Latest news with #Engel&Völkers
Canada News.Net
02-08-2025
- Business
- Canada News.Net
Tower Fire triggers mass evictions from partitioned Dubai apartments
DUBAI, U.A.E.: In the shadow of Dubai's gleaming towers and opulent penthouses, authorities have launched a sweeping campaign against illegal subletting, ordering thousands to vacate makeshift dwellings in overcrowded apartment buildings. The clampdown follows a major fire in June at a 67-story residential tower, which forced the evacuation of more than 3,800 residents. Officials blamed partitioned units for contributing to fire hazards and have begun aggressively enforcing housing regulations. Egyptian migrant worker Hesham has lived in a two-bedroom flat carved up to fit 10 men. His "room" is a closet-sized space barely wide enough for a mattress. At US$270 a month, it was all he could afford — until now. For low-paid migrant workers who power Dubai's service and construction sectors, the campaign has triggered panic. Many now fear eviction or fines, with no clear alternative for affordable housing in a city built for the wealthy. "We don't know what we'll do," said Hesham, 44, a salesman who spoke to the Associated Press under a first-name-only condition, fearing reprisals. "We don't have any other choice." Dubai's population has surged to nearly four million and is projected to reach 5.8 million by 2040. Much of the city's real estate boom caters to affluent expatriates, with luxury high-rises and million-dollar properties multiplying. According to real estate firm Knight Frank, nearly 20 percent of homes in Dubai were worth more than $1 million as of last year. Meanwhile, short-term rental prices are forecast to rise another 18 percent by the end of 2025. That growth has left a large portion of the city's residents — mostly migrants from Asia and Africa — priced out of legal housing. Many earn just $300 to $550 a month, and rely on partitioned flats or communal bunk-bed arrangements that cost as little as $100. By contrast, a one-bedroom legal unit averages around $1,400 a month, per Engel & Völkers. Migrant workers typically send a significant portion of their earnings home, leaving them with little for housing. While UAE law mandates employers to provide accommodation for workers earning under $400 monthly, many are employed informally, beyond the reach of regulation. "The crackdown will raise housing costs and create a lot of stress for people whose lives are already precarious," said Steffen Hertog, a Gulf labor expert at the London School of Economics. The June blaze that triggered the latest crackdown occurred in Dubai Marina, an upscale district. Police reported 532 occupied units in the tower — an average of seven people per apartment. While no significant injuries were reported, the incident highlighted the risks of over-occupied and partitioned homes. A deadlier fire in 2023 in Dubai's old Deira neighborhood claimed 16 lives and injured nine more. That apartment, too, had been illegally subdivided. Dubai Municipality issued a statement saying the new inspections are intended to "ensure the highest standards of public safety" and improve tenants' quality of life. It did not respond to questions about where displaced low-income residents are expected to go. For Ebony, a 28-year-old migrant from Ghana, the crackdown meant losing her shared loft space — a plywood bunk above a narrow cot. "They said we had to leave immediately," she recalled. "Now I sleep on a friend's floor. I don't know what comes next." With begging outlawed, labor unions banned, and no minimum wage guarantees, workers like Ebony and Hesham are left in limbo. Dubai's shimmering skyline offers little shelter for those who built it.
