In its latest effort to maintain an annual economic growth rate of 8%, China announced new plans to stimulate the country’s ailing real estate sector.

Beijing said the new stimulus package will benefit 7.5 million low-income urban families and 2.4 million households located in the more remote countryside.

China pumped $387.5 billion into real estate development over the first 11 months of the year, up 22.7% from the same period in 2007. However, residential sales fell 18.8% year-over-year, despite the investment.

Beijing is now trying to reignite the once red-hot real estate sector by implementing the following reforms:

Owners who have owned their home for two or more years can now sell it without paying business taxes. Owners previously had to wait five years before selling their home tax-free. Owners who have owned their home for less than two years will now only be required pay taxes on their profit, not the total sales price. ...

The following article discusses Pulte Homes, Inc. (PHM), D.R. Horton, Inc. (DHI), The Ryland Group, Inc. (RYL) and Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (BZH).In November, both housing starts and permits fell to record lows. I consider this to be good news, since it represents a decline is misallocation of resources and means we might eventually work off some of the huge inventory overhang and some day see an end to the housing mess that is ground zero of the economic turmoil.In the meantime, though, it means that economic growth will be even weaker in the fourth quarter than most are currently expecting. Building permits, the best indicator of future housing starts, fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 616,000, a 15.6% decline from the 730,000 rate in October and 48.1% below the 1,187 million rate of a year ago.All four regions of the ...

The planet is facing a topsoil crisis, meaning that the greatest commodity of them all one day could be farmland. That potentially makes Cresud Inc. (NASDAQ: CRESY), which owns large swathes of farmland in Argentina and also has a growing presence in both Paraguay and Brazil, a sound long for punters. Additionally, the firm is currently involved in a variety of other projects including crop production, cattle raising and milk production, not to mention real estate accumulation (several shopping centers in Buenos Aires, for instance). In fact, while it is estimated that the firm owns about a million acres of farmland and 50,000 head of cattle, Guy Bennett of Q1 Publishing, an investment research firm, mentioned that Cresud’s executives consider themselves to be primarily a real estate development company. But all this diversity may not necessarily be a ...

Since December 1998, EV Rentals Cars (EVTP.OB) has continued to expand to meet the growing green trend. EV Rental is the only rental company in the United States that offers a fleet containing only environmentally-friendly hybrid-electric vehicles. Currently, the company has rental facilities at 8 major airports including San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. The company is on a mission to provide the most advanced green vehicles to the public and to raise the public’s awareness of the benefits of driving clean-fuel cars to increase the demand for these environmentally-conscious vehicles. EV Rental is led by an experienced team of professionals who are conscientiously growing the company and its fleet.

The idea to create EV Rental hit Jeffrey Pink in 1997 when he saw an aerial view of Los Angeles. The founder of the company saw the condition of the

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Despite severe economic turmoil, demand for oil is rising significantly—in fact, it will land somewhere in the range of $150 to $157, according to Roger Wiegand, editor of Trader Tracks. In this exclusive interview with The Energy Report, Wiegand takes a close look at the untamed commodities bull and names some of his favorite buys.

The Energy Report: How does you think oil will play out in current economic scenario?

Roger Wiegand: The big sell-off during the past month or two was triggered when the funds bailed out. Roughly 50% of the CRB—the commodities index—is in oil. When oil moves, it moves the index. The sell-off brought oil down from a high of $147 to roughly $90. It bounced back up to $108 to $110; $108.50 is a good support and resistance level for oil today. The next price up should be $112.50, then $122.50, followed by a couple of more …

Seeing beyond the blind curves of bailouts and meltdowns takes the keen vision of a veteran market observer, Roger Wiegand, Editor of Trader Tracks. In this exclusive interview with The Gold Report, Wiegand predicts a “severe bull market” for gold that will include both juniors and seniors. He advises selective buying and names several of his favorites.

The Gold Report: When we spoke in mid-July, at the height of the market, you predicted a major downward correction.

Roger Wiegand: The call was pretty accurate, although the oversell was surprisingly deep. The reason was the hedge funds had gotten into a position where they had to raise cash as crude oil was starting to sell with speed. Oil was a dominant part of their investment. When the price of crude oil fell swiftly, funds were forced to sell everything to cover investor redemptions. Now we’re at the bottom again, and prices are …

Tejon Ranch Co. (TRC) is a real estate development and agri-business company committed to responsibly utilizing its land and resources to meet the housing, employment and lifestyle needs of Californians and create value for shareholders. The company's operations consist of land planning and entitlement, land development, commercial sales and leasing, leasing of land for mineral royalties, grazing leases, income portfolio management, and farming.

The company's prime asset is approximately 270,000 acres of contiguous, largely undeveloped land that, at its most southerly border, is 60 miles north of Los Angeles and, at its most northerly border, is 25 miles south of Bakersfield. Tejon Ranch is the same size as Hong Kong and is 40% the size of Rhode Island.

We expect the value of land to significantly increase as further entitlement processes are completed, which involve state and county approval along with the expected subsequent law suits by environmental groups. As

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Star Resorts Development (SRDP) is real estate development company focused on Latin American markets, particularly Argentina. The company specializes in tourism property for affluent travelers and owns a ski resort, Cerro Bayo Mountain Resort, as well as a 47-acre vineyard called Mendoza. Star Resorts Development’s partner in the Cerro Bayo project is already projecting a profit of $100 million.

Interestingly, Star Resorts leaves the development of its properties to partners such as Fiducia Capital Group and Proideas Business Development. Fiducia Capital alone has already developed 45 million square feet of property in South America. The Florida-based company also holds developments in Buenos Aires, Argentina’s capital, giving it a foothold in the nation’s biggest city, wine country and the frequently-visited Patagonia Mountains.

It appears as though Argentina’s economy is beginning to blossom in a similar fashion to that of neighboring Brazil. The country has attracted investments from billionaires such as George Soros

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Comstock Homebuilding Companies Inc. (Nasdaq: CHCI) functions as a diversified real estate development firm focused on affordable, residential products. The company builds and markets single-family homes, townhomes, mid-rise condominiums and more.

The company today announced an agreement with Regions Bank regarding approximately $5.3 million of the company’s $144 million of secured debt as of June 30, 2008. Per the forbearance and conditional release agreement, Comstock will work with Regions with respect to its foreclosure on its real estate assets in Georgia. Regions will relieve Comstock from its obligations on three properties with no deficiency liability post-foreclosure.

Christopher Clemente, Comstock’s chairman and CEO said the announced deal will assist the company in gaining a foothold in meeting the demands of today’s market.

“The agreement we entered into with Regions today is the result of our continued focus on restructuring a significant portion of our debt and positioning Comstock to survive

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