Google blamed low usage and unforeseen competition due to the “proliferation of excellent property-search tools on real estate websites…we’ve decided to discontinue the real estate feature within Google Maps on February 10, 2011.”

Google stated it’s decision though their blog…saying “We’ve learned a lot and been excited to see real estate companies use Google Maps in innovative ways to help people find places to live…Yet we recognise that there might be better, more effective ways to help people find local real estate information than the current feature makes possible.”

It was always an experiment, as they said…“At Google, one of our key philosophies is to take risks and to experiment…” It still a surprise to see this option go.

€255,000 is the asking price for a one bedroom apartment on the fifth floor of an old building, with no lift. It’s situated near the centre of the city, it comes with a very basic kitchen and would need painting and decorating.

If you’re not into DIY, €1,195,000 will get you an 86 square metre apartment in the Trocadero area and it has a balcony from which you can see the tip of the Eiffel Tower.

Our latest round-up shows that prices are on the rise in most markets…

THIS time last year, The Economist’s survey of global house prices was a sea of negative numbers. That was then. Of the 20 markets tracked in our latest survey, only four still posted year-on-year declines and only Ireland’s property catastrophe has worsened. (America’s FHFA index, which excludes houses that are financed with large mortgages, was also down, but the country’s Case-Shiller national and ten-city indices rose modestly.)

Asia’s price rises lead the way, as they did when the data were last published in July. Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia boast the gaudiest year-on-year price increases, even if the rate of appreciation is down a bit from the summer. House prices in China rose by 9.1% in the year to September, compared with a 12.4% rise in May. That is still too fast for the government, which unexpectedly raised interest rates on October 19th and has outlined more measures to cool the market in recent weeks, including higher down-payment requirements and the introduction of a property tax in some cities.

Our analysis of “fair value” in housing, which is based on comparing the current ratio of house prices to rents with its long-run average, suggests that China has less to worry about than the likes of Australia, which is again the most overvalued of the markets we track. That makes it all the more surprising that Australia’s central bank opted not to increase its benchmark interest rate this month.

Europe shows a familiar split between core countries and peripheral ones. Ireland, Spain and Italy continue to suffer year-on-year price declines; German and French homes have shown big gains in value over the past year, a particular turnaround for France since our previous round-up. The British housing sector’s talent for defying gravity may be on the wane. The pace of annual appreciation in the country’s property market has slowed over the summer. British housing is still overvalued—outright falls may loom.

America’s housing market, almost alone among those which experienced a big bubble, is more or less fairly valued at this point, at least according to price-to-rent ratios. But price rises may not last for long. Earlier gains were driven by substantial reward programmes and government subsidies, many of which have now lapsed. America’s overhang of housing inventory may get worse if concerns over lenders’ foreclosure processes jam up sales. The temptation for the country’s 11m underwater borrowers to walk away is another threat (see Economics Focus). And being at or below fair value is no guarantee of a bounce in prices: Japanese housing fell by 4% in the year to the end of the first quarter, despite being stuck far below its long-run price-to-rents ratio.

Report by Finance and Economics – The Economist.

Cityscape Global 2010, the flagship event of the world’s largest business-to-business real estate investment and development brand, opened for business on Monday amidst a wave of optimism from regional and international investors after a spell of positive economic indicators since the Dubai World debt restructuring was completed earlier in September.

Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, officially opened Cityscape Global at the Dubai World Trade Centre.The flagship event of the world’s largest business-to-business real estate investment and development brand is being held in Dubai for the ninth year and has evolved from Cityscape Dubai as a result of the increased international participation it has attracted.

The real estate investment and development show which has thrown the spotlight on global emerging markets, runs until Thursday at Dubai World Trade Centre.

A major consultancy firm said, meanwhile, that residential property prices in Dubai should stabilise in a couple of years, and recent positive news flows that are coming out could revive investment sentiments in the sector.

