A leading international investment firm, Arcapita headquartered in Bahrain, announced it has sold its interest in two assisted living real estate portfolios in the United States to Sunrise REIT, a Canadian listed trust, for a transaction value of approximately USD525 million.

The two portfolios, consisting of assisted living properties located across the United States, were acquired by Arcapita and its co-investors, alongside Sunrise Senior Living, in 2002. Assisted living facilities are aimed at providing a residential environment for individuals who need assistance with activities of daily living such as eating and laundry, but who wish to live as independently as possible.

In England, sales are most evident in the southern regions, with 24% of agents reporting landlords exiting the market in the Eastern region and London, while in the South East the figure was 22%.

Of the 15% of agents reporting that landlords are changing existing properties to overcome rules on HMOs, many have reported landlords are no longer letting property to more than three tenants. Students have been the most affected group, identified by 42% of agents in most regions of the country. However, in the Eastern region migrants were the hardest hit group.

Rates for 30-year mortgage rates dropped this week to the lowest level in six months, but the break for home buyers may not be enough to buoy sagging sales in San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages dipped to 6.4% this week, down from 6.43% last week. That puts the 30-year mortgage at the lowest level since late March when it was 6.35%.  Declining fixed mortgage rates are influenced by the bond market that is anticipating lower inflation and slower economic growth.

Lenders are joining with nonprofit counseling agencies in an attempt to persuade quiet borrowers to come forward so they will not lose their homes.  They've also convinced the Advertising Council to launch a three-year public-service campaign aimed at convincing late payers to come out from behind their locked doors and talk to impartial, third-party counselors about how they can get back on the straight and narrow.

It's too early to know how many owners will face the very real possibility of being unable to make their house payments. But already, 167,000 new families enter into foreclosure every three months, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. And that could just be the proverbial tip of the iceberg.

Weichert Financial Services evaluated its own performance against those survey findings and, according to Fred Watkins, president, came out “proud of how well we measured up. Assessing our procedures point by point, it was gratifying to see that the investments we’ve made both in technology and in human talent have enabled us to overcome every single one of the industry weaknesses cited by real estate agents.”

According to Inside Mortgage Finance, the five greatest concerns of real estate professionals are as follows:

Weichert Financial Services evaluated its own performance against those survey findings and, according to Fred Watkins, president, came out “proud of how well we measured up. Assessing our procedures point by point, it was gratifying to see that the investments we’ve made both in technology and in human talent have enabled us to overcome every single one of the industry weaknesses cited by real estate agents.”

According to Inside Mortgage Finance, the five greatest concerns of real estate professionals are as follows:

The $460-million addition to Westfield San Francisco Centre opens at the end of the week, adding 950,000 sf to the existing 500,000-sf mall. The transformation of the landmark Emporium site by Forest City Enterprises and Westfield Group adds among other things a 357,000-sf Bloomingdale’s department store, the first new ground-up Bloomingdale’s on the West Coast and the largest outside of Manhattan. The site retains only the Emporium's facade and its 102-foot-wide skylit dome built in 1908.

San Francisco Centre opened in 1988, anchored by what was then the largest Nordstrom in the nation. In 1996, the adjoining Emporium closed after its parent, Broadway Stores, was acquired by Federated Department Stores. The following year, the REIT Urban Shopping Centers Inc. acquired a half interest in the property as well as the management assignment. Westfield Group acquired the REIT in 2002 and the following year cut a joint venture agreement with Forest City Enterprises, which had acquired the redevelopment rights to the Emporium site from Federated.

Earlier this year, regulators issued a proposal that calls for banks with a high concentration of commercial real estate loans to take additional steps to manage the risk of these loans. These steps, according to the guidance, could include regular reports on market conditions; detailed tracking of properties, developers and tenants; enhanced underwriting practices; and additional capital.

Federal banking regulators have proposed new guidance for banks with a high concentration of commercial real estate loans. It suggests banks adopt additional risk management measures.  That's not, however, how banks, bank examiners and Wall Street analysts have interpreted the guidance, according to bankers who testified at a House hearing.

The JD-U today flayed the ruling UPA for its policy on Special Economic Zones (SEZ) calling it "the biggest real estate scam in India" and sought immediate suspension of implementation of the "anti-farmer Act".

The SEZ Act is anti-farmer as it aims to rob farmers of their fertile land for the benefit of corporate land mafia.

Sales of US existing homes in the last month likely fell to the lowest level in more than two years.  This was according to the National Association of Realtors. Existing home sales likely fell to an annualized rate of 6.18 million in August from 6.33 million in July, according to the median estimate of 75 economists polled by Reuters.

California's two largest metropolitan areas, one in the north, the other in the south, are fast becoming home price decline markets as 12 of the total 15 counties from both areas suffered sales declines of more than 20 percent in August.

Coming off a year of record sales in 2005, all 15 counties in the two major population areas suffered home sales declines, while three counties in the nine-county San Francisco Bay area and one county in the Southern California region yielded home price declines, according to La Jolla-based DataQuick Information Services.