Les Calvert
Married with 2 boys Les writes news and articles on the overseas property market in general and his company advertises properties for sale, rent and auction across 100+ countries around the world.
Having spent many years in the travel and real estate industry travelling the world Les has settled back in his home town of Hartlepool in the north east of England where he also owns and runs a large indoor children's play area.
Articles by Les Calvert
September 15, 2011
According to the latest property index from FNC Inc., US property prices increased by 0.9% in June. This was the third straight monthly growth, following rises of 0.8% in May and 0.5% in April.
August 04, 2011
The number of pending home sales in the US increased in June, for the second consecutive month, and all regions now show double-digit gains compared to June 2010. The pending home sales index which is based on contract signings but not actual closings increased by 2.4% in June compared to May, to 90...
July 15, 2011
The Obama Administration is "going back to the drawing board" to pull the housing market out of the hell it has continued to languish in ever since the last rash of schemes from its drawing board ended.
July 08, 2011
Croatia has finally finished its accession talks with EU officials, and is set to become the first Balkans state to join. It is expected to become a member by mid-2013, and this will undoubtedly increase property values.
Once the final discussions were completed, the EU Enlargement Commissioner, ...
July 06, 2011
Contrary to popular belief mainland Chinese investors are not driving the Vancouver real estate boom. That is, according to a new survey by a local estate agent and marketing firm. The survey, by MAC Marketing Solutions found that it is actually Chinese immigrants that are fuelling the boom.
"Vir...
June 23, 2011
British buyers are increasingly choosing to purchase property in Europe rather than more distant destinations due to increased transport costs, according to new data released by Rightmove Overseas. The website showed an increase in searches for overseas property in May of 15.3% compared to April.
...
June 14, 2011
A top White House economic adviser has recently said that the Obama administration needs to deal with problems within the property market, as housing is a part of the economy that is consistently underperforming, due to weak demand and the glut of houses for sale. Austan Goolsbee was speaking on CNN...
June 14, 2011
Well, the Turkish election went pretty much as everyone expected it would, a convincing victory for the AK Party who will now lead Turkey for a third term. Of a strong 87% turnout, the AKP won 49.95% of the votes, giving them 326 seats in a 550 seat parliament.
Erdogan was hoping for 330 seats, w...
June 10, 2011
A recent survey by the National Association of Home Builders found that a massive 75% of Americans still feel home ownership to the best long-term investment they will make, and that the risks are well worth it. This applied even to people who were currently in negative equity or those who are renti...
June 10, 2011
Planning approval has just been given for a new marina in Marbella, in the fishing port of La Bajadilla which is 8 km east of central Marbella. An industrial estate which has dominated this part of the coastline for decades will also be redeveloped to provide more green space. The new port will be c...
June 10, 2011
It´s now thought that the French property tax on second homeowners may not be as bad as previously feared. The property tax, if approved will take effect from next year onwards and will affect all those who have a holiday home but who choose not to rent it out on a regular basis.
The tax wo...
June 10, 2011
I have just read a very interesting article in the Telegraph, apparently unfurnished property is the best bet for those running rental properties. According to the article tenants who let unfurnished properties stay for longer, and of course, the landlords do not need to worry about their soft-furni...
June 10, 2011
There are signs that speculative house buying in China is on the decline and that the cooling measures implemented by the government in recent months are finally having an effect. Professor Nie Meisheng, president of the China Real Estate Chamber of Commerce has predicted there will be a 7% decrease...
June 10, 2011
The S & P/Case-Shiller index of property values in 20 US cities dropped 3.6% from March 2011 to March 2010 which is the biggest year-on-year decline since November 2009. The index is now at 138.16 which is the weakest level since March 2003.
An earlier survey of 27 economists by Bloomberg had for...
May 27, 2011
US property purchases by international buyers have increased to $16 billion this year, the largest increase for several years according to new data from the National Association of Realtors.
Properties are being bought up by immigrants and non-resident foreigners, who are seeing the US as a good ...
May 19, 2011
A French developer has brought forward plans to build more holiday homes in the Grand Massif area due to the growing popularity of the region. Richard Dean who is a London based sales consultant for MGM expects the work to begin soon. It will be the developer´s sixth project in the village of ...
May 24, 2011
It can no longer be ignored; Turkey is now one of the hottest markets in the world of overseas property, the figures don't lie.
According to the Association of Real Estate Investment Firms (GYODER), sales to foreign buyers increased by 40% in 2010. The report said sales to foreigners totalled $2....
May 17, 2011
A draft law could see EU member states forced to publish comparable house price indices on a quarterly basis from the second quarter of next year. The bill is part of efforts to synchronise the consumer price indices of member states so that inflation can be measured more accurately in the bloc.
...
May 18, 2011
Large numbers of Russian and Chinese buyers are providing a valuable boost to the Cyprus property market, with the volume of sales recorded in April increasing by 19% when compared to April 2010. The property laws here were recently amended to give additional protection to buyers, and this could be ...
May 11, 2011
It's estimated that the Indian economy will continue to grow at around 8% to 10% each year, and that by 2020 it will be the third largest economy in the world after China and the US. This means that domestic consumption will increase as will per capita income, and there will be substantial investmen...
May 13, 2011
It looks as if the UAE property market is finally recovering with prices down 60% from the August 2008 peak, some positive economic news and a government committed to helping the property market. There are also a number of mortgage lenders returning to the market which is helping property prices to ...
May 13, 2011
All the signs are that the Cambodian construction industry is thriving as the value of projects approved by the Cambodian government has more than doubled during the first quarter of this year when compared to the same time period last year. This means that projects worth US$324 million were approve...
May 11, 2011
Sales of property in Las Vegas reached a five-year high in March. The growth has been attributed mainly to an increase in cash buyers and investors purchasing discounted properties, with their focus being especially on properties below $100k.
During March 4953 new and resale properties were purch...
May 09, 2011
UK house prices fell again in April according to the index of leading mortgage lender Halifax PLC. The 1.2% decline between March and April was slightly less than the 1.4% drop in March from February, but still sufficient to send the annual decline into a 21 month record plunge of 3.7%; the biggest ...
May 06, 2011
The Turkish president has visited Austria for the first time in 13 years with the aim of boosting the economic relationship between the two countries. He was accompanied by a group of businessmen and academics and has met with several CEOs of Austrian corporations during a working breakfast.
Off...
May 05, 2011
The Government Housing Bank in Thailand is considering offering 0% interest rate loans for the first two years, to allow people in middle and low income brackets to purchase property costing less than US$100,200.
It is thought that the government is putting aside the US$0.167 billion for the camp...
May 05, 2011
Australian property prices are falling hard; in the first quarter of 2011 prices dropped by the most since 2008. This is thought to be due to higher borrowing costs and also the flooding in Queensland.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics has said that the weighted average of prices for homes in e...
May 05, 2011
Some US developers are targeting the Chinese property market, especially housing for senior citizens. The number of people in China are reaching retirement age will surpass the US population in less than 40 years, and it's predicted that this will happen by 2050.
A number of US companies are alre...
May 05, 2011
Property prices in the US fell in February by the largest percentage in more than a year as the housing market is still struggling to stabilise. The S & P/Case Shiller index of home values in 20 cities dropped by 3.3% from February 2010 which is the largest decrease since November 2009.
The huge ...
November 18, 2010
The Portuguese Foreign Affairs Minister Luis Amado indicates that the euro exit scenario may be close if Portugal fails to tackle its economic challenges.
November 14, 2010
A look at the property market in some of Thailand's more popular coastal resorts. Strong indicators show Phuket is emerging as a leading growth area for property investment in the area.
November 12, 2010
The Brazilian property market welcomes the election results of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and is confident of continued growth within the property sector of this rapidly growing country.
November 09, 2010
We can expect many infrastructure improvements to come in 2011 in Albania. The government adopted the 2011 budget, the largest in the country's history last week, and it is known to focus heavily on infrastructure developments, especially roads.
During the boom property for sale in Albania was a ...