for a man. All close relatives and friends who attend the entering ceremony would also be blessed because of this good intention and good deed. His cup has been fulfilled and his battery had been charged full. Welcome back, Sir! www.charnissara.co.th Email: lifestyle@sripanwa.com Phone: +66 76 371-000

Monday, July 17, 2006

Maple Tree: MREAM Fund : Mezzanine Financing

Welcome to Mapletree Mapletree Real Estate Mezzanine Fund I Institutional investors who are seeking a consistent and high current yield will welcome news that Mapletree is planning to launch an Asia-wide property-linked financial products fund to be called Mapletree Real Estate Mezzanine Fund I ("MREM I"). Unlike existing REITs, this closed-end fund will invest unitholders' investments in property-linked financial products, such as high-yield loans, mortgage-backed securities and other REITs, both in Singapore and across Asia. Mapletree will manage MREM I and will be a major investor in the fund. Mapletree is presently raising third party institutional capital for MREM I and will close the fund in late 2004 or early 2005. Regional and Country-Specific Property Funds In addition to MREM I, Mapletree will create other regional and country-specific property funds catered to institutional investors who are looking for exposure into the property sector. In all cases, Mapletree will take on an active fund and asset management role and be a major investor. Being one of the major investors in the funds demonstrates Mapletree's long term commitment to the funds and aligns the manager's and third party institutional investors' interests.

Monday, April 03, 2006

RealEstateJournal | Real-Estate Investment Trusts Rally Again, Defying Predictions

RealEstateJournal | Real-Estate Investment Trusts Rally Again, Defying Predictions: "Real-Estate Investment Trusts Rally Again, Defying Predictions By Jennifer S. Forsyth From The Wall Street Journal Online It seems to defy common sense: Real-estate stocks continue to rally -- even as interest rates rise. Eighteen months ago, many investors began to sell off their real-estate holdings amid warnings that the property market might have peaked. But real-estate investment trusts -- tax-advantaged investment companies whose shares trade on major exchanges -- have continued to outperform the market. This year alone, the Dow Jones Equity REIT Index is up almost 13%, compared with a gain of almost 4% for the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index. It's the fastest run out of the starting gate for REIT stocks in six years, according to SNL Financial, a research firm in Charlottesville, Va. 'The run-up in REIT prices has certainly been surprising, even to boosters of the industry like us,' says T. Ritson Ferguson, chief investment officer for ING Clarion Real Estate Securities, a Radnor, Pa., investment-management firm. The rally has partly been driven by mutual funds and other big investors, some of whom bailed on the sector 15 to 18 months ago and are now buying the stocks again, egged on by recent improvements in the outlook for almost every sector, particularly hotels and offices. REITs have been helped by fund managers and other investors who missed the big run-up and now fear that not owning them is hurting performance records. Some money managers, having been wrong once before, are reluctant to tell small investors to bail out of the sector. Others factor in an individual's total exposure to real estate -- including homes and investment properties -- to determine whether that person s"