TPT-January-2015

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72 January 2015
Global Marketplace
In brief . . .
A European Union resident visa
that comes with the house?
With its offer of a realty-based visa for property buyers from
outside the European Union, Portugal evidently holds a strong
attraction for Chinese investors.
As noted by Bloomberg News, they are the major participants
in Portugal’s “Golden Residence Permit” programme, which
entitles the buyer of property worth at least $624,000 to live in
Portugal and travel freely throughout the EU bloc.
As China allows freer movement of funds into and out of the
country, its citizens have been taking advantage of the greater
ease of money transfer to pursue opportunities overseas.
Even so, the allure of Portugal is remarkable.
According to the Portuguese Real Estate Professionals and
Brokers Association, Chinese buyers accounted for almost
one in five foreign property purchases in Portugal during the
first nine months of 2014.
On the basis of money invested they already represented
the biggest group of foreign buyers, Luis Lima, head of the
association, told Bloomberg’s Henrique Almeida in Lisbon
(3 November).
Oil and gas
Their savings on jet fuel from
recent oil price drops are not
being passed along by US airlines
to the fare-paying customer
According to FareCompare.com, several major US airlines
raised fares on many domestic flights in the autumn. As
reported by USA Today (21 October), United, American, US
Airways and Delta confirmed to the comparison-shoppers site
that they matched an industry-wide fare increase of $2 one
way, $4 round trip. Even low-cost carrier Southwest said it had
raised one-way fares by $2 on some domestic routes.
When airlines boost fares they customarily blame higher fuel
costs. But this most recent fare hike came at a time of steadily
dropping oil prices – to $81.94 a barrel on 20 October.
According to Rick Seaney of FareCompare.com, the fare
increase was only the fifth successful such hike to that point
in 2014, out of 20 fare-boost attempts by the airlines since
January – three of these occurring in October.
In 2013 there were a dozen attempts to raise fares. Only three
were successful.
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