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The Paradoxes Of EU Agricultural Policy
The European Union is among the world’s top five exporters of agricultural products with USA, Brazil, China and Argentina, and it is among the world’s top five importers of agricultural products with USA, China, Japan and Russia. Agriculture is one of the most important sectors of social and economic development within the EU. Over the years, the aims of EU agricultural policy have been to develop a competitive economy and create harmony among EU Countries. However, the result of this work has been a fragmented, contradictory, and unworkable legislative framework that threatens economic disaster. A review on the paradoxes of European agricultural policies will be published soon on the Journal Trends in Plant Science . In this review, the authors present case studies, in which the differences in the regulation applied to food grown in EU Countries and to the same imported products are noted. The highlighted differences show that the EU is hampering its own competitiveness in agriculture and consequently damaging both the EU and its humanitarian activities in the developing world. The review is especially focused on genetically engineered crops. It is not clear why the common agricultural policy (CAP) establishes restrictive measures for EU agricultural productions but the same measures are not observed for the same products imported from the countries where genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are authorized and thresholds of mycotoxines are lower. This is only one of the several paradoxes of the EU agricultural policy that, giving strict thresholds only to its own productions, is reducing the competitiveness of European agricultural on the world market. Another example of political inefficiency regards the subsidies policy that has a positive effect in short time but is not a significant tool to develop a competitive economy in the long term. The authors underline the need to implement the biotechnological findings, to harmonize and rationalize the common policy on both the EU production and genetically engineered crops importation, to harmonize the current measures of Member States and reduce the differences among them, to decentralize the rural economy measures and allow the farmers to use cost-saving technologies that can enhance the sustainability of the agricultural systems, etc. Finally, the authors conclude recommending the adoption of rational, science-based strategies to harmonize the different agricultural policies to prevent the economic decline and the reduction of living quality across the European Union. Source: Masip G., Sabalza M., Perez-Massot E., Banakar R., Cebrian D., Twyman R.M., Capell T., Albajes R., Christou P., ‘ Paradoxical EU agricultural policies on genetically engineered crops ’, Trends in Plant Science , 2013, in press. Publication date: 5/9/2013 Author: Emanuela Fontana Continue reading
House Prices Rise £383 Per Day In Prime Central London
House prices rise £383 per day in prime Central London Friday 10th May 2013 Home owners in prime Central London are currently benefiting from price growth of £383 per day, the equivalent of a return air fare to New York City or Dubai, reports property consultant Cluttons in its latest Residential Investment Monitor Q1 2013. Following a slowdown in both the sales and lettings markets during Q4 2012, the prime Central London residential market has turned a corner, with positive growth recorded across all London regions. Values rose by 2.3% during the first quarter, taking the annualised increase to 6.8%, just ahead of the long run average of 6.7% per annum. Consequently, the average price of a flat in prime Central London breached the £1million mark for the first time, while the average price for prime residential property as a whole reached a new historic high of £1.53million in Q1, leaving prices 6.1% above the previous market peak of Q3 2007. This translates to an average increase of £383 per day. The best performing London region was Central North West, incorporating St John’s Wood, Hampstead, Maida Vale, Regent’s Park and Highbury & Islington, which showed price growth of 4.5%, pushing values above the £1.5million mark for the first time. Central West on the other hand, incorporating Hyde Park, Notting Hill, Kensington, Holland Park, Mayfair, Paddington and Marylebone saw the smallest increase of 1% over the quarter, which pushed average prices to £2.36million. Sue Foxley, Head of Research at Cluttons, said: “Prime Central London is once again experiencing robust price growth, driven primarily by the supply drought and strong domestic demand, aided by a greater take up of the historically low mortgage rates. To access property while also securing long-term capital value growth, buyers are looking to the edge of core locations with good transport links such as Clapham, Highbury and Canary Wharf, which in turn are benefiting from upward pressure on prices. “The prime London market appears to have successfully withstood the worst of the economic turbulence and continues to outperform the rest of the UK, albeit with relatively subdued levels of growth when compared to the years leading up to the recession.” Continue reading
Miami Price
