News

Investors who are looking at buying a property abroad have been encouraged to consider buying in Asia.

According to Investec Private Bank, the housing markets in places such as China are continuing to grow at a strong rate.

Indeed, the organisation has said the country offers the greatest potential for capital appreciation during the next few years.

Therefore, it could be a highly lucrative market for overseas property buyers, as people who enter the market early may be able to make a profit should they sell up in the future.

Commenting on the market, Paul Stevens of Investec Private Bank said: "Rental and capital growth in countries such as China has exceeded expectations."

This comes after foreign property buyers were encouraged to consider investing in China by the BuyAssociation website.

According to the online portal, the country could be a "very, very good" place to consider, especially in the wake of the Beijing Olympics

India's foreign exchange reserves at around $286 billion are much above the optimal level, said a recent IMF study, pointing out that forex accumulation has reduced external vulnerabilities and decreased the risk of financial contagion.

India ranks among the other major emerging Asian nations like China, Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan and Thailand which have accumulated excessive foreign exchange reserves, said an IMF working paper on "Are emerging Asia's reserves really too high?". Among the important Asian countries which have near optimal foreign exchange reserves include Singapore, Philippines and Indonesia, it said.

According to the IMF study, as against the optimal reserves of about $175 billion towards the close of 2007, India's forex reserves totalled around $250 billion and continued to swell. The reserve buildup, the study said, has reduced external vulnerabilities in all emerging market economies in Asia and helped in maintaining financial stability in the region as a whole."Not only are individual economies better prepared to weather a sudden stop of capital flows, but the risk of financial contagion in the region may have decreased as a result of the reserve accumulation", the IMF report said.

The study on foreign exchange reserves, which is based on different parameters and ratios like reserves to months of imports, reserves to broad money supply, reserves to GDP, reserves to short-term debt and reserves to total foreign exchange liabilities, showed that India is holding more than optimal reserves on all counts. 

Although foreign exchange reserves equivalent to six to seven months of import bill is considered more than sufficient, India's reserves are much more."The average optimal level of reserves for Asia is estimated at around six months of imports, twice as large as the traditional benchmark (three months). Estimated optimal ratios for Indonesia, India, China, and Taiwan Province of China are above six months", the study said. However, the countries which did not have enough reserves to meet import bill for six months were Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Hong Kong and Vietnam.

As a percentage of gross domestic product, the IMF report said, country's foreign exchange reserves breached the optimal level ahead of China, Korea and Thailand."For instance, China's reserves before 2004 had not reached the optimal level predicted by the model, and India breached the threshold in 2003", the study said. While Korea crossed the optimal level mark in 2004, Thailand did it in 2005. Similarly, other important parameters like country's foreign exchange reserves as a percentage of broad money supply (total money in circulation), short-term external debt and gross external liabilities suggest that India's reserves are in a comfortable zone.

Monsoon tourism has become a huge hit with the domestic travellers as they refuse to get away from beaches even in the heavy rains.Goa's beaches remains flooded with the tourists, even though visiting the coastal state during wet spell was the idea initially disagreed by them. The State Government, therefore, launched the monsoon tourism initiative.

The tourism industry which expects thumbs down for the official tourist season, which will begin two months later, is witnessing large number of domestic visitors usually on the weekends.
The number of domestic visitors has soared in Goa with State Government officials indicating that this is a good omen for the tourism industry which had kept its fingers crossed over the next season. Our hotels are full. In cities like Panaji, Margao and even Mapusa, the hotels have 100 per cent accommodations," Elvis Gomes, Managing Director, Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC), stated.

The state government-run GTDC owns 13 properties across the state including one at Calangute, which is chock-a-block, due to its location just on the beach.

The state saw unprecedented rush by domestic tourists this weekend, which had three days holiday following Independence Day.

The tourist places like Boat cruise spots, beaches and city markets were abuzz with the tourists who even braved the heavy rains to enjoy their holiday. The tourism officials feel that such a huge inflow has come as a surprise for the industry which is feeling the pinch of being expensive destination.

Goa's leading tour operators' union, Travel and Tourism Association of Goa, has anticipated 20 per cent shortfall in the tourism, beginning from October. The charter flights arrivals is also expected to crush down.

"The state should not have an issue with this as it is already a popular destination amongst the domestic travelers," a tourism official stated.

Goa attracts 25 lakh tourists, of which 21 lakh are domestic travelers who visit here from different states, most of them being from neighbouring Maharashtra and Karnataka.
"There is a wrong notion which is being portrayed that international tourists spend much and they check in the five star hotels. There is a large number of domestic clienteles who spend more then the average international traveler. There are Gujarati and north Indian guests who prefer five star hotels," a tourism official stated.

While the State Government is fighting back the drowning death menace in the monsoon, there is a huge rush on the beaches, which are right now sans lifeguards.

"The process of recruiting lifeguards is on and it will drastically reduce the deaths due to drowning on the beaches.. We have already launched an awareness campaign to educate visitors about hazards of swimming in choppy sea," Lindon Monteiro, officer on special duty to tourism minister, Fransisco Pacheco, said.

Property prices in the last two years alone have increased by 70 percent as the world’s second-fastest growing economy continues to gather pace. A report by investment bank Goldman Sachs went so far as to suggests India could overtake Britain as the world’s fifth largest economy within a decade, and by mid-century, may even surpass the US to become the world’s second biggest economy after China.

A spokesperson for investment firm David Stanley Redfern Ltd observed: “India is already achieving GDP of US $1.50 trillion. And bolstered by strong domestic demand, economic growth, corporate strength and huge spending on infrastructure, India’s property market is expected to be relatively unaffected by the global credit crisis.

”This strong economic growth is partly a reflection of India’s unique demographics; - over half the current population is under 25 – by 2015, India’s middle class alone will be 983 million. By 2020, the country will hold the world’s largest population of workers and consumers.

”It is this huge mass of ambitious young Indians who are rejecting the traditions of living at home in favour of their own property. And with the number of people earning more than $5,000 a year set to double to around 20 million in the next two years, demand for small apartments is expected to mushroom”.