“As long as the property supply doesn’t surpass the demand too much, we should see a stabilisation of Dubai’s residential property prices within the next two to three years. As per the statistics, there are as many as 25,000 residential units scheduled to be developed in Dubai this year as well as in 2011. But it’s not certain whether all of these 25,000 units would be delivered. Although rents would continue to fall gradually, they are expected to flatten out by the end of 2011 and 2012,” Chris Waight, Associate Director, Cluttons, Dubai, told Emirates 24|7.

He said Dubai’s property market has switched from being a speculator-driven market to being an end-user market that is a good sign.

“All the sales transactions that we’re seeing tend to be towards end users who’re looking for staying in Dubai for at least 3 to 5 years. Another encouraging sign is that out of more than 100 residential projects under construction in Dubai that we monitor regularly, a majority of them were put on hold until a couple of quarters back. However, a lot of these off-plan projects are now moving forward to finish off the projects.”

However, he added Dubai’s residential property market has been through a difficult period, particularly over the last 6 months.

“The sales price index that we have launched shows a downward trend over the last two quarters in terms of rentals as well as for sales transactions for residential properties. This downturn probably was mainly due to the holy month of Ramadan, summer vacations as well as buyers adopting a wait-and-see attitude. Many of the prudent investors were in anticipation that the prices would fall further, or the mortgage rates would get cheaper,” he said.

Nevertheless, of late, a host of encouraging news flows has started pouring in that could revive investment sentiments in Dubai property market, he said.

“For instance, the mortgage firm Tamweel announcing its come back into the market is going to restore confidence in the market. If Amlak follows suit that would further compound the confidence in the market,” he said.

Further, Nakheel’s reported announcement that it’s going to issue bonds, Dubai World’s recent agreement with 99 per cent of its creditors, and sovereign bond issuance by Dubai are other positive signal for the property market in Dubai. In addition, banks have started lowering mortgage rates in Dubai and some of the leading banks are offering mortgage loans at rate as low as 5.99 per cent, he added.

Roham Marwaha, CEO, Cityscape, also pointed to the flurry of good business news throughout the emerging markets, that have boosted investor sentiment, but none more so than Dubai recently.

“Although Dubai World’s successful $25 billion loan restructuring was undoubtedly the catalyst, there has been other encouraging news, especially the $1.25 billion dual-tranche bond issued by Dubai Government just last week. The bond was four times oversubscribed and will be used towards infrastructure projects. A number of other key announcements have been made since,” added Marwaha.

Marwaha was clearly referring to the Nakheel confirmation that it had paid almost $1 billion to creditors and further news that it would restart work on a number of its stalled projects. Dubai Islamic bank also announced that it had increased its stake in mortgage lender Tamweel to 57% and declared that it would resume lending before the end of the year.

“Even today the Real Estate Regulatory Agency, announced that it would work with banks to raise up to $1.36 billion to try and finish 48 developments currently on hold. Also the news that Emirates Islamic Bank could merge with Dubai Bank and bring Amlak under the same umbrella could further boost liquidity into the market,” said Marwaha.

According to US investment guru, Tom J Barrack Jr, a keynote speaker at the Cityscape Global Real Estate Investment conference, who has invested over $45 billion in real estate, claimed that smart money is now focusing on emerging markets as many have dramatically outperformed more mature markets such as the US and Europe in recent years.

“Many developed economies are already heavily indebted in addition to running annual budget deficits, compounding their debt levels. These scenarios won’t unwind overnight, it will take time. On the other hand, developing economies are not running deficits and are not nearly so indebted, allowing their economies to grow quicker, giving higher returns,” said Barrack.

The flagship event of the world’s largest business-to-business real estate investment and development brand is being held in Dubai for the ninth year and has evolved from Cityscape Dubai as a result of the increased international participation it has attracted.

Sentiment on the exhibition floor matched that of the organisers and speakers. Fernando Fischmann – Creator and owner of Crystal Lagoons Corp, which is developing the largest lagoon in the world in Egypt commented: “Irrespective of the Dubai government bond, I’m confident that Dubai and the wider region will come back. However it is worth pointing out that the global crisis is not a problem for everyone, if as a developer you can add value. That makes a good investment.”

Report by Sunil Kumar Singh – Emirates 24 -7