Tag Archives: mexico
Chinese emerge as enthusiastic buyers of property in the US
The volume of property sold to overseas buyers in the United States has declined slightly but Chinese people are buying more real estate, exceeding the amount of other top international buyers. Research from the National Association of Realtors suggest that waning economic growth in many countries and higher home prices along with a strengthening US dollar was responsible for the slight overall fall. However, the data, covering sales to overseas buyers between April 2015 and March 2016, reveals a significant fall in buying from non-resident foreigners. Sales to overseas buyers amounted to $102.6 billion of residential property, a 1.3% decline from the $103.9 billion of property purchased in the previous year’s survey. Overall, a total of 214,885 residential properties were bought by foreign buyers, up 2.8%, and properties were typically valued higher at $277,380 compared to the median price of all US existing home sales at $223,058. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the figures highlight the tremendous appeal US real estate still has on many foreign nationals despite the price of property becoming less affordable. ‘Weaker economic growth throughout the world, devalued foreign currencies and financial market turbulence combined to present significant challenges for foreign buyers over the past year,’ he explained. ‘While these obstacles led to a cool down in sales from non-resident foreign buyers, the purchases by recent immigrant foreigners rose, resulting in the overall sales dollar volume still being the second highest since 2009,’ he pointed out. He also pointed out that overall foreigners, especially those from China, continue to see the US real estate as a solid investment opportunity and the country as an attractive place to visit and live. According to the survey, sales to non-resident foreign buyers pulled back by approximately $10 billion to the lowest dollar volume since 2013 when it was $35 billion. The decline was largely caused by the decrease in the share of non-resident foreign buyers to foreign residential buyers to 41%, down from the almost even split between the two in previous years. ‘Both the increase in US home prices, up 6% in March 2016 compared to one year ago, and the depreciating value of foreign currencies against the US dollar made buying property a lot pricier last year,’ said Yun. The research shows that at least eight countries, including China and Canada, saw double digit percent increases in the median sales price of a US existing home when measured in their country’s currency, led by Venezuela at 45% and Brazil at 24%. For the fourth year in a row, buyers from China exceeded all countries by dollar volume of sales at $27.3 billion, which was a slight decrease from last year’s survey at $28.6 billion, but over triple the total dollar volume of sales from Canadian buyers who were ranked second at $8.9 billion. Indeed, Chinese buyers purchased the most housing units for the second consecutive year at 29,195 but this was down from 34,327 in 2015, and also typically bought… Continue reading
Cool Planet Raises Additional $19.4 Million In Funding
By Cool Planet Energy Systems | September 18, 2013 Cool Planet Energy Systems, a developer of small-scale bio-refineries for the conversion of non-food biomass into fuels and soil enhancing biochar, has announced the second close of a “D round” equity raise. After closing on more than $29.9 million in June of 2013, Cool Planet has added another $19.4 million in this closing. This brings the total amount raised and committed to over $60 million, including the remaining commitments from existing investors. “While equity markets remain closed to most biofuel businesses, investors are seeing a differentiated opportunity in Cool Planet. Our drop-in cellulosic gasoline and biochar technology has global potential,” said Cool Planet CEO Howard Janzen. “A strong proof point for this potential is the impressive group of international investors who have participated in our equity raise, positioning the company for long-term growth globally.” Cool Planet will use a portion of the equity raise to finalize engineering design for the company’s first commercial facility. This work will be supported by leading international engineering firm, URS Corp., as the company recently announced. The funding will also provide capital to construct Cool Planet’s first commercial plant, which will be located at the Port of Alexandria, La. The company expects the facility to be in operation before the end of 2014, producing high-octane cellulosic gasoline and soil enhancing biochar from wood biomass. “We are very pleased to have attracted investors from around the world, which will accelerate the development of our business internationally,” said Cool Planet Chief Financial Officer Barry Rowan. “This funding, combined with the strong ongoing commitments from our current investors, keeps us squarely on our path to commercialization.” The round added investors from Hong Kong, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Mexico to a marquee existing investor base, including North Bridge Venture Partners, Shea Ventures, BP, Google Ventures, Energy Technology Ventures (GE, ConocoPhillips, NRG Energy), and the Constellation division of Exelon. The new investors are committing to help bring Cool Planet’s drop-in fuel technology to countries around the world, and Cool Planet is actively developing partnerships to commercialize its technology internationally. Continue reading