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/556a2266-b334-11e2-b5a5-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz2TQjHFljI By David Kaufman The city’s prime property market is thriving – but is the bubble about to burst? Back in 1991, Columbia University sociologist Saskia Sassen coined the term “global city” to describe an urban area crucial to the world’s overall economic, cultural and political development. Although Sassen initially wrote of cities such as London, Tokyo and New York, 20 years later she declared Miami to be one of the era’s most “exceptional” example of global city growth. Nothing better confirms Sassen’s observations than Miami’s rapidly ascendant real estate market. Hard-hit by oversupply and underfinancing after the 2008 crash, Miami has not merely survived, but is now thriving at record levels. Last summer, a 10-bedroom/30,000 sq ft compound on Miami’s Indian Creek Island sold for a record $47m; while in March, US “infomercial” entrepreneur Ajit Khubani reportedly paid $34m for a 16,000 sq ft penthouse at developer Ian Schrager’s 26-unit Miami Beach Edition project – a record for a Florida condominium. An 18,253 sq ft penthouse is now on sale for $50m at nearby Faena House, where 45 condominiums are being designed by Foster + Partners, and a 17,000 sq ft penthouse on top of South Beach’s 10-year-old south tower of Continuum is now listed for $39m. “Unlike before the recession, luxury Miami developers are building far fewer ‘mass-market’ projects with hundreds or even thousands of units,” says Peter Zalewski, of local property consultancy Condo Vultures. “They’re focusing on maximum pricing rather than maximum capacity.” Such figures represent the top end of the Miami market but prime property values have grown at all levels, from Atlantic-front South Beach across to Downtown and the Miami Design District, northward to Mid-Beach and up to Sunny Isles Beach. Indeed, agent Knight Frank says high-end Miami real estate prices rose by 19.5 per cent last year – the highest in North America and the fourth highest in the world, after Dubai, Bali and Jakarta. Prime Miami real estate (defined by Knight Frank as the top five per cent of the market) now averages between $1,300 and $1,440 per sq ft, with average sector condominiums now $1.57m and single-family homes $2.02m, according to a mid-April report by Douglas Elliman Real Estate. The firm says Miami’s high-end market begins at $730,000 for condominiums, and $850,000 for single-family homes. Already costlier than metropolises such as Tokyo or Mumbai, Miami prices are predicted by Knight Frank to grow by five to 10 per cent this year as more buyers enter an increasingly shrinking premium property pool. Although domestic buyers, particularly New Yorkers, have shown interest in the highest-end projects such as Faena House and Edition, foreign buyers – notably Brazilians, Argentines and Venezuelans – remain the strongest players in Miami. Last year, foreigners comprised some 60 per cent of the city’s total market, according to the Miami Association of Realtors. “Certain key prime markets have bounced back stronger than ever and Miami is one of them,” says James Price, Knight Frank’s head of international residential development. “Aided by international buyers, the level of [over]supply that had brought the market down has completely reversed itself.” A recent report by realtor Douglas Elliman found that Miami’s property inventory shrunk 12.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2013 compared with 2012 – and a full 30 per cent from 2011. The number of distressed properties – the short-sales and foreclosures that dominated recession-era sales – fell nearly 25 per cent from last year and almost 50 per cent since late 2010. Today, says Ron Shuffield, head of Christie’s affiliate EWM Realty International, Miami’s property inventory hovers between four and six months, well below the nine to 12 month threshold required to maintain market health. “Building in Miami came to a near-halt for almost five years,” he says. “We have a substantial number of projects being built but they’re still two to three years from completion.” According to CVR Realty, across South Florida nearly 125 towers with 17,700 units are either under construction or in the development stages – nearly half in Miami itself. As in New York, Miami developers are associating many of their highest-end projects with top architects: Foster’s Faena House, John Pawson at Edition, Denmark’s Bjarke Ingels at the Grove at Grand Bay, Mexican Enrique Norten at South Beach’s One Ocean and 321 Ocean, Zaha Hadid’s One Thousand Museum and Herzog & de Meuron at Jade Signature. Developers are also thinking bigger: units at Hadid’s building will reportedly start at roughly 4,500 sq ft, while apartments at Norten’s One Ocean average roughly 3,000 sq ft. “Buyers want larger spaces; simpler spaces that are functional from moment one,” says Edgardo Defortuna, founder of Fortune International, which is building Jade Signature. “Adding a name like Herzog & de Meuron takes it to the next level” – and adds roughly 20 per cent to the price. With dozens of new projects now in development and apartments at Edition and Faena now topping $3,000 per sq ft, Miami’s undersupply could shift into overabundance – or at least overpricing. “The ingredients and conditions are certainly there for another bubble,” says Condo Vulture’s Zalewski. “Two-thirds of all Miami sales are still under $300,000, so it’s hard to see the highest prices continuing to appreciate at such rapid rates.” Yet with prices still 37 per cent below their pre-recession peak, local agents say Miami may even be undervalued – at least compared with premium markets in London, Hong Kong or New York. Meanwhile, bank financing has now become far scarcer across the US, helping Miami’s market to develop what Shuffield calls “its own set of checks and balances” to ensure new projects remain solvent. “The bulk of new condo buyers are purchasing in cash – with deposits of 50 to 70 per cent. These new terms are giving the market far greater stability.” ——————————————- Buying guide ● Florida has no restrictions on foreign ownership – but the US Internal Revenue Service levies a 10 per cent withholding tax on foreign-owned property ● Florida accounts for 26 per cent of all sales to foreigners in the US, says the National Association of Realtors ● Florida is one of nine US states with no personal income tax ● Of the 22,000 pre-recession condos built in downtown Miami only 600 remain unsold What you can buy for: $500,000 A two-bedroom/two-bathroom 1,129 sq ft apartment in a five-year-old building in Miami’s Downtown ($515,000) $1m A two-bedroom/ two-bathroom apartment at the Palau at Sunset Harbour, which opens in 2014 ($1.059m) $5m A two-bedroom/ two-bathroom, 2,338 sq ft condo at Faena House with 1,190 sq ft of outdoor space ($5.15m) Continue reading