Chicago Tribune
15-07-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Wheaton 7-bedroom mansion with Tudor facade and 7 gables: $2M
Address: 141 Loretto Court, Wheaton Listed: June 17, 2025 Price: $1,995,000 Listing agent: Jennifer Ames and Lisa Grimes, Engel & Völkers, 312-440-7565 This 1897 Wheaton property built by architect Jarvis Hunt is called the House of Seven Gables and was commissioned as a wedding gift by Chicago steel magnate Jay Morse. Later known as the Loretto Convent, the mansion has a Tudor facade, hand-carved woodwork and seven distinctive gables. In 2017, the entire 10,000-square-foot, 730-ton structure was relocated 500 feet and placed on a new foundation. The house now has modern infrastructure, all-new mechanicals, including zoned central heating and air conditioning, and public utilities. In the Loretto subdivision, the home has seven bedrooms, six full bathrooms, one half-bath and a newly built, attached three-car garage. There is also an unfinished lower level with 10-foot ceilings. Some listing photos are 'virtually staged,' meaning they have been digitally altered to represent different furnishing or decorating options. To feature your luxury listing of $1,000,000 or more in Chicago Tribune's Dream Homes, send listing information and high-res photos to ctc-realestate@
Chicago Tribune
10-07-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Lakeview 5-bedroom home with limestone facade: $2M
Address: 822 W. Oakdale Ave., Chicago Listed: June 23, 2025 Price: $1,995,000 Listing agent: Jennifer Ames, Engel & Völkers, 312-440-7565 This five-bedroom Lakeview greystone with 3½ bathrooms has a limestone facade, a black slate turret and a landscaped front garden. The kitchen has stainless steel and marble countertops, dual sinks, high-gloss lacquered cabinetry and a custom oversized island. The kitchen opens to a rear terrace with a louvered retractable roof, infrared heaters, irrigated planters, stacked stone privacy walls, a built-in grill, a wall-mounted television and a natural gas fire pit. Upstairs are four bedrooms, including a primary suite, two full baths, an office and a laundry center. The lower level includes a large recreation room, a guest suite with a full bath, a laundry room and a bonus space currently used as a workshop. The house also has two fireplaces, solid-core doors, architectural lighting, Lutron Pico motorized blinds, landscape lighting and a two-car garage. Some listing photos are 'virtually staged,' meaning they have been digitally altered to represent different furnishing or decorating options. To feature your luxury listing of $1,000,000 or more in Chicago Tribune's Dream Homes, send listing information and high-res photos to ctc-realestate@
Irish Examiner
30-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Keys to the Kingdom at €650k developer's former home in Caherdaniel
HOUSING developers aren't known for living in modest homes. Given their stock-in-trade is putting roofs over people's heads, it wouldn't look great if their own properties were demonstrably shoddy. To build confidence in a product and in your own reputation, it's wise to make plain that you're happy to road test your own creation. The woman who bought this Caherdaniel home in Co Kerry eight or so years took it as a good sign that a developer had built it and was also happy to spend his downtime in it. 'I believe he was a developer in Dublin who built it as his own holiday home,' she says, adding that 'he didn't skimp on anything'. 'It was built at the height of the Celtic Tiger, but it wasn't one of those homes that was thrown up. It's a very high-quality build,' the owner says. As any developer worth his salt will tell you, location is everything, and the chap who picked his spot on the Iveragh Peninsula knew in his heart that it doesn't get much better. The holy trinity of mountains, coast and captivating views is hard to beat. Coad, Caherdaniel Moreover, the site had great privacy, in a cul-de-sac, just off the consistently busy, peerlessly scenic Ring of Kerry, and within a short drive of a handful of villages: Castlecove (c five mins), Caherdaniel (eight mins); Sneem (15 mins). Westcove Pier, ideal for swimming, is 15 minutes on foot. Westcove Pier The current owner of this home in the townland of Coad, Caherdaniel, Westcove, was well acquainted with the natural beauty of the landscape when she made the purchase. 'I bought in an area that I knew very well in my childhood and into my 20s. I grew up in London, but my mother was Irish and we always came here for our summer holidays. 'I bought the house very much as a holiday home, with lots of space for family and friends and for entertaining. Open plan kitchen with views of Kenmare Bay 'There was lots of room for people to stay over and even a separate games' room for the kids. It's been perfect,' the owner says. She's used it as a permanent home these past few years and says the area is very nice off-season too. 