The boom in London property prices coupled with excessive demand for accommodation in the capital is forcing high-earning property investors to look overseas to add to their real estate portfolio, according to new research.

This year saw record City bonuses totalling an estimated �9 billion but the lack of supply of London property on the market forced many high fliers to widen their horizons when it came to spending their hard earned cash, report experts at the Homebuyer Show.

Many estate agents in the swanky City and Docklands area of London had less than ten properties for sale at any one time at the end of the year, an all time low for such a lucrative market.

This meant that some �4 billion worth of bonuses were invested abroad with property buyers spending their cash as far a field as Dubai, Bulgaria and the US as well as the historic British favourites of France and Spain. Read more

Post this to:

                                            

London may be the world’s most over-priced real estate market.

In trendy Knightsbridge, a 77-square-foot former storage room is being marketed as a studio apartment. The asking price – $335,000 or $4,340 a square foot.

The basement room has a tiny shower and a shallow closet, two hot plates and a sink. Adding electricity and heat to make the place habitable will cost an additional $59,000. Read more

Post this to:

                                            

A prison cell-sized apartment without electricity is on sale for 170,000 pounds ($335,000) - another sign that London’s property market is booming despite rising costs and stagnant salaries.

Anywhere else this dilapidated studio might not have attracted such price. But this is London, where a 77 foot-square former storage room is being marketed as an investment property in the exclusive Knightsbridge neighborhood.

“It’s about the size of a ship’s galley,” said Andrew Scott, the director of Lane Fox, the agency handling the sale. “But it’s permanently anchored to one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the world.”

At more than 2,200 pounds ($4,340) a square foot, the mortgage buys a spot within walking distance of tony stores like Harrods and London’s iconic Hyde Park. Originally conceived as a maid’s room, the apartment at 18 Cadogan Place hasn’t been used for years and is littered with trash bags and crumbling paint.

A coffin-sized shower is en suite, and storage is provided by a shallow closet and 10-inch deep shelves cut into the wall. Two hot plates and a small sink make up the kitchen. Two dirty windows allow the light to filter into the basement apartment, and the fire escape could conceivably double as a shared patio.

With no electricity or functional heating, Scott said it would cost as much as an additional 30,000 pounds ($59,000) to make the room habitable.

“It is an investment,” he said, as he stretched his arms the width of the room, laying his palms flat on opposite sides of the wall. Read more

Post this to:

                                            

But you won’t see changes yet at 4 local malls

The troubled parent of the Sawgrass Mills outlet mall in Sunrise and three other South Florida properties said Wednesday it will be bought by a Canadian conglomerate for $1.35 billion, or $21 a share.

The Mills Corp. will merge into a newly formed subsidiary of Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management Inc., whose $50 billion portfolio includes trophy office properties and power plants.

Shoppers shouldn’t see any immediate changes at Sawgrass Mills, Broward Mall in Plantation, Westland Mall in Hialeah or The Falls in Miami. The sale isn’t expected to be completed until the second half of 2007. Read more
 

Post this to:

                                            

For Sale: Sealand, a sovereign nation with its own national anthem, stamps, and coins. And it’ll only cost you $975 million to own it.

Sealand is a 5,920-square-foot artificial island in the North Sea created by Britain during World War II. It was abandoned after the war ended until retired Army Maj. Paddy Roy Bates took it over and declared it a principality in 1967.

Despite Britain’s best efforts, the courts upheld Bates’ claim of sovereignty and territorial waters. The 85-year-old Bates now lives in Spain. A Spanish real estate company is helping him sell Sealand, promoting it as a base for online gambling or offshore banking.

Source: The Associated Press (01/16/07)

Post this to:

                                            

Worldwide, Koreans could spend at least $4 billion on overseas homes in 2007 as a result of the changes made by the Korean government last year that allow Korean individuals to make as much as $1 million in foreign investments, analysts say.

Koreans are expected to invest nearly $2 billion in U.S. residential property, up from $1.27 billion the year earlier, says Brian Shaffer of the International Real Estate Trade Organization.

Much of the money will likely be directed to U.S. cities with large Korean populations, including San Francisco, New York, and Atlanta, to take advantage of lower home prices stemming from the weakening U.S. housing market. Read more

Post this to: