Norway and New Zealand topped the first Global Peace Index – the first to rank countries around the world according to their peacefulness. The United Kingdom ranked 49th.

Scoring
121 countries were assessed for ‘peacefulness’ based on 24 indicators, including ease of access to “weapons of minor destruction” (guns, small explosives), military expenditure, local corruption, and the level of respect for human rights.

New Zealand (2nd)
New Zealand’s stable political scene, domestic safety and security, good relations with neighbouring countries, and its lack of internal and external conflicts contributed to its high ranking.

Canada (8th)
Canada was the leading Western Hemisphere nation on the list, coming in eighth.

Australia (25th)
Australia’s internal indicators of peace were comparable to New Zealand’s but it was Australia’s military role in the Iraq which was almost wholly responsible for Australia’s much lower ranking on the index.

America (96th)

America’s ranking was brought down by its current external conflicts, its high jail population and murder rate, and its disproportionately high military expenditure.

The main findings of the Global Peace Index were:

• Peacefulness is linked to factors such as income, schooling and the level of regional integration
• Peaceful countries often shared high levels of transparency of government and low corruption
• Small, stable countries which are part of regional blocs are most likely to get a higher ranking

The Index is the brainchild of Australian IT entrepreneur and philanthropist Steve Killelea.

Countries Most at Peace

Many Britons dream of owning a property in Spain, but research shows that when buying property abroad, only three in ten Britons have a survey carried out.

Banco Halifax Hispania believes that the importance of having a survey carried out cannot be overlooked when buying a property in Spain, as there are a number of things that could go wrong with the property which are not immediately obvious to the untrained eye.

Although surveying fees will increase the purchase cost, this sum is a relatively small price to pay for peace of mind, compared to the expense of trying to sort out unexpected difficulties in the future.

A professional surveyor will be able to identify signs of damage or causes for concern. Finding out about these potential problems at an early stage of buying may even help the renegotiation of a cheaper sales price to reflect the cost of repairs.

Your bank may be able to assist in giving advice regarding purchasing property in Spain. For example, Banco Halifax Hispania has an approved panel of English speaking Spanish surveyors who can assist you during your property purchase. They can also recommend English speaking Spanish solicitors who will ensure that all aspects of the purchase, including planning permission, title deeds and other legal requirements are satisfactory and will investigate the property as thoroughly as possible. They will also be able to carry out searches and legal investigations and check that there are no outstanding debts on the property.

This process is likely to be much smoother if the surveyor in Spain is fluent in English and has local knowledge and experience of acting for British customers. It is also good practice to use an independent solicitor rather than one that has been appointed by the agent that you are buying property from, to protect your best interests.

Australian Housing affordability has fallen to its lowest level yet according to a key measure of the housing market. The March 2007 quarter HIA/Commonwealth Bank Housing Affordability Index is now 10.3 percent lower than at the same time last year.

The index fell for the fourth consecutive quarter due mainly to a 1.3 percent rise in the average price of a first home. The index is now at its lowest level since it was established in 1984.

The Australian monthly loan repayment on a typical first home mortgage rose to $2387 (£985) from $2352 (£971). Mortgage repayments now account for 30.7 percent of an average first home buyer’s income, up 0.2 percentage points on the December 2006 quarter.

HIA managing director Ron Silberberg said, “The housing affordability crisis shows all the signs of structural supply constraints; it is not part of some market cyclical trend that will correct itself. This continuing decline confirms previous calls by HIA for a national response to restore housing affordability.”

All of Australia’s big cities except Melbourne experienced declines in affordability. Perth was the least affordable city. The average house price in Perth rose by 5.6 percent in the March quarter. Hobart was the most affordable city in which to live.

Outside the big cities, affordability fell in all areas except for New South Wales and South Australia. The situation was worst in Western Australia, where the average cost of a first home rose by 10.2 percent.

Immigration has lowered wages in both Canada and the United States says a new study by Statistics Canada.