'It's a great community, and it's not just people coming on holiday. There's lots to do, like books clubs and coffee mornings. I've been living here full-time but it's time now for a new family to enjoy it,' she says. If a family was to buy it as a permanent home, there's a national school in Caherdaniel village and a secondary school in Caherciveen. At almost 2,700 sq ft, it's a fairly capacious home, laid out in a way that seaviews are on display from all the main daytime living accommodation and from two of the four upstairs bedrooms. Open plan dining/living/kitchen Selling agent Ron Krueger of Engel & Völkers says the main open-plan living area is a 'wonderful space, ideal for entertaining' — which it patently is. Natural light floods through floor-to-ceiling windows which frame radiant Kenmare Bay. Across the water is the beautiful Beara Peninsula, cleaved by the Caha Mountain range. Two sets of French doors lead to a terrace, which overlooks the lawn and down towards the bay. It's tailor-made for barbecues. Mr Krueger says the location is 'a haven for outdoor enthusiasts'. Beaches abound and there are Blue Flags everywhere: O'Carrolls Cove; White Strand; renowned Derrynane. Closer to home, Westcove Pier has a modern slipway and safe moorings for boats of all sizes in a tranquil harbour. Fishing opportunities are rife along the coastline. The peninsula has a trio of golf courses, including Waterville links, which attracts a global elite. The Kerry Way hiking path passes a few hundred meters from the front door. When you're done with all the activity, you can kick back in comfort, by the wood burning stove in the lounge area of the open plan space, or outside on the elevated terrace, or on the separate patio by the games room. Games road Lounge If you're too tired to venture upstairs — where two of four bedrooms are en suite with walk-in wardrobes — you can use the downstairs bedroom (there's also a downstairs wet room) — which a new owner may put to another use, such as a study or home office. The separate games room, on the opposite side of a feature arch in the grounds of the house (with storage on the other side), could also be adapted. It has running water. A home gym or artist's studio are other possible uses. As the Iveragh Peninsula is an internationally recognised beauty spot, favoured by visitors, the chances of this home going to an overseas buyer are high. Mr Krueger says they are expecting interest 'very much from within Ireland but also from overseas'. 'So far we've had both Irish interest and enquiries from the US, with showings due to start this week,' the agent says. His guide price for the impressive property is €650,000. Cork and Kerry airports are two hours and one-and-a-half hours away respectively, by car. Kenmare town is a 45-minute drive. VERDICT: Location and setting will get pulses racing among buyers searching for the ultimate holiday bolthole. Overseas interest is a given because of where it is. The quality of the build will also appeal to those looking for a permanent home.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Florida's pandemic housing boom is over. Are we headed toward a crash?
For a time, Tampa Bay was one of the hottest housing markets in the country. But falling prices and lagging sales across the Sunshine State signal a stark reversal from the pandemic-fueled home buying boom. 'People were getting used to making huge profits on their houses in a short period of time,' said Michael Wyckoff managing broker of Engel & Völkers Madeira Beach. 'That's slowing down.' The number of homes sold in the Tampa Bay metro area remained flat year over year, but dropped about 20% since 2022, from when the market was booming. That's according to preliminary April data from a subsidiary of the real estate firm, CoStar Group. Counties that were badly hit by Hurricanes Helene and Milton faced even greater losses. Since last year, sales decreased by 8% in Hillsborough County and almost 13% in Pinellas, according to April data from Suncoast Association of Realtors. Homes are taking longer to sell. The median time a home spends on market is now between 70 and 85 days. Though that's on par with what we've seen historically, Michelle Rumore, senior director of market analytics for CoStar said it's a far cry from the Covid-19 era, when homes stayed on the market for about 40-50 days. More available homes and fewer interested buyers has caused prices across Tampa Bay to decrease for four consecutive months. The median home price now hovers around $365,000, according to That's almost a 3% decrease from this time last year and about a 5% decrease from June 2024 when prices peaked at $385,000. Prices for the country as a whole are actually rising slightly. April saw a 1.3% year over year increase, marking four months of price growth, data shows. Florida's housing market is unique because so many people moved here during Covid-19, said Rumore. But now that migration has slowed down, 'the rubber band effect is just a little more apparent here than in other markets,' she said. Even though prices are coming down slightly, that's not enough to entice buyers who are facing higher mortgage rates, insurance costs and overall economic uncertainty, said Lei Wedge, professor of Finance at the University of South Florida's Muma College of Business. Wyckoff said during the pandemic, interest rates were artificially lowered to boost the economy. He believes that buyers will eventually adjust to the new normal. 'If you were to look over the last 50 years, 7% is not a terrible mortgage rate,' he said. Though the market has cooled, that doesn't necessarily mean a crash is on the horizon. What's unfolding now is a 'slow correction,' Wedge said. That's different from the major slashes in prices that took place after the 2008 financial crisis. She believes there may be a slight oversupply of housing in the local market right now. 'You had all the builders jumping in when the market was hot,' she said. 'By the time they're done building, we don't have as many people moving to Tampa.' The good news is, this gives buyers a bit more leverage. Wyckoff said he's seeing more sellers agree to cover closing costs, inspections, repairs and other concessions. 'We're in a more balanced market now,' he said.
