Taxing homes more isn’t the answer March 4, 2012 HERE is my factoid of the day: Italians have just replaced Russians as the top foreign buyers of prime central London properties, ending years of oligarch dominance, according to Knight Frank. The only reason the Greeks aren’t ranked higher is that there are too few of them. Analysts interested in predicting financial crises and unrest [...]
Prime property prices soaring March 4, 2012 Average prices for prime central London property rose 0.7 per cent in February and 11.6 per cent in the past 12 months, figures from Knight Frank revealed today. The jump takes prices 43 per cent above their credit crunch low point in March 2009, and 8.9 per cent higher than their previous peak in March [...]
RAPID RESPONSES March 4, 2012 Infernal devices [Re: All tax rates are too high, Friday] I don’t understand why so many people think the government knows how to invest our money. If they did, they would be in business not politics; or would at least have more experience of running a successful business. But every year policy-makers look busy by [...]
The buzz is coming back to Monaco February 23, 2012 IN its 1950s heyday, Monaco was a place of high European glamour and refinement, reigned over by Grace Kelly. Very much the rich – and royal – man’s St Tropez, it is now known more for its oligarch traffic jams, Formula One racing, casinos and cruise ship embarkation point. But a range of tax breaks [...]
House-hunters look to UAE to avoid Eurozone February 20, 2012 BRITISH house-buyers looking to invest abroad are increasingly willing to move outside of Europe, according to research from PrimeLocation.com. Searches on the website for Spanish properties plummeted 15 per cent in the final quarter of 2011, compared with the previous quarter, the website said in figures out today. Italy and France were close behind, with [...]
Scottish house price dip means good value buys February 16, 2012 SCOTLAND: land of hunting, shooting, fishing…and fortified castles set amid hundreds of acres selling for less than £3m, the cost of a mere flat in certain parts of London. As Jamie Macnab, of Savills’ Edinburgh office, says: “Someone said to me once that four square miles of London is worth more than the whole of [...]
The real story on high pay – how manipulated statistics misled the national debate February 15, 2012 IT’S much more satisfying shopping the heads of our major corporations than providing unbiased facts about what’s really happening. Now an independent High Pay Centre promises to deliver the “high quality research that this area of debate badly needs”. Deborah Hargreaves, its director, may find that challenging. When chairing the High Pay Commission in 2011 [...]
Knight Vinke ups Kesa stake February 13, 2012 KNIGHT VINKE, the activist US investor, has increased its stake in Kesa, sending shares in the electricals retailer up by 1.42 per cent yesterday. Kesa revealed yesterday that its biggest shareholder has upped its holding by 2.2m shares, takings its stake to 107.6m shares, or 20.32 per cent. The electricals group sold its loss-making Comet [...]
Recruitment slump is hitting cost of London home rentals February 12, 2012 THE slump in the City job market is dragging down the cost of renting prime residential property in London. Rents in the best areas fell 0.2 per cent, equivalent to £80 a month, according to research published today. It comes after a halving in the number of vacancies in financial services over the last year. [...]
FOCUS ON: ST GEORGE’S HILL, WEYBRIDGE February 9, 2012 YAFFLE ROAD Price: £5m An eight bedroom property with an indoor swimming pool, landscaped gardens and a bespoke kitchen by Mark Wilkinson. Contact Knight Frank on 020 7629 8171 or knightfrank.co.uk CAVENDISH ROAD Price: £6m A large modern six bedroom family home within the private St George’s Hill Estate with vaulted ceilings, heated swimming pool [...]