Merkel 'naked' again

In this incredibly hot friday afternoon, while the streets of Soho downstairs are buzzing, beautiful faces walking around almost everywhere and it is possible to see more fashion trends in 5 minutes outside than in any fashion show, I am going to write about.... Angela Merkel.

Yes, Angela the German Chancellor, this fascinating woman whose glorious bum was shown all around the world in papparazzi pictures while she was changing her bathing suit(I was shocked a the time, and I don't remember this happening to any other head of Estate), She ironically has shaken the financial markets with the ban on 'naked' short selling.

Naked shorts — when the person selling the asset does not own it and has not borrowed it from a third-party broker — had been blamed for exacerbating falls in the stock market.

The question here is that after the financial turmoil of 2008 and the subsequent economic crisis, politicians claimed that they would take measures and pass on new regulations to the banking sector, but few of them have been approved over the last two years.

Yesterday Angela showed the markets her power, markets plunged as a reaction, but I have to admire her determination and her will to stop the euro crisis spiralling out of control. You may agree or disagree, but she definitely has got guts, and we like that.

Talking about nudity, I bet we are all going to be almost naked this weekend, running to get a good dose of Sun...

Bye Bye Buddha Bar

The last victim of the Recession, the London Buddha Bar has gone bust and told its 80 employees they no longer had a job.



Having Lady Gaga amongst its fans, the London venue opened in August 2008 - just before the collapse of Lehman Brothers - and it was expected to become one of the favourite spots where the city boys (and girls) would splash their money in cocktails and champagne.
Buddha Bar, with branches in Paris, New York, Las Vegas, Sharm el Sheikh and Dubai, specializes in Asian food and features an 18-foot high Buddha figure in the dining room.
I still remember how cool it was when I visited the Paris restaurant for the first time 10 years ago.
In my opinion it is not only the bad timing of this opening that has affected the London Buddha Bar, I believe this represents a whole change of direction in what is considered trendy this days, and Buddha Bar has not been able to re-invent itself to compete in the demanding London market.

Looks like new age compilations and giant statues are no longer good enough.

Luxury Property of the week

Wow! I am delighted to talk about this property in the super prestigious Albion Riverside development. This James Bond style building, designed by Norman Foster is a dream for those who like river views. The bold design of the development has been shown in many movies, and residents pride themselves of living in such a landmark building.

The smaller 2 bed apartments without river views are available for around £600k, but
if you have £12.5 million in your pocket, you can now purchase the ultimate duplex penthouse in this development. Just look at the pictures, that stunning double height ceiling with huge glas windows and the 180 degree terrace are unbeatable. The retractable cinema screen suspended in the middle is the icing on the cake. You will enjoy over 6,000sq ft living space, 4 bedroom suites, and the most amazing views in London.

Inflation high again

Not so great news, as this may make mortgages more expensive...

The headline rate of UK inflation hit a 17-month high last month – raising fears that the Bank of England may be forced to raise interest rates sooner than expected.

The fact that inflation hit 3.7% in April is likely to come as a surprise to the City which had been expecting an increase of 3.5%, compared with March’s figure of 3.4%.

The jump prompted the governor of the Bank of England to write an open letter to chancellor George Osborne explaining why the government’s inflation rate target of 2% had been missed by such a large margin.

The bank has previously said that it expects a spike in inflation at the start of 2010 before returning to more normal levels.

King also blamed the impact of higher oil prices, the restoration of VAT to 17.5% and the continuing impact of the weaker pound.



Read more: http://www.propertyweek.com/story.asp?sectioncode=297&storycode=3163659&c=1#ixzz0oIe5cKvl

London Property Prices back to pre-recession levels...

We are reading today that in 4 London Boroughs, the residential properties are now even more expensive than they were at the top of the market in 2007, Kensington and Chelsea, Richmond upon Thames, the City of Westminster and Hounslow have registered record average selling prices.

In London in general, the residential market is still around 9% cheaper than it was at the peak of 2007, but 10% more expensive than a year ago, showing a strong recovery from the prices that bottomed out at the beginning of 2009.

http://tinyurl.com/33gfyzg

New Disney Store in the West End

For those who love your childish side (or those with children rather), we have heard the Disney Store will open a new concept store of 14,000sq ft in the West End. The premises will occupy 350 Oxford street (currently Mexx store) and it is thought Disney will be paying an annual rent close to £2mio for the premises, not bad!!!. The below is extracted from the Propertyweek magazine.

A Disney spokeswoman said: “Disney Store can confirm that we have reached agreement with Mexx to take over their leasehold interest in 350 Oxford Street and we are in joint discussions with the landlords in order to achieve a transfer of the property in the coming months. The property is expected open as a Disney Store in 2011.”

The Disney Store will unveil its new design at its Montebello near Los Angeles in the US and Madrid in Spain this summer. The new design brings theme park quality storytelling and new technology that rivals an Apple Store to the Disney Store brand.

Disney plans more than 20 new or remodelled Disney Stores across North America and Europe. The confirmed stores in the UK are Centre MK in Milton Keynes, Bon Accord Centre in Aberdeen and Donegal Place in Belfast. It is yet to confirm the new Oxford Street store as one of the new concept stores.