Canada
The main impact of large numbers of highly-skilled immigrants coming to Canada has been to push down the earnings of highly educated Canadians. Canadians with postgraduate degrees saw their real weekly wages tumble 7 percent between 1980 and 2000.

“It all boils down to the skill mix… Canada gets more skilled immigrants than America and they have a mitigating effect on wage inequality.”

United States
In the United States the opposite has happened. Most immigrants to the USA have been less skilled. The newcomers have depressed the earnings of low-paid Americans and increased the gap relative to the highest-paid.

Different Immigration Policies
According to Statistics Canada, the differences in skill mixes between Canada and the United States have been caused by differences in immigration policies during the last four decades.

Canadian immigration policies since the 1960s have encouraged high-skilled workers to come to the country. During the same period, American immigration policy has emphasised family reunification, resulting in a disproportionate number of low-skilled immigrants.

Significant illegal immigration to the United States since 1965 - an estimated 10.3 million as of 2005 - mostly from Mexico, has also contributed to the tendency for US immigrant workers to be lower-skilled than those who entered Canada.

Immigration to the United States, moreover, has tended to increase the supply of young workers; the opposite has been seen in Canada.

Immigration Numbers
Between 1980 and 2000, immigration increased the male labour force by 13.2% in Canada and 11.1% in the United States. In each country, a migration-induced increase of 10% in the labour supply was associated with a 3% to 4% drop in weekly earnings.

Increasing energy prices and demand have led to consistent growth in Canada’s oil and gas sector in the past 10 years. Canada is now the world’s eighth-largest producer of crude oil, pumping 2.5 million of the world’s 86 million barrels per day. Each barrel fetches $70.00 (U.S.) - an enormous increase on December 2001’s $15.95 per barrel.

Statistics Canada’s Fuelling the Economy looks at trends in Canada’s energy sector over the last ten years and predicts that, as demand continues to rise, oil production will become increasingly profitable in hard-to-reach places like Alberta’s oil sands.

During the past decade oil and gas industry employment has increased faster than Canada’s average - total employment in oil and gas amounted to roughly 300,000 in 2006, up from around 245,000 in 1997. Exploration, extraction and production are responsible for the increase, increasing from 107,000 in 1997 to roughly 177,000 today. The majority (75%) of the jobs are in Alberta.

The impact on wages has been pronounced. In 1997, employees in oil and gas extraction earned 58% more than the average worker. By 2006, this gap had widened to 80%.

Oil and gas extraction workers earned an average of $30.36 (₤14.09) an hour in 2006, compared with the Canadian average of $16.73 (£7.72).

The ‘midstream’ component of the gas and oil industry includes pipelines, rail, truck and tanker transportation, and storage. Just as for oil and gas extraction, workers in these industries are primarily male and have substantially higher average hourly earnings $34.36 (£15.85) than the Canadian average.

The ‘downstream’ component consists of refining and marketing, and includes refineries, gas distribution utilities, oil product wholesalers, service stations and petrochemical companies. Wages averaged $14.78 (£6.82) in this sector.

Jobs in the oil and gas industry are much more likely to be non-unionised and far more likely to be held by full-time, male, workers than average.

Not all of the effects of the oil and gas boom have been positive. Alberta’s infrastructure has not been able to keep up with the rate of growth - leading to housing shortages and overcrowding in schools and hospitals. Additionally, Alberta’s boom has resulted in labour shortages in all industries, driving up wages and prices across the board. However, wage increases in Alberta have still not been sufficient to attract the much-needed labour, and many businesses have had to reduce their hours as a result of staffing shortages.

Despite the stereotypical image of nonchalant, lounging teenagers, Canadian teenagers carry a heavier load than people give them credit for, according to a new study. Compared with nine other countries from the OECD, Canadian teenagers ranked first in terms of average hours spent on unpaid and paid labour during the school week.

Furthermore, averaged over the week, including school and non-school days, teenagers did an average of 7.1 hours of unpaid and paid labour per day in 2005. This 50-hour workweek was virtually the same as that of adult Canadians aged 20 to 64 doing the same activities.

