Warning ! Some reading this may be offended and disappointed, but here are a few predictions for 2009. Do not read if you are faint of heart !

British property prices

British property prices are going to see a fall from the current average price of £ 158K to a new average price of £ 75K. A fall of over 50% Why? This is why -

"The current burst bubble is a direct result of the entire nation over-borrowing, with nothing to back it up. Savings in the UK are at an almost all-time low, and dropping interest rates to this level to discourage savers is not far short of insane. It is certainly not going to encourage people to borrow again. Everyone is all borrowed-out. Nor is it going to encourage the banks to start lending money hand over fist to every Tom, Dick and Harry that asks for a 120% mortgage. The current bust is directly related to over lending to poor risks, whilst at the same time not having the deposits to cover anywhere near a sensible portion of the loans." British property price prediction 2009 full article.

Luxury property prices

The luxury real estate market will not see bottom and an increase in prices for at least another two years. Why?

"Until the finance sector gets it’s act together, and there is some accountability, the luxury real estate market is going to continue to face issues and continue to fall in value. The Madoff scandal is the tip of the iceberg. My feeling is that there will be many more of these coming to light in 2009, because it is far harder to hide these sort of dealings in a down economy. All the time the next investors money can be used to pay off the first one, they can stay hidden. Pressure is mounting to bring some accountability to the financial markets, although the scams are so intertwined with government as to be all but impossible to unravel." Luxury real estate market prediction 2009 full article.

The coming housing crash

The real estate bubble is a world-wide issue. The markets are interconnected and not one will escape the mayhem. Why?

"Regardless of the world's governments' stated attempts to keep the cost of housing artificially high, property markets around the world are going to lose substantial value. The government bailouts of the financial sector will- perhaps - prevent the banking system from collapsing completely, but will have very little effect on the value of real estate." The housing crash. full article.

For alternative opinions -

House price crash UK has a selection ranging from 25% up to 50% down.

And Pravda think the luxury real estate market in Europe offers guaranteed increases in value. LOL

 

The International Real Estate Federation, FIABCI, is announcing a relationship with LUXURY FILM, a premier video production, consulting and animation company which services the luxury real estate market on a global basis. The company is comprised of an exclusive network of experts and international professionals who provide a full spectrum of creative services for video production. "The selection of LUXURY FILM as ‘Preferred Video Supplier' will strengthen FIABCI as the world's leader within the real estate market by providing and enhancing communication tools for our global members," explained Luis Correa-Bahamon, FIABCI World President. "This relationship is just one example of how we are continually striving to support our global membership so they can actively, or should I say virtually, participate in state-of-the-art technology and communication vehicles," he continued. Luxury Film, headquartered in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, USA, filmed FIABCI's 2008 World Conference in Amsterdam and is providing the footage to all FIABCI members by creating an FIABCI World Congress Amsterdam Video Channel. This streamed conference is available for individual members' websites, as well as all Regional and Chapter websites, who can embed the video for free by going to http://www.luxuryfilm.com/fiabci-2008-world-congress/embed In addition, LUXURY FILM is working in partnership with FIABCI to offer members an economic yet sophisticated member centric FIABCI Video Network which includes custom branded players, hosting and streaming as well as a state-of-the-art technical team for member support. "It is a great opportunity to work with the world's most prestigious Real Estate Federation," said Shaun Stanley, LUXURY FILM Director of Video Solutions. "Our introduction to the high-quality standards of FIABCI was captured in the 2008 FIABCI World Congress in Amsterdam. We are committed to that standard of excellence and look forward to continually providing the same service to FIABCI members on a global basis," he continued. The International Real Estate Federation, FIABCI, is an organization of real estate professionals in 65 countries which represents more than 100 national real estate associations, over 2 million professionals, and serves as special consultant with NGO status to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations Organization (ECOSOC). FIABCI helps members acquire knowledge, develop networks and optimize business opportunities throughout the world. For information, go to www.FIABCI.org or contact Alyssa Nightingale (631) 367-8599. You are free to reproduce this press release on your own website, but if doing so, please leave all live links intact. Thank you.

First some recent news in the property markets. As we are all aware, the "credit crunch" is having an effect on property prices and transaction volumes around the world.News from certain quarters is worse than others, yet some segments are still attracting buyers at what can only be described as silly prices.

The Lehman brothers' collapse has halted construction on a golf community development in Tennessee.

Luxury Homes on Hold in Tennessee

Luxury Home markets in Taiwan have "Frozen to Ice," according to a leading real estate agent.

Luxury Real Estate in Taiwan suffering

John McCain's former house went up fpr auction this month.

Failed presidential candidate's home for sale  :)

Property prices in France plummet

Real Estate values falling in France

On a brighter note, I was lucky enough to get to see a brand new € 200 million mega-yacht up close recently.

Photos of the Phillipe Starck designed mega-yacht "A"

 

Recent news and happenings in the luxury real estate world.

A luxury villa in France was reported as selling for five hundred million dollars (US) but this turns out not to be the case. Luxury Villa in France.

The most expensive home in Singapore is subject to a legal battle. Even the extremely wealthy have family issues

. Luxury Home in Singapore.

 Most expensive real estate in London.

A new record asking price for a basement flat in London. $32 million.

Scotland's most expensive golf course is apparently for sale- price unknown.

Loch Lomond Golf course for sale.

Follwing Donald Trump's sale of his Palm beach mansion, it seems as though the Mega-Mansion market in the USA is picking up again.

The luxury property market in Australia starting to face the credit crunch.

Luxury property in Australia.

A recent build in Chicago has just been listed on Chicago's North Shore. Spectacular landscaping make this one very interesting.

Luxury home in Chicago.

Elie Saab, Lebanese fashion designer has been retained to design a luxury hotel over looking the Tiger Woods Golf Course in Dubai

A new fractional-ownership Residence Club was recently launched in Nantucket - they are looking for brokers also.

Matthew Perry is still buying up property all over the US

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Luxury developments in California are becoming Ghost towns

A Luxury Hotel in Istanbul has created a modern Day Battle over Roman Ruins

 

Skygardens, a luxury residential development in Dubai is finished and on sale

 

A $32 million basement apartment went on sale in London recently

 

The looming spectre of AUS$ 8 a liter gas is changing the face of Australian property

Sophie Bielefeld of Bend, Oregon is faced with the daunting prospect of being a real estate agent in a town with an estimated 30-month supply of million dollar-plus homes for sale.

As sales have slowed over the last year, she decided to do something about it and formed a luxury property network.

Interesting news from the Luxury markets. Some good, some bad (depending on your perspective)

A new record set for home price in London:

Luxury Real Estate in London sets a new record

Donald Trump takes a $25million hit in Florida:

Originally asking $125million, the sale price was $100million. Donlt feel too bad though, the purchase prices was only $41million. Still a tidy profit. Luxury Palm Beach Mansion sells.

The Hearst mansion and the Portabello Estate still available:

Both these properties have been up for sale for some time, and I wonder if Mr Trump's success will kick start the sale of these? Mega Mansions still for sale.

The Luxury Institute has a new report that suggests America's affluent are ready to start buying again.

Falling U.S. real estate values make attractive investment properties for affluent Americans.

 

Stella McCartney seems to be doing just fine with the release of a new $900 clutch. Metal.

 

Stella McCartney Metal Clutch purse.

 

The top end of the Motorcycle market also seems robust:

 

And there are a few MV Augusta F4CCs available - for $120,000 :)

 

It can be hard to find objective information about real estate amongst the welter of self-serving advertorial being dished up by real estate companies. One company has taken the innovative approach of employing a professional real estate blogger to provide a breath of fresh air to its corporate web site: The Luxury Property Blog.

(PRWEB) May 22, 2008 -- Responding to the market trends of growing internet usage and a decline in the consumption of traditional media, Luxury Property.com have taken the unprecedented step of hiring an independent professional blogger to drive their new media marketing strategy, the Luxury Property Blog - Mark Knowles

Corporate blogs have historically been dull and self-promotional, perhaps because producing content has been left to traditional marketing departments. Effective blogs, which attract thousands of readers daily, require a completely different skill set from traditional marketing, but attract a demographic which is very difficult to reach through mainstream media.

Building, maintaining, and promoting a corporate blog is part of our strategy to usher in an era of advanced online marketing for the luxury real estate industry.   Michael D. Murphy

Internet usage continues to increase and now rivals TV in the media consumption stakes. According to a study by The European Interactive Advertising Association, " 57% of Europeans now regularly access the internet each week. That equates to 169 million people now frequently online across the ten European markets surveyed in the study." The internet is rapidly becoming a hub for all media with internet users increasingly consuming media such as magazines, newspapers, radio and TV digitally. Advertising.com states: "The majority (62%) of consumers are viewing video online."

This applies to the wealthy consumer also, and, according to the Luxury Institute, "wealthy-consumer participation in online social networks is on the rise. Whilst Unity Marketing, a luxury market research firm, states that the internet is playing an increasingly larger role in influencing luxury consumers.

Michael D Murphy, CEO of Luxury Property.com said, "Building, maintaining, and promoting a corporate blog is part of our strategy to usher in an era of advanced online marketing for the luxury real estate industry."

According to homestomper.com, 77% of home buyers begin their research process online.

The term "Blog," is short for "Web log," a specialized site that allows an individual or group of individuals to share a running log of events and personal insights with online audiences. Bloggers tend to be highly-opinionated mavericks and the term "Executive Blogger," almost seems like an oxymoron. When asked if the corporate environment would stifle Mark's creative thought process, Mr. Murphy responded:

"Absolutely not. Mark is a professional and an expert, and he has to be able to call it like he sees it, or the blog loses all its value to the readers. We think he had a fair point when he criticized our failure to properly launch the Luxury Property main site within our projected time frame. Unfortunately that was outside our control due to a poor choice of contractor for the site's construction. We have since moved these operations in-house and will be re-launching this summer."

Mr. Knowles is a long-time blogger with experience both of blogging and real estate. He has written and operated several internationally recognized property blogs. His past experience also includes managing a successful photographic processing laboratory servicing real estate marketer's needs.

His plans for the blog include creating a number of foreign language versions, including a Chinese version of the luxury property blog with guest bloggers from around the world contributing regularly. When interviewed about the becoming the world's first executive blogger, Mark said:

"This job fits very well with my skill set, and LuxuryProperty.com is an extremely progressive website with a good grasp of the future, both in the luxury real estate world and the marketing possibilities of Internet Video. I am very happy to be a part of this team and looking forward to taking blogging, and Internet Video Marketing to the next level. With a little luck, I might even be able to cut down on the amount of horrible real estate videos I see posted to YouTube."

When asked about this aspect, Michael D. Murphy said:

"In my opinion, what most internet users enjoy about blogs is their authenticity. If Mark wants to make an example of the poor quality real estate videos on YouTube, we're certainly not going to stop him. If anything, such a practice should serve to raise the standard of online marketing - and that is what our company is all about."

The job description, "Executive blogger," is not widely-used, and only time will tell if this becomes as mainstream as blogging has done recently. Technocrati claim to be tracking over 112 million blogs, not including the estimated 73 million Chinese-language blogs, although the Blog Herald asks "Have we reached such a great amount of blogs that we no longer feel the need to count them?

About:

Mark Knowles is a pro-blogger and has, in the past, written for several other well-known property blogs including the International Property Investment Blog. For quotes, photos and more information, please email.

LUX, based in Denver, CO and Chicago, IL, specializes in the development and operation of a growing network of luxury-themed websites and services: LUXURY PROPERTY, LUXURY SOIREE, LUXURY FILM, and an international network of luxury blogs.

This Press Release is available for down load in Printer-friendly, PDF or Google Reader formats here. With photographs.

This is a selection of recently-announced property developments around the world. As perusual, it seems as though the uAE has more than their fair share and you have to wonder just how many of these "luxurious" developments they can build before the oil money runs out.

Cityscape Abu Dhabi saw a number of new developments released, including Al Dana.

New developments in Abu Dhabi

Also announced were two new towers in the "City of Lights." by Hydra Properties.

Hydra Avenue Tower and Hydra 55 Tower

 

Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Gardens, the Dh200 billion venture of Dubai Properties, were announced recently, which aims to be the lowest-density development in the region. Situated between Al Khail Road and Emirates Road on 880 million square feet, about 73 per cent of the development will be green and open spaces and 10 per cent will be allocated to waterways.

Green development in Dubai

A little closer to home is the Eco Friendly development, "Palmetto Bay Resort" in Southern Belize

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Palmetto Bay Resort

A residence fit for a King - or a Queen. Possibly the most expensive, most exclusive, most desirable, most spectacular, most………. When they talk of ultra-luxury, this is what the word was coined for.

“Oakmayne bespoke,” will soon be launching what has to be the most (see above) properties in London – 6 double-fronted ambassadorial residences, and 3 apartments in 20-21, Cornwall Terrace Mews, Regent’s Park London, NW1. I hesitate to use the words home, or house. These are residences.

This is probably the most prestigious address in London. (Found another superlative) and it is unlikely another property such as this will ever come on the market again. Read the rest - Most exclusive property in London.