Trulia.com Debuts First Monthly Report on Real Estate Shopping ...

SAN FRANCISCO and NEW YORK, Jan. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Trulia.com, America's intuitive residential real estate search engine, today announced the findings of the January 2007 Trulia Trends report. Consumers have traditionally relied on historical sales and pricing information to understand local real estate trends. With the launch of Trulia Trends, Trulia is introducing a new indicator for measuring the direction of the real estate market: consumer search behavior. Developed from the company's proprietary data, the report focuses on real estate pricing trends and consumer search behavior from December 1 - December 31, 2006 for 15 of the largest cities in the United States. Complete report: http://www.trulia.com/resources/Trulia_Trends_Report-January_2007.pdf Among the findings: -- The representative U.S.

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Ramco, RioCan Say $1.5B Center JV is Off

FARMINGTON HILLS, MI-Negotiations between locally based Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust and Toronto-based RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust came to an abrupt end Jan. 10 with both parties issuing statements that the planned $1.5-billion joint venture was off. RioCan was the first to announce that all negotiations concerning the formation of a JV to buy and develop US shopping centers had been terminated. Announced less than a month ago, the deal was slated to close during the first quarter of 2007. As recently as Jan. 8, Dennis Gershenson, president and chief executive officer of Ramco, seemed optimistic that the planned JV would close on schedule. GlobeSt.com spoke to Gershenson about the pending agreement while speaking with Gershenson about another partnership – a $450 million joint venture with an investor advised by Heitman LLC to acquire up to $450 million of community shopping centers.

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Shopping cut short

HIGHER interest rates curbed consumer spending in the run-up to the Christmas shopping spree, and the fear of another rate rise could see retail activity moderate further in coming months. Still, data released yesterday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that the consumer has not yet gone completely into a shell, with lower petrol prices easing some of the pain from higher mortgage rates and households benefitting from job security in a strong labour market. Retail trade grew by just a seasonally adjusted 0.2 per cent in November after an upwardly revised 0.9 per cent growth rate in October. Economists had expected retail spending to rise 0.3 per cent. "The current level of interest rates are beginning to bite," Commonwealth Bank chief economist Michael Blythe said.

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