Emerging Market Investors Hide Out in ‘Korexico’
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7bb3efaa-1c85-11e3-a8a3-00144feab7de.html#ixzz2f3XJ2xx3 By Paul J Davies Markets are awash with buzzwords. Ever since Brics was coined we have recoiled from PIIGS, grappled with Chimerica and been sceptical about both Abenomics and Liconomics. So here is an aide memoire for where to invest when the US Federal Reserve threatens to taper its ultra-loose monetary policy and emerging markets sag with a draining of vital liquidity. When the markets correct, go “Korexico”. South Korea and Mexico have been two of the best defensive stories around in emerging markets in recent months for a handful of simple reasons: their exports are geared towards a US recovery, they did not suck in the hot money unleashed by central banks and they have not seen credit booms in the past two years. Stock markets in both countries suffered with the rest after Fed chairman Ben Bernanke first talked of “tapering” on May 22. However, they did not fall as far and they recovered more strongly. Stocks in Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines fell deeply into late June and have not enjoyed a big bounce from the recent weaker US economic data that may have put off the end of “quantitative easing”. Korea’s Kospi index fell 11 per cent at worst by the last week of June and is now back to where it was in late May. Mexico did not even drop that far, losing only about 6 per cent at most. Now it is up 1.5 per cent. The other four were down between 15 and 24 per cent at worst. Brazil’s Bovespa is still 5.5 per cent lower since late May, while Bangkok’s SET, Jakarta’s JCI and the PCOMP in Manila are all down about 17 per cent. Part of the story is in fund flows. Both Korea and Mexico suffered outflows from equity markets at first, but not for long. Mexican markets saw almost $4bn of foreign cash leave stock markets in June, but more than $2bn return in July and August. In Korea, where data are published daily, inflows of more than $7bn since the end of June have more than replaced the outflows of $6.6bn during June. What is more, according to Freya Beamish at Lombard Street Research in Hong Kong, money that came out of Korean equities did not leave the country. “When the taper hysteria first hit, foreigners pulled out of Korean equities in the same way as they did across Asia,” she says. “But they went into Korean bonds. Then when the taper concerns eased foreigners went back into equities.” So what has kept these markets attractive and is the defensive story justified? Both have avoided the hot money problem of other emerging markets to a great degree. On the credit side, bank lending to GDP in Korea may look high at 86.5 per cent, but it is lower than many Asian neighbours and has declined a few points since 2009. Other Asian markets have seen explosive credit growth. In Mexico, the ratio has barely moved, remaining at about 20 per cent of GDP. Their stock markets attracted less hot cash, too, especially compared with the dizzying highs reached by the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia. Korea and Mexico are both exposed to a US recovery via exports. More than two-thirds of Mexico’s exports head north across the border, but only about 10 per cent of Korea’s go to the US. But while Korea is much more dependent on China in general for exports, its key industries of electronics and cars are more influenced by US buying than Chinese. A boon for Korea has been Japan. The yen’s recent depreciation was meant to hit Korea’s competitiveness – but that has not happened. Oddly, a boon for Korea has been Japan. The yen’s recent depreciation was meant to hit Korea’s competitiveness – but that has not happened. “At the corporate level, there had been a concern about renewed competition from Japan benefiting from a weaker yen, but Japanese companies have focused on restoring profitability not boosting sales,” says Jeff Shen, head of emerging markets at BlackRock. But it is not entirely rosy. For a start, first-half earnings were a big disappointment. According to Citigroup, almost half of Korean companies missed analyst estimates and less than 20 per cent beat them – the worst in Asia. In Mexico, again half of companies missed forecasts, but fewer than one-in-ten beat them, the worst in Latin America. In Korea, investors were not expecting great things. The Kospi trades on 8-times forward earnings, one of the cheapest in Asia and below its average over the past 10 years, according to JPMorgan. Mexico, however, is one of the most expensive markets in the world on 17 times forward earnings, a good way above its average. This could well prove a dangerous place to be. For both countries, a sustained US recovery is what will really help – and that is far from certain. Their key attraction in the months ahead is more likely to be as a short-term haven from bouts of taper-hysteria in other emerging markets. Korexico is less a destination than a hide-out. paul.j.davies@ft.com Continue reading