The Statistics Canada study found that the teenagers did an average of 9.2 hours of schoolwork, homework, paid work and housework on school days and 3.5 hours on weekends.

The time teenagers spent on these skill-enhancing activities is arguably a positive investment in their long-term personal and economic well being. However, not surprisingly, the relatively high workloads involved do result in some stress.

For example, 16% considered themselves workaholics, 39% felt under constant pressure to accomplish more than they could handle, and nearly two-thirds (64%) cut back on sleep to get things done.

Also, only 45% of teenagers with high stress reported being very happy and/or very satisfied with life, significantly lower than that of teenagers with little or no stress (around 72%).

After school attendance, homework was the most time-consuming unpaid activity for teenagers, with 60% doing an average of 2 hours and 20 minutes every day.

Family environment is a strong predictor of this activity. Teenagers were significantly more likely to do homework and more of it if both parents had a university education, if they lived in a two-parent intact family (where a divorce has not taken place), and if their parents were foreign-born.

Interestingly, boys with Canadian-born parents did significantly less homework than girls in similar families and less than either girls or boys with immigrant parents. Also important, teenagers with demanding paid jobs (20 hours or more per week) did significantly less homework than those not employed.

Although some studies have shown part-time student employment to be positively linked with personal responsibility, dependability and future productivity, an excess of it can interfere with school. Furthermore, this study shows that teenagers with long paid workweeks reported higher levels of personal stress.

Nearly 4 in 10 teenagers did some housework daily, averaging about one hour. Although overall gender differences have narrowed over the past 20 years, in 2005, girls with immigrant parents did significantly more housework than boys in such families.

The Spanish environment ministry has revealed plans for a pre-emptive strike against plagues of poisonous jellyfish that are expected to blight the coast this summer according to the Times Online. Thousands of holidaymakers were stung last year as the translucent pests washed ashore from Cadiz to the Costa Brava.

“From an environmental point of view, leaving them in the water isn’t a bad solution, because they would be food for other animals, but for the population in general, and bathers in particular, they pose a health problem,” said marine biologist Josep-Maria Gili.

Like other Mediterranean countries, Spain is expecting an onslaught of jellyfish partly because of the decline in natural predators, such as red tuna and turtles. Also, scarce rainfall has meant less cool river water flowing into the sea and, as a consequence, the temperature of the sea around the Spanish costas has risen, which makes it easier for jellyfish to reproduce. The cool fresh water traditionally kept the jellyfish about 20 miles from shore, ecologists say. Last summer 400 bathers were treated in one single day in August for stings at a beach in Benalmadena, Malaga.

Authorities in Murcia have proposed erecting a 21-mile net to protect beaches; other municipalities say they’ll scoop the jellyfish from the sea and dump them in landfill sites.

In Naples, piles of foul-smelling rubbish are piling up in the streets risking disease. According to Mayor Rosa Russo Iervolino, 2,740 tonnes of rubbish have been amassed in the streets of the southern Italian city over the past week. The rubbish is not being collected because there is nowhere to dispose of it.

“The situation is tragic. Summer is approaching and the heat is bound to make things worse,” Iervolino said.

“No one has collected rubbish since Saturday. Bins are overflowing, doing serious damage to our town’s image,” said Lello Staiano, councillor in charge of tourism in Massa Lubrense.

Residents of Naples have begun burning heaps of rubbish that have piled up for more than a week. Fire brigades extinguished more than 150 fires in and around the city overnight. The burning of chemicals has added to the already putrid smell of decomposing refuse.

The latest refuse crisis, a repeat of a similar crisis that at its peak saw residents clash with police three years ago, is due to the fact that the Campania region produces more rubbish than it can dispose of.

Nearby landfills are saturated and residents oppose the construction of new dumps and incinerators, which they say pose a health and environmental health hazard.

The problems are compounded by the fact that the main Villaricca dump is due to close on May 26. Government plans to open four new dumps have so far been blocked by angry residents.

Melbourne is becoming a city split in two, with residents on the city’s fringes forced to spend thousands on petrol while the wealthy move into areas with the best public transport, according to a leading transport planner says the Melbourne Age.

Peter Newman, Murdoch University academic, told Melbourne’s annual Metropolitan Planning Summit that Melbourne’s average outer-suburban residents use more than three times as much petrol as inner-city residents.

Cheap housing on Melbourne’s fringes is not as cheap as it seems, because poor public transport access in many recently built areas of the city impose massive fuel and car costs.

Residents in Melbourne’s “affordable” suburbs, such as Beaconsfield, Pakenham or Officer, were spending up to 36 percent of their income on fuel, according to Dr Newman.

Meanwhile, motorists have been warned they may soon be facing petrol prices of $1.50 a litre in Australian cities. (That’s 62.5 pence per litre.)

Petrol has hit a nine-month high with motorists now paying an average of almost $1.30 (54.2 pence) a litre and price rises are not going to stop, says economist Martin Arnold.

“Around a quarter of Australia’s fuel needs are imported so the Singapore gasoline price hitting a record high is having an obvious flow-on effect to the Australian petrol price,” he said.

When petrol price became an issue of public concern in 2001, Prime Minister, Mr Howard removed the indexation on fuel taxes.

America’s minority population has reached 100.7 million, according to figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau. A year ago, the minority population totalled 98.3 million.

“About one in three U.S. residents is a minority,” said Census Bureau Director Louis Kincannon. “To put this into perspective, there are more minorities in this country today than there were people in the United States in 1910. In fact, the minority population in the U.S. is larger than the total population of all but 11 countries.”

The American population in 1910 was 92.2 million. The overall population of America today is over 300 million.

Four states and the District of Columbia are “majority-minority”. Hawaii leads the nation with a population that is 75 percent minority, followed by the District of Columbia (68 percent), New Mexico (57 percent), California (57 percent) and Texas (52 percent). No other state has a minority population exceeding 42 percent of the total.

Highlights for the various groups:

California has the largest Hispanic population of any state followed by Texas and Florida.

New York has the largest black population followed by Florida and Texas.

California has the largest Asian population and also has the largest population of American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Maine and Vermont have the highest proportion of single-race non-Hispanic whites (96 percent each), followed by West Virginia (94 percent).

A recent article in The Daily Telegraph highlighted that property owners in Spain cannot legally let their property without a special licence. In many areas of Spain, even if the licence is applied for, it is rarely granted.

Of course, property owners cannot know whether a licence will be granted or denied until they apply. If the licence is not granted, the owner can no longer continue renting the property ‘under the radar’ as the vast majority currently do. Hence, most owners never apply for a licence, certain that it will be denied anyway.

This practice may no longer be viable, however, as a fresh crackdown by Spanish tourism and tax authorities over unlicensed apartments and villas threaten homeowners with fines of up to €30,000.

“There are strict conditions before properties are approved for rental to holidaymakers,” says a spokesperson for the Spanish Ministry for Tourism. Properties that are licensed can expect inspections, health and safety checks etc. However, nearly all are not licensed, which means letting them to tourists is illegal.”

Richard Spiegal from holiday rental portal Espana Breaks said, “Most owners would have no problem if the authorities just issued licenses. In fact most would benefit from a set of consistent standards to follow. In Menorca they were taking a more pragmatic approach and allowing people to submit licence applications with every possibility of them getting passed. This means cash for local estate agents/architects (who do the paperwork) and legal renting which means quality tourists. It all depends which approach each region takes.”

Many homeowners rely on holiday rental income to pay the mortgage on their home in Spain. If this source of income is no longer available or worse, carries a real risk of financial penalty, many may be compelled to sell the property itself. Knowing that a property now takes an average of 39 months to sell in Spain, many homeowners face a very difficult choice between :

• Continue to rent and accept the risk of a substantial fine
• Stop renting and apply for a licence to do so legally
• Attempt to sell the property in a difficult market

Richard Spiegal believes that most homeowners would opt to let their property ‘legally’ if given a real option of doing so.

Over two fifths of Britons (42%) are interested in buying property abroad or moving abroad, according to new research from Bank of Scotland International.

When asked where they would most like to live in the world, Britons ranked Australia in the top spot with 10%, followed by New Zealand at 9%. France topped the European destinations with 6% of people wanting to move there, followed by Spain at 5%.

Out of the 42% of people who would like to own property abroad, the largest proportion were based in the South East (18%), followed by the North West and London (10%).

Only 4% of respondents surveyed already owned property abroad.

Where Britons Would Most Like To Live Overseas

A law effectively banning parents from smacking their children has been overwhelmingly passed by New Zealand’s parliament. The new law has closed a legal loophole in New Zealand’s Crimes Act which had allowed “reasonable force” to be used by parents in disciplining a child. Critics of the old law said such a provision had helped acquit parents in child abuse cases.

However, the new bill allows the police to use discretion over whether a parent should be prosecuted or not.

Supporters say the previous law was too lenient, but critics say the new rules intrude too far into family life. The changes have stirred huge concern from the public worried that it will make criminals of parents.

To allay fears, a clause has been added giving police the power “not to prosecute complaints where the offence is considered so inconsequential there is no public interest in proceeding with a prosecution.”

Although police have the power to turn a blind eye to “inconsequential” incidents, opponents of the new law say it does not make clear what that entails.

“The problem with the bill is that while it will allow light smacking, it will do so under circumstances almost impossible to interpret,” Winston Peters, of the New Zealand First Party, said.

The bill’s sponsor, Green Party MP Sue Bradford, said the aim of the new law is to stop child-beaters from using “reasonable force” as a legal defence - and not to prevent a parent from smacking a child.

In public opinion polls the new bill was opposed by 80 percent of New Zealanders. Bob McCoskrie, director of Family First New Zealand said that the new law was now very confusing. After obtaining an opinion from Queen’s Counsel Grant Illingworth, Family First cautioned parents yesterday not to incriminate themselves to police.

Mr McCoskrie said that, under the amendment, parents could still use reasonable force for the purpose of prevention, but not for correction.

“What the QC is saying is that if you ever do get prosecuted for giving a light smack, simply say it was for the purpose of preventing bad behaviour, not correcting bad behaviour, which shows just how ridiculous the law is.”

Smacking is banned in some European countries, but is not in most parts of the world.

Quotable Value has released April’s figures for New Zealand’s housing market. The average price of a house in New Zealand has risen to £136,579 (NZ$366,032). March’s figure was £135,014 (NZ$363,188). New Zealand’s average house prices are not directly comparable with the UK’s because, unlike the UK, the average home in New Zealand is a detached bungalow.

QV spokesperson Blue Hancock said:

“The market has continued unabated over the last month on the back of stronger than anticipated migration and high levels of employment creating steady demand, especially in the lower end of the market. With the higher interest rates and the onset of the winter season, we can expect the market to slow over the coming weeks”

House Prices in New Zealand
Three Months Ending April 2007

* Assumed exchange rate is £1 = NZ$2.68

The Spanish Parliament has passed a law aimed at curbing near out-of-control urban development and spiralling property prices in Spain. For more than a decade, the real-estate boom has seen large-scale housing developments, golf courses and holiday complexes spring up across Spain.

The new legislation will oblige all owners of land in the five years prior to its development to be listed in official documents. In an effort to prevent corruption, senior local government officials will also have to declare their assets.

Spanish housing projects have been plagued by scandals. A number of officials have been arrested recently on allegations of fraud, money laundering and corruption linked to housing projects. In one of the biggest cases, nearly 60 people were arrested in the southern resort of Marbella, including a former mayor.

The government hopes that reducing the number of speculators and the degree of corruption will bring down prices. “With the instruments of this law we have to put the brakes on exorbitant house prices,” Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told parliament.

The new law imposes more stringent checks on projects that would increase a town’s population by more than 20 percent.

The new law also reserves 30 percent of future property development for social housing and allows for planning decisions taken over the past two years to be reviewed under certain circumstances. It will come into force on 1 July.

The average cost of family household bills in Queensland has increased by $175 a week over the past 2 years according to a report by the Australian Sunday Mail. The increases have been caused by rising food prices, electricity bills and the cost of petrol. In the same period take-home pay has risen by about $65 for the average full-time wage earner.

There is concern that there may be more price increases in the near future. Food production has been cut by the drought and grocery prices, especially for fresh fruit and vegetables, will rise dramatically this winter. Electricity prices may increase by up to 10 percent this year, adding $130 a year to the average power bill as the State Government raises the minimum tariff. Water shortages could push power costs even higher.

Tuscany is littered with traditional, stone-built, crumbling houses, which are ripe for renovation says Channel 4’s Grand Designs. They are charming and offer perfect peace and quiet in beautiful countryside. Renovating or building in Italy, however, is not without its difficulties.

Over 20,000 Britons live in Italy, many in Tuscany, and most have discovered that Italian law is is riddled with complex planning regulations. Planning law dictates that you have to return ruins back to the condition they were in before the building fell into disrepair.

Buildings in the countryside have to blend in with existing homes and it is difficult to obtain planning permission for extensions or to make alterations such as changing window shapes or adding a pool. Even if you are building from new you have to build in a style that gently blends in with the existing homes and landscape.

When building or renovating in Italy, you will need experts to help you with the process.

• You will need a good estate agent, one who is properly licensed and has special indemnity insurance. The local chamber of commerce will have a list of licensed estate agents in the area.
• It is a good idea to put aside 20 percent of the purchase price to cover all fees, which will include notary fees, estate agent fees and purchase tax.
• All renovations and building works should involve a geometra, whose responsibilities are to get all the permits necessary for the building work and to collaborate with all the professionals involved. A geometra will need to work in conjunction with an architect on larger projects and they can advise on anything from building permits to earthquakes.
• Large parts of Italy are subject to earthquakes and any building or restructuring work has to take this into account. This can push up costs by as much as 25 percent.
• There are an estimated 350,000 buildings in Italy without official planning permission. Every now and then the government gives an unofficial amnesty, called a condono, to such buildings. However, this cannot be relied upon and you will certainly be fined and may end up with a criminal record for any building that has been altered without the necessary consents. Until a house has official planning permission it cannot be sold.

There are fewer and fewer worthwhile old buildings to restore still available in Italy so if you are interested in this sort of project you should consider getting involved in the near future.

Australia’s jobless rate hit a 31-year low of 4.4 per cent in April as the nation’s jobs boom continues to surge.

Expansion in full-time and part-time jobs drove the growth, which saw the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate drop from 4.5 percent to 4.4 per cent, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said today. That is the lowest unemployment level since May 1976.

Nationally, full time employment increased by 11,600 to 7.45 million and part-time employment rose 38,000 to 2.96 million.

The participation rate in April was 64.9 per cent, compared with 64.8 per cent in March.

Among the states and territories, the jobless rate in New South Wales stayed at 5.1 per cent in April, while in Victoria it fell to 4.8 per cent from 4.9 per cent and in Queensland it dropped to 3.4 per cent from 3.9 per cent.

In South Australia the unemployment rate stayed at 5.3 per cent in April and also remained static at 2.7 per cent in Western Australia, while in Tasmania it rose to 5.6 per cent from 5.4 per cent.

In the Northern Territory the unemployment rate rose to 4.3 per cent from 3.8 per cent, while in the ACT it rose to 3.4 per cent from 3.3 per cent.

Canadian house prices as of April 2007 are increasing in all but one of Canada’s main cities. While Calgary’s prices have stalled, Vancouver’s and Edmonton’s in the west have reached new highs. In the east, Toronto, Ottowa and Montreal house prices are also increasing.

Vancouver
The average price for a detached house in Greater Vancouver was $695,000, an increase of 11.9% from last year. “We’re still in one of the best markets real estate has ever had in Greater Vancouver. Sales are higher than historical norms and homes are selling very quickly, usually with multiple-offers,” says REBGV president Brian Naphtali.

Calgary
The average sale price for a family home has declined moderately from March, from $462,000 to $458,000. “This is a stabilising month with sales and listings down moderately from March. However new listings in April are approximately 1,550 ahead of April 2006,” remarked CREB President, Ron Stanners.

Edmonton
The average family house price has risen to $413,000. “The Edmonton market is just catching up to market increases that appeared in other major markets one or two years ago,” said Carolyn Pratt, president of the EREB. She noted that there are more homes being listed than last year at this time and inventory is growing slowly. “Price increases may moderate slightly as the market returns to pre-boom levels but I do not anticipate that actual prices will decrease.”

Toronto
Average prices climbed three percent to $379,000 compared with last April’s $367,000. Property transactions reached 9,452, the best single-month total ever recorded. An average detached home in Toronto now costs $390,000.

Ottowa
The average price of the homes sold in April was $276,440, an increase of 5.9 per cent over April 2006.

Montreal
The average price of a family home rose to $335,000 an increase of 4% over the year. “The volume of transactions since the beginning of the year is exceptional,” says Michel Beauséjour, Chief Executive Officer at the Greater Montréal Real Estate Board. “Economic indicators continue to point in the right direction. Among others, sustained job growth during the first quarter bodes well for the resale market during upcoming months.” he said.

Polish property is giving the best rate of return according to the Assetz quarterly investment tracker for the first quarter this year. This is as a result of capital gains on property on Poland climbing to 33%. Deposit levels start at 15%, making Poland a popular choice for investors at the moment.

Stuart Law, Managing Director of Assetz commented: “Poland looks set to lead the pack of emerging markets this year, with strong capital growth and excellent local demand as well as foreign investment. Warsaw’s property prices remain amongst the lowest in Europe and the introduction of major industry to the city is attracting an increasingly young and wealthy population. I expect to see continued strong growth and a flourishing rental market.”

Investors looking for a more traditional home for their money might still consider looking to the other side of the Channel. France’s continued popularity as a holiday destination is keeping the rental market healthy with yields of 7% and capital growth of 7.6%.

Spain has become the most popular destination for Europeans thinking of working abroad, ahead of the UK according to a Financial Times/Harris poll taken in five European countries.

The poll portrays Spain as a country at ease with itself: its citizens are relaxed about immigration and are the most optimistic among any big European country that their lives are getting better.

The poll of 6,561 adults in Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain offers an insight into the factors that are pushing and pulling migration in Europe and the extent to which it is seen as a political problem.

“The survey found that while the UK was second only to Spain in its attractiveness as a work destination, British citizens have become hostile to immigration from within the EU. Almost half, 47% of Britons saying it had a “negative impact” on their economy,” published the Financial Times.

Spain was the country in which foreigners would most like to work (17%) followed by UK (15%) France (11%) and Italy (6%). French and Italian citizens were the most likely to want to emigrate to Spain.

The poll showed that a total of 42% of Spaniards believed immigration was good for the economy, compared with 19% in Britain and France. However, a large majority of Spanish respondents (71 %) still wanted tighter border controls, a reflection of illegal immigration from Africa.

The NZ Weekend Herald has discovered that New Zealanders have changed their patterns of spending radically between 1955, 1982 and 2004.

The relative amounts spent on mortgages, rent and rates have increased, due to high interest rates and high house prices. In 1955 many people had mortgages at a 3 percent interest rate. The variable interest rate in 2004 was typically around 8 percent and currently is at about 10 percent.

In addition to spending more on their houses, New Zealanders are also spending far more on luxuries, reflecting the fact that real living standards have risen. Similarly, weekly spending on dining out has also increased from $12 in 1955 to $37 in 2004.

The biggest spending increase over the past 50 years has been for overseas travel - up 6.6 times in real terms from an average of $4.20 a week in 1955 to $27.70 in 2004.

New Zealanders are spending less relatively than they used to on food, clothing, home appliances and household furniture. Food prices have fallen from $204 in 1955 to $106 in 2004.

Clothing and footwear costs were $110 per week in 1955 and $31 in 2004. This reflects the dismantling of import controls and the transfer of manufacturing from New Zealand and other high-wage countries to low-wage locations such as China.

Spending on the “vices” of alcohol, tobacco and gambling has dropped in real terms, despite or perhaps because of big tax increases designed to discourage them.

New Zealand home buyers today can afford higher house prices and interest rates than their parents or their grandparents did because of reductions in the relative prices of food, clothing and imported items.

Adelaide’s median house price has hit $300,000 for the first time.

The metropolitan median for the March quarter was up 1.7% on December’s figure of $295,000 and up 7.4% on the past 12 months.

Real Estate Institute of South Australia President Mark Sanderson said the new high showed homebuyers had great confidence in Adelaide and its exceptional affordability compared to other Australian capitals.

“In my 20 years in real estate, this is the best start to a year I’ve seen. There’s buyer interest in all properties and all suburbs right throughout Adelaide.

The metropolitan rise was reflected in a similar increase in the state median house price, up from $270,000 in the December quarter to $278,000. The statewide figure represents a 8.4% rise on the same time last year.

Mr Sanderson said the western suburbs had recorded particularly strong growth, with four suburbs recording 12-month rises of more than 30%. Alberton, North Haven, Fulham Gardens and Kilburn have all seen fantastic increases over the past year.

“In Fulham Gardens alone, the median house price has jumped by nearly $115,000, to $475,000.

“Beachside suburbs like Henley Beach and Semaphore have led the way for a revival all across the west.”

On the other side of town, Toorak Gardens has won the distinction of becoming just the second suburb in Adelaide to crack the million dollar barrier, with a median of $1.1 million.

Mr Sanderson said growth in the Adelaide Hills reflected their continuing popularity with prices jumping 27% to $265,000 in Woodside and 19% $323,500 in Littlehampton.

Unit and apartment prices across metropolitan Adelaide also rose in the March quarter, with a 5.6% rise from 12 months ago to $227,000.

A complaint often heard from new arrivals in New Zealand is that many of the houses are not well enough insulated. This complaint has now been answered by the introduction of stricter insulation standards, including compulsory double glazing for new homes.

“Creating more efficient houses is a triple win for New Zealanders’ health, our environment and our power bills,” Prime Minister Helen Clark said, adding, “A home built under the new standards will save anywhere from $760 to $1800 a year on power bills, quickly making up for any additional up front costs associated with the regulations. We also know that warmer and dryer homes are much healthier homes.”

The changes will see:

• Tougher insulation requirements (including double glazing in most climates) will result in new homes using about 30 percent less energy to achieve healthy average indoor air temperatures.
• A new Compliance Document making it easier to install solar water heating systems across New Zealand, cutting the price of installation by as much as $500.
• New requirements for energy efficient lighting in new and refitted commercial buildings, expected to save building owners around $8 million a year in energy costs nationally.

The increased cost of building a home to the new standards is estimated at between $3000 to $5000 per new house.

From this November new houses in the South Island and the North Island’s Central Plateau will need more insulation and double-glazing. Improvements to house insulation in the North Island will take effect in most of the North Island in July 2008 and for Auckland and further north from October next year.

Also announced by the government were two further proposals for public consultation. The first would require domestic hot water systems in new homes to be more energy efficient, while the second would apply energy efficiency standards to heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems in new commercial buildings.

Western Australia’s unemployment rate has plummeted to an historic low shattering the three percent barrier for the first time in living memory. Premier Alan Carpenter welcomed Australian Bureau of Statistics figures showing that the State’s unemployment rate fell to just 2.7 percent in March - the lowest in the nation and the lowest since the monthly Labour Force series started in 1978.

“Western Australia is experiencing exceptionally robust labour market conditions, not seen for over a generation,” he said. “Today’s figures vindicate the State’s reputation as the powerhouse economy of Australia, and a great place in which to work and live.”

The Premier noted that a number of new employment highs were achieved in the month of March, and that almost 1.1 million Western Australians were now in the workforce.

“There is nothing more satisfying than seeing record numbers of people finding work.” Mr. Carpenter said.