When it comes to investing overseas, the last couple of years have thrown up some rather grim stories of plunging property prices and depressed markets. For a long time, the US was one of them, with values dropping and foreclosed bargains being one of the key sources for investment.

But from buying bargains in a crash, the market has been showing some signs of genuine improvement, such as the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices last month, which revealed that its ten-cit

As time goes by, it appears more and more like the UK property market is starting to gain ground. Increased buyer enquiries at the start of the year were followed by a higher number of transactions, rising mortgage lending and now, it appears, increasing house prices. Or, it might be clarified, sometimes they are rising.

According to Halifax, August was one of those months. The average went up by a seasonally-adjusted 0.8 per cent to £160,973. While the annual rate of price change still amounts to a 10.1 per cent fall, this was nonetheless

Residential planning approvals in Spain (excluding social housing) decreased by -70% to 19,844 in Q2 2009 compared to the same time last year, according to Spain’s College of Architects.

Over 12 months to the end of June, planning approvals were down by -70% to 108,120 compared to the previous 12-month period. Planning approvals are the pipeline for the residential building industry, so these figures are disastrous for the sector and the Spanish economy. Now banks have turned off the tap, which helps to explain why planning approvals have c