London Luxury-Home Price Gains Slow After Property-Tax Increase - Businessweek
Luxury-home prices in central London rose the least in nine months in May, after the British government increased a tax on purchases of 2 million pounds ($3.1 million) or more, Knight Frank LLP said.
Values of houses and apartments costing an average of 3.7 million pounds climbed 10.7 percent from a year earlier, the London-based broker said in a report today. That was the smallest gain since August 2011. Prices rose 0.7 percent from April, bolstered by buyers from mainland Europe.
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne raised the tax, known as stamp duty, to 7 percent from 5 percent in March. The threshold for the new tax rate is now the average asking price of a home in Kensington and Chelsea, one of London’s most affluent neighborhoods, property-listings website Rightmove Plc said when the government announced the change.
“The market has absorbed the 7 percent duty rate fairly well,” Liam Bailey, head of residential research for Knight Frank, said in the report. Prices for homes valued at more than 2 million pounds rose 1.6 percent in the past two months, while those for all luxury properties gained 2.7 percent, he said.
Europe’s debt crisis has prompted overseas investors to acquire real estate in London to preserve their wealth. Luxury- property prices in the city have increased about 12 percent since the market’s peak in 2008, including 4.7 percent this year, as a scarcity of homes for sale drove up values.
German Buyers
“We are now seeing a noticeable uptick in interest from France, Italy, Spain and even German-based purchasers,” Bailey said in the report. That contributed to the 19th monthly price increase in a row.
The crisis, now in its third year, threatens to destroy Europe’s 17-nation currency union as Greece contemplates exiting the euro and Spain sees its bond yields rise and banking industry falter. The euro zone’s collapse could cause prime central London property values to fall as much as 50 percent, Development Securities Plc (DSC) said in a May 31 report, as capital flows out of the city to less expensive markets.
“The ‘safe-haven’ effect has clearly played its role in attracting foreign money into London’s most desirable post codes,” Chief Executive Officer Michael Marx said in the report. “However, the property industry knows -- perhaps better than most -- that nothing goes on forever.”
Foreign Residents
Foreign buyers accounted for about 60 percent of home purchases in London’s most expensive districts in the four years through 2011, according to London-based Development Securities. As a result, more than half of the residents of Kensington and Chelsea and the City of Westminster are from outside the U.K.
House prices across the country rose in May for the first time in three months as a lack of homes for sale supported values, Nationwide Building Society said May 31. Values gained 0.3 percent from April and fell an annual 0.7 percent to an average of 166,022 pounds.
Knight Frank compiles its luxury-homes index from its own appraisal values of a sample of the same properties in the 13 most expensive neighborhoods of central London, including Belgravia and Knightsbridge.
To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Spillane in London at cspillane3@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Blackman at ablackman@bloomberg.net.
Police plea after four die in crash - Belfast Telegraph
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Four people have died in a car crash. A Volkswagen Passat and a Vauxhall Astra collided on the A39 at Cannington, near Bridgwater, Somerset, at around 2.30pm on Tuesday. A spokesman for Somerset Police said a 68-year-old man travelling in the Passat died ...Hakkasan Targets London City Area With Restaurant Plan - Bloomberg
Hakkasan Group plans to open two restaurants in London’s City this year as restaurateurs target the financial district for their expansion plans.
Chrysan will be a Japanese establishment in partnership with Yoshihiro Murata, the third-generation chef patron of Kikunoi, which holds three Michelin stars in Kyoto. Chrysan is scheduled to open in September at Broadgate West, next door to HKK, a Chinese restaurant that will open the following month.
Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver are among chefs who have moved into the City, undeterred by the squeeze on bonuses and expenses that has followed the financial slowdown. The restaurateur Russell Norman plans to add a branch of his Polpo group in nearby Smithfield on July 30, while Goodman has bought a site there for its Burger & Lobster chain.
“With the development of East London, the City is becoming the center of London rather than the West End,” Hakkasan Chief Executive Niall Howard said in an