New goverment's impact on the property market

With David Cameron as new Prime Minister, it is expected that cuts in public spending will start almost inmediately.

One of the points outlined in the savings plan presented by the Tories in the elections, was to vacate 10% of central government office space within their first year of government, which would increase efficiencies, reduce costs, and most importantly release buildings that can then be sold.

With a commercial property market which is expected to boom by the Olympics, this may increase the supply in prime office space in London, which would be very welcome by the sector.

More in the link below.

http://tinyurl.com/334a37z

Luxury Property of the week

Dear Readers,

Going through the most desirable properties on the market, we have received the details of this duplex apartment in Belgravia, with just over 5,000 sq ft, the price tag is an impressive £25.5million.

Apart from the location, the price gets you a fabulous 3 bed apartment, with triple reception room, a Master bedroom with a double en-suite bathroom and shower room + two en-suite dressing rooms and a cinema room (with dressing room as well....we are not sure about that cinema's dressing room use, is it some sort of cheeky facility?)
The flat comes also with a 1200sq ft Ancillary flat, just for the service and guests.
In any case, this price of £5,000/sq ft shows how strong the London prime property market is this days.

If you wish more information or just feel nosey and wish to know more about this property, check our contact details on Outlet website, http://www.outlet.co.uk/

Skyscrappers...

This weekend I was reading an article about the tallest skyscrappers in the world. Far away are the days when the empire state building, with 300 meters (1000ft), was a measure of the limits of constructions.
It is not only Dubai leading the way with the Burj Dubai over 800 meters tall, but construction outside our battered Western Europe area is booming with exciting large scale projects,from the Chicago Spire (pictured), to projects in China, Russia, Pakistan, etc and in the next 5 years we will have a number of 600mts buildings all around the place.

Definitely a reminder that the post-elections and the greek crisis is not the end of the world, and behind the economic problems the UK is currently facing, there is plenty of room for economic growth and development.

I hope this thoughts of dream buildings bring you some good energy to start the week. More about this fantastic buildings below.
http://tinyurl.com/389q3la

Tory - LibDem alliance

As it was expected, the results of the elections did not give the majority to any of the parties.

It looks like the next goverment could be an alliance between Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/8667938.stm

This would probably be well received by the markets, we will know probably by monday.

In the meantime, Soho is again buzzing as on any friday evening.

Have a great weekend.

How much would I pay for a flat in Soho?

I was just calculating what would be the average price to buy me a flat in Soho, where our buzzy Outlet office is... obviously this area does not attract as many billionaires as Mayfair, but you will have to pay a price to be next door to the theaters, the trendy restaurants and the endless number of shops, bars and clubs in the West End.

The best opportunities are for some 1 bed flats priced around £400k. But when you look at the whole of Soho, the average price is a remarkable £850k! (probably gets you a 2 bed 2 bath of decent size). So those of you with friends in the area who always wondered how much they paid, now you know a bit more.

In the graph above you can see that, although flats around here are expensive, and prices have had an increase of 9.3% in the last year, they are still around a 10% cheaper than they were at the peak of the market in the end of 2007, so its a bargain still! those who can afford it, hurry up and purchase NOW.

Obviously at outlet we are happy to help on that :-), find our properties for sale on
http://www.outlet4property.com/

Suspense

We are all wondering what will happen tomorrow with the elections...

London carries on with its hectic day to day activity, but there is some electricity in the air.

In other countries, the day before the elections it is forbidden to make campaign for any of the parties, to allow citizens to think about their vote without distractions, or being affected by the last polls published in the media. Will there be any last minute surprises that avoid the most likely scenario of a hung parliament? We will see...

Anyway, for us it is going to be a festive evening with our speed flatdating event, thankfully our Outlet customers are always great fun, and it will be a pleasure to mingle with them in their search for the perfect home.

Good evening.

http://www.speedflatdating.com/

Speed Flatdating

Back from the long weekend, oh gosh it is so nice to enjoy those days off! I went to Amsterdam where they were celebrating the Queen's day, streets (and canals) were absolutely packed with 2 mio visitors all dressed in orange celebrating the Queen's birthday, well, that is just an excuse to get drunk and have great fun, there are street fairs, live music in the squares, etc etc so if you are in a carnival mood and missed the february celebrations, this is another chance to enjoy a very similar experience.

Our Outlet office is buzzing in preparation of the second speed flatdating edition that we are hosting tomorrow,

http://www.speedflatdating.com/

Low Profile bar in Soho will be full again of Landlords and flatseekers enjoying this informal and fun way to find accommodation, and it is really much fun, specially after a couple of drinks!

We, as Outlet staff will be welcoming the guests at the venue, so anyone interested and looking for, or offering accommodation please come and visit us (you can also register on our website and will get a complimentary drink), and if you are just curious come as well, as we will make sure you have a good time.

The economic highlight of the day is the UK and US manufacturing growth, you can read more in the related articles below.

http://tinyurl.com/36zxbgq
http://tinyurl.com/32g94vf