Economy

The Dutch capital is stepping up measures to fight crime and nuisance in its city center, which is particularly popular with young tourists for bachelor parties and bar hopping.

The brothels of the Red Light District, located in the heart of the city, are also one of the great tourist attractions of Amsterdam.

“This online campaign of discouragement is aimed at unwelcome tourists who want to visit Amsterdam to ‘go wild’, with all the ensuing consequences,” the municipality said in a statement.

Young men in the sights

The campaign will first target the United Kingdom and will target men aged 18 to 35, a category of tourists strongly represented in the streets of Amsterdam, she said.

It will then address visitors from the Netherlands and other EU countries, likely to cause nuisance.

Those who type terms such as “Amsterdam bachelor party”, “Amsterdam cheap hotel” and “Amsterdam bar crawls” into a search engine will receive warning messages.

“These ads will show the risks and consequences of antisocial behavior and excessive drug and alcohol use, such as a fine, police arrest, criminal record, hospitalization and health damage” , explained the municipality.

Calm tourists always welcome

“Visitors will remain welcome, but not if they misbehave and cause a nuisance,” said Sofyan Mbarki, deputy mayor. “In this case, we, as a city, will say: ‘we would rather not, stay away'”, continued Sofyan Mbarki, quoted in the press release.

Amsterdam recently announced a ban on smoking cannabis on the streets of the Red Light District, a move coupled with tighter restrictions on alcohol and an earlier weekend closure of cafes, bars, restaurants and brothels.

ats/ami

Home prices cooled in January, with national home prices rising just 3.8% from a year earlier, down from a 5.6% rise in December, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller NSA Index of Nationwide Home Prices.

Home prices have fallen for seven straight months, but the decline narrowed in January. This is likely due to a brief drop in mortgage rates and the resulting surge in sales.

The 10-city composite index rose 2.5 percent year-over-year, down from 4.4 percent in December. The 20-City Composite also rose 2.5 percent, down from 4.6 percent in the previous month.

Home prices have been cooling due to higher mortgage rates. The average interest rate on the most popular 30-year fixed-term mortgage hit a dozen record lows in the first two years of the epidemic, once below 2%, but then rose sharply. The rate has hovered in the high 6% range since last fall, even as it has fluctuated in recent weeks amid several bank failures and the resulting strain on the banking sector as a whole.

Standard & Poor’sDow Jones“Having said that, the Fed’s continued focus on lowering its inflation target means rates are likely to remain elevated in the near term,” said Craig Lazzara, general manager of Indexes, in a press release. The outlook for mortgage financing and a weaker economy will likely remain a headwind for home prices in the coming months.”

Prices fell 7.6 percent in San Francisco, 5.1 percent in Seattle, 0.5 percent in Portland, Oregon and 1.4 percent in San Diego. Phoenix was flat.

Once once more, Miami, Tampa and Atlanta recorded the largest annual home price increases among the top 20 metros. Home prices rose 13.8 percent in Miami, 10.5 percent in Tampa and 8.4 percent in Atlanta. However, all of the 20 largest cities had lower home price volatility for the 12 months ending January 2023 compared with the year ending December 2022.

Homebuyers may see more casual sellers this spring, but there are still too few homes available for sale. Home lending may also tighten as the banking system comes under pressure.

Realtor.com economic data analyst Jones (Hannah Jones) said, “More expensive and less borrowing, especially in the context of an uncertain economic outlook, may continue to limit buyer demand. Although home sales are expected to increase with the Seasonal trends are rebounding, but the pace of sales this spring is still expected to be slower than last year as uncertainty and high costs limit activity.”

“Many SPSEs were not filling their annual accounts and the audit process was not very prompt. We have asked all the states to make the whole process electronic and file all the updates by June 30,” a senior government official told ET, adding that over 30 SPSEs had not updated their annual accounts post Covid.

An exercise undertaken by the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) revealed that many SPSEs were not updating or getting their accounts audited for multiple years.

A communication in this regard was sent to states in first week of March, the official said.

The official said the latest exercise was initiated to track performance of SPSEs. In some cases, PSUs recorded poor performance or there was no updated data available.

The idea is to ensure data on performance of SPSEs is available in public domain to enable relevant authorities to assess their performance.

Estimates peg cumulative loss of SPSEs at ₹2.5 lakh crore. Non-functional PSEs are not subject to audit by the CAG. The matter was also flagged by NITI Aayog.