Bullish Consumers, Rising Home Prices Brighten U.S. Growth Picture

 Lucia Mutikani

 

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.S.  consumer confidence surged to a six-year high in March and house prices increased solidly in January, positioning the economy for stronger growth after a weather-induced soft spot.

The upbeat outlook, however, was dimmed somewhat by other data on Tuesday showing new home sales at a five-month low in February, partly because of cold temperatures.

"The economy is showing signs of shaking off the weather effect. We are going to get a big lift to second-quarter growth from the weather," said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody's Analytics in West Chester Pennsylvania.

The Conference Board said its index of consumer attitudes rose to 82.3 from 78.3 in February. That is the highest level since January 2008, just as recession started to take hold, and it beat economists' expectations for a reading of only 78.6.

Power Supply: IKEDC To Inject N600m To Improve Electricity Supply

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n a bid to ensure customers satisfaction, the Management of Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) has promised to inject about N600 million into the system to improve electricity supply through the ongoing projects within its network.

Abiodun Ajifowobaje ,  managing director and  chief executive of the  company gave the assurance during the zone customer’s forum in Lagos.

According to him the board has approved about N600 million for quick intervention on transformers installations and pre-paid meter installation, which has begun under the pilot metering schemes.

“Our board under the quick “ win-win’’ intervention  approved about N600 million for us to do all projects including metering, commissioning of transformers projects that are ongoing, installation of vandalised transformers, re-metering and some overhead line clearance which often cause network disability,” Ajifowobaje said.

How Lagos Is Repositioning Varsity With Super-Structures

Odinaka Mbonu

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y the end of 2015, the Lagos State government would have succeeded in repositioning the Lagos State University (LASU), making it an enviable citadel of learning with a wide range of super-structures and top grade amenities.

Facilities being put in place in the university include a modern central library, a befitting senate building, a functional radio station operating from the school’s main campus, and many other structures that are already at advanced stages of construction.

“These structures are strictly financed by the state government and are aimed at meeting the physical needs of the students,” Obafemi Hamzat, the state commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, disclosed to newsmen during a tour of the construction sites at the campus in Ojo, Lagos.

Other structures expected in the school include students’ union arcade, a lecture theatre for Law students and a prototype of two- and three-bedroom apartments of the state’s Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme (HOMS) house types.

As Credit Tightens At Home, Chinese Sell Hong Kong Luxury Real Estate

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ash-strapped Chinese are scrambling to sell their luxury homes in Hong Kong, and some are knocking up to a fifth off the price for a quick sale, as a liquidity crunch looms on the mainland.

Wealthy Chinese were blamed for pushing up property prices in the former British territory, where they accounted for 43 percent of new luxury home sales in the third quarter of 2012, before a tax hike on foreign buyers was announced.

The rush to sell coincides with a forecast 10 percent drop in property prices this year as the tax increase and rising borrowing costs cool demand. At the same time, credit conditions in China have tightened. Earlier this week, the looming bankruptcy of a Chinese property developer owing 3.5 billion yuan ($565.25 million) heightened concerns that financial risk was spreading.

"Some of the mainland sellers have liquidity issues - say, their companies in China have some difficulties - so they sold the houses to get cash," said Norton Ng, account manager at a Centaline Property real estate office close to the China border, where luxury houses costing up to HK$30 million ($3.9 million) have been popular with mainland buyers.

Default Risks Trigger Fresh Fears Over China Property Market

Ansuya Harjani

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hina's property sector is the main threat to the stability of the world's number-two economy, say economists, amid slowing growth in home prices and reports that a large mainland property developer is unable to repay its bank loans.

"As demand slows, more and more developers will feel financial strain. I'm concerned the default will trigger a string of similar distressed situations across weaker companies in the property sector," said Dariusz Kowalczyk, senior economist and strategist at Credit Agricole.

"Banks are heavily exposed to the property sector, so if there are a large number of defaults, banks would have set aside more funds for bad loans and would likely have to slow credit expansion. If those defaults make banks more risk averse, this would only slow growth further, as China's growth is funded by debt," he added.

Average new home prices in major Chinese cities rose 8.7 percent on year in February, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday, cooling from a 9.6 percent rise in the previous month.

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nfrastructure investment - Chinese companies are building roads and upgrading railways, ports and airports.

Source: EIU Growing African Cities Report 2013

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rbanisation - Half of all Africans are under 20, and are rapidly moving to cities: more than 40% of Africans now live in urban areas.

Source: EIU Growing African Cities Report 2013

Will Housing Bloom Again This Spring?

Nick Timiraos

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he housing market is off to a sluggish start as the spring sales season arrives. In Monday’s WSJ, I wrote about an unexpected culprit: rising home prices.

That rising home prices are the latest trial for U.S. housing markets might sound a little odd. After all, policy makers have spent much of the last six years trying to break a vicious downdraft in prices, and few predicted that home prices would rise as rapidly as they have once they hit bottom.

Home prices turned up beginning two years ago as more buyers chased a shrinking supply of homes. Falling mortgage rates initially allowed Americans to swallow rising prices because their monthly ownership cost was mostly unchanged.

But that ended last summer, when mortgage rates shot up by a full percentage point. Now, buyers faced a one-two hit of higher rates on top of higher prices. Investors, meanwhile, pulled back because higher prices meant there were fewer bargains.

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y December 2014, the dust will have settled on infrastructure built for the year’s big sporting events, but a mighty new construction project will just be starting in Nicaragua. So, at least insists HKND Group, the Hong Kong company with a 50-year concession to build and run the Nicaragua canal. This would serve as a link between the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans, with a supposed price tag of $40billion (a rough guess, really). A backlash is already evident. Opposition politicians object on constitutional grounds. Others say there is already a serviceable link between the Pacific and Atlantic shipping routes, the Panama Canal, which is one third the length. Environmentalists have their own concerns. Results of a feasibility study are still pending. None of these seems to bother the mysterious Chinese company behind the project. Those who fret about China’s growing influence in America’s back yard may recall that a century ago the United States flirted with building a canal across Nicaragua. It opted for Panama instead.

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To become a country’s richest man is challenging, all the more so when you have 1.3 billion compatriots. China’s Wang Jianlin, the son of a Red Army veteran and chairman of Dalian Wanda group, a property and leisure conglomerate he built from scratch, managed just that after amassing a fortune put at $14.1billion by Forbes. This is a story bound for Hollywood in more ways than one. Bold foreign acquisitions have turned Wanda into the world’s biggest cinema operator, as well as swelling a portfolio of shopping plazas and hotels. Mr Wang recently unveiled an $8.2billion cultural-tourism city in Wuxi. Western entertainment firms should prepare for competition from a big fish called Wanda.