Flats 90210

Prospective investors in overseas property have been advised to consult a specialist before entering into a transaction.

Specifically, he said that it was often assumed that property owned abroad was not subject to the British tax regime.

However, as an asset owned by a registered UK citizen, it could still form part of a person’s estate and therefore make them liable to pay inheritance tax.

Taking professional advice can help to minimise the impact of these taxes.

He added that many factors had contributed to the surge in the number of Britons moving overseas, such as rapid flats price inflation in the UK and the weather.

The comments follow the release of official figures showing that during the year to July 2007, 345,000 people left the UK to live in countries such as Spain.

Cheers!

Low-cost airlines are becoming increasingly competitive about getting a slice of the Spanish tourism market, it has been reported.

Ryanair and easyJet are among the carriers who have plans to expand operations in the country, according to the AFP, fuelled by high demand from travellers looking for their own flats in Spain.

While holidaymakers make up a large part of the market, the carriers are believed to want to tap into the expat sector.

Overseas property investors are among the groups relying on low-cost carriers to transport them between the UK and their investment.

HiFX, the currency firm, recently noted that Spain’s appeal as a property investment destination has something to do with the low-cost air links between the country and the UK.

An abundance of low-cost airline routes, a two-hour flight time and the great weather mean that Spain will always be a favourite with British buyers.

Cheers mates!

Affordability problems in the UK could be providing a boost to the overseas property market, an expert has suggested.

Since many young people could not afford to buy a property in Britain, some were opting to invest in flats abroad instead.

People were continuing to live in rented accommodation in the UK, while saving the money generated from rental income.

The total gained from tenants, holidaymakers and the capital appreciation of the building could then be used to make up the shortfall in Britain and allow them to buy a home.

While land and housing prices in the U.K. have soared astronomically in the past decade, the world real estate market is a far different story.

The average property in the UK now costs about £187,100, making it more expensive than countries such as Spain.

See ya!

The credit crunch is biting bank stocks, property outlooks remain uncertain and a stronger dollar is failing to deliver, but there are some positives.

You can say these are difficult times all right.

But what the heck? High interest rates and a strong dollar aren’t all bad.

After all if they were round the other way - which is to say low rates and a weak dollar - we’d be in a recession. But let’s take one thing at a time.

Happily there’s no sign of a let-up in booming commodity prices that have as much to do with a supply shortage (as in the case of iron ore and gold) and getting protection against a falling US dollar (such as oil) as increasing global demand.

Which brings me to what looks like the parallel universe of the sharemarket and the complicated world of flats.
With the sharemarket on the skids perhaps property will be the next cab off the rank.

Or perhaps not. There are just two problems.

One is that property prices - except in outer Sydney, outer Melbourne and more recently Perth where the boom has just peaked - had been careering ahead alongside the sharemarket, putting paid to the notion that they take it in turns to boom.

Rather it takes two to boom so to speak, and there’s no reason they can’t both fall together, as they did in the early ’80s.

As the credit crunch takes its toll on high flyers in the sharemarket, not to mention executives in the finance industry who can expect to lose their bonuses, it’s possible the top end of the property market, which has so far laughed off successive rate rises, will start to suffer.

It’s one of Sydney’s liveliest locations: close to the city, Hyde Park, many of the best eateries and it has a predominantly young and creative population. So why is Oxford Street such a grim and dreary place?

Today, for instance, it looks like a back street in a ghost town, with only the odd passer-by for the beggars to grab, a scattering of empty shopfronts and a busker strumming an out-of-tune guitar in front of a greasy takeaway joint.

“Its heyday was probably in the 1920s, between the wars,” says City of Sydney historian Shirley Fitzgerald. “Back then, when few people had cars, people wanted to live close to the city and Oxford Street was very, very busy, with good shops, a couple of department stores, cheap eating places and smart restaurants.”

And now? “Tawdry, I think is the word that describes it,” says Marcus Bourget, the man in charge of the one event of the year when Oxford Street looks good: the Mardi Gras parade.

“It’s a shame. Oxford Street is such a special place for the gay and lesbian community and has such huge potential but today it does require sustained investment for some urban flats regeneration and to make sure it reaches that potential.”

Despite its position, it has been allowed to languish, with apartments clustered around the strip no longer highly prized or even sought after. However, with plans by the City of Sydney Council for a major overhaul, hopes are high that Oxford Street might grab back its long-lost glory and glamour and, once again, become a lifestyle, cafe, apartment and investment mecca.

Real Estate TV (RETV), a round the clock channel dedicated to infrastructure and realty said on Wednesday that it has appointed Prem Kumar Menon as its CEO.

Menon brings with him 27 years of rich media and marketing experience and before joining Real Estate TV, he was working as COO of a media group in Chennai, the channel said in a release.

Besides Menon, Anil Nair has also joined the group as its News Head. Prior to this appointment Anil Nair was working as business journalist in the Indian Express Group.

Real Estate TV is the first channel in the country extensively engaged in tracking developments in real estate, flats and infrastructure.

Keep it going guys! Do not give up!

Dear sirs dear madams, last sunday was one of the happiest days in my whole life…

Spain has won the Eurocup against Germany playing reaaly good football.

I´m 23, I´ve never seen playing my team well, they´ve have played all these years really bad.

But, in this tournament they have exploded as the good dynamite.

I´m really proud.

España forever.

Cheers

The average Australian family can no longer afford the average home mortgage, according to new figures that paint a devastating picture of how unaffordable housing has become in capital cities like Melbourne.

As the Reserve Bank considers raising interest rates again this week, figures from the Real Estate Institute of Australia suggest households on average incomes would need to spend $3 in every $8 they earn just to service an average mortgage.

After tax is deducted, it gets worse: the figures imply that almost half the typical family’s disposable income would be consumed by the average mortgage.

The housing affordability index, published by the Real Estate Institute and mortgage guarantor Deposit Power, shows that the combination of soaring flats prices and higher interest rates is pricing both buyers and renters out of the market.

The situation is the same in the whole world, Governors, do something for us! Stop using money to build Army Headquarters…

Cheers

I´m a young guy and i have a bunch of goals in my life, its normal. But I hate the stablished statments in this corrupted and perverted society. Mortgages for the whole life? Whats that? You kidding me? Its suposed to be a human right, a bloody roof to live in, I cannot understand the world´s situation already.
My goal is a flat, a small one, I dont want those flats full of furnish crap or a couple of cats waiting for me in the kitchen, no mates, I just want a roof, and I want to pay for, I dont want presents.
Obviously I have another goal, Find the girl of my dreams… Dont you?
Darkenss, I see darkness everywhere…
Cheers

HDFC Property Fund’s international wing has picked up a nearly 50 per cent stake in Mumbai-based developer ACME Group’s housing project in Thane, on the outskirts of Mumbai.

Though the fund has bought the stake in a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to develop an eco- township, the exact financial details of the deal is not known. ACME Ozone, a 1.1 million sq ft township, will have 760 residential flats and a small commercial space based on the eco-living theme. The company has already launched the project, expected to be completed in four years.

K G Krishnamurthy, MD & CEO, HDFC Property Ventures, could not be contacted for comments. When contacted, Pravin Doshi, chairman of ACME Group said, “It is true that HDFC fund has picked up almost 50 per cent stake in the project. However, we cannot reveal the financial details due to our non-disclosure agreement.