Construction Maison

After a UBS housing report pointed to as many as one in four homes owned offshore by mainland Chinese buyers being kept empty, and a further quarter used on a "temporary" basis, experts have been quick to say the results do not apply to Australian real estate . Among the naysayers is Jane Lu, head of Australia for Chinese international property site Juwai . She said there was "no hard data" and called the idea of vacant apartments held by offshore buyers as an "urban myth". "Most Chinese buyers of inner- city apartments are not so wealthy that they can afford to leave their property vacant ??? rather than renting it and earning some sort of income. There are some who do not live there full-time, because it is their second home. " Chinese investors are no more likely to turn down easy rent money than are Australians ... Australian second-home owners probably have more vacant properties in Ballina and Byron Bay than Chinese investors do...

San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin has asked the city attorney to explore legislation to impose a vacancy tax on large property owners who leave residential and commercial buildings empty . During a supervisors meeting this month, Peskin said he continues to receive complaints about the impact of “ghost buildings” on neighborhoods. The problem is, nobody really knows how many vacant homes there are in the city and whether a vacancy tax would be legal or effective in freeing up much-needed housing. In an interview, Peskin cited a 28- unit apartment building at 1656 Powell St. that was vacated after a fire damaged some units in December 2013. It remains empty. The three-story building is in a prime North Beach location across from Washington Square Park . Four businesses on the building’s ground floor — a liquor store, a bar, a Thai restaurant and a seafood restaurant — are open, but the apartments above still have boarded-up windows and a littered lobby. Some work was done in the...

Tickets for front row seats are available for Monday’s historical solar eclipse — they’re just on someone’s front lawn or a dirt patch in the middle of nowhere. Savvy property owners along the 70-mile “path of totality”—where the nation’s solar eclipse will provide a total black-out—are cashing in on the once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon and putting their backyards, front yards, farm land and empty apartments up for rent on AirBnb for the busy event. And they don’t come cheap. For $500 a night, astronomy nerds can camp out in a “fenced in” family backyard in Lincoln, Nebraska — tent not included. Apartment and home rentals in the area typically go for as low as $32 a night on a regular weekend. In another ad, a dusty dirt patch in Hopkinsville, Kentucky — a prime eclipse viewing area — is available for $400 a night. “ 1 acre flat level graveled lot . No trees to block view, large area to have camp fire. Could hold up to 20 tents for camping, or parking for 40 vehicles,” the ad reads....