EUROPE
Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has purchased a historic riverside mansion, once owned by novelist "George Eliot" (Mary Ann Evans), in the Chelsea neighborhood of London for $26 million. [DailyMail] Realty Today explores whether a Greek vacation home is a wise investment for foreigners during the nation’s debt crisis. [Realty Today]More: Greek Islands Wait Out the Storm
UNITED STATES
Boston-based real estate firm GID is negotiating a $1 billion construction loan with banks and major lenders for the development of three luxury condo towers at Riverside Center, a location just west of Manhattan’s Columbus Circle. [Crain’s New York Business] Apartment development is thriving in the south metro Denver area with the number of mostly luxury units in the region, set to grow by 20% in the next two years. [Denver Post]More: Boulder's Luxury Boom A seven-hour effort by 10 local fire departments was unable to save the $9.2 million, 8,300-square-foot Southampton home of Manhattan real estate mogul Lawrence Friedland, which caught fire Saturday. [New York Post] Located on the Gulf of Mexico, Texas’ Bolivar Peninsula, once home to rustic fishing villages, appears to be developing a second life as a second-home destination. [The News&Observer] The L.A. Times profiles the property portfolio of the Bob and Dolores Hope estate, featuring luxury listings in the Toluca Lake and Coachella Valley areas, both of which have taken significant price cuts. [The Los Angeles Times]
AUSTRALASIA
The 10 most expensive streets in Perth have sold a combined A$218 million (about US$158 million) worth of real estate over the past 12 months. [PerthNow] Christopher Niesche of the New Zealand Herald, details the benefits of Chinese property buyers in Australasia. [New Zealand Herald]
Domain offers a head-to-head match up of how Sydney ranks with other top international cities in terms of home prices. [Domain] Among realtors in New Zealand, support is growing for a registry of foreign property buyers. [New Zealand Herald] According to Chinese property portal Juwai.com, Queensland is the new hot spot for Australia-minded Chinese buyers. [news.com.au]
ASIA
In Thailand, the loan rejection rate for high-end homes (priced over Bt10 million, or about US$287,000) climbed to 30% in the second quarter of 2015 as a result of commercial banks tightening the lending process earlier this year. [The Nation]More: Thailand’s Luxury Forecast: Sunny
MIDDLE EAST
A new report from Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) and MPM Properties found that Dubai added 6,750 new residential properties during the second quarter of 2015 for a total residential stock of 479,000. The same report found that residential rents dropped by an average of 3% in June. [Gulf News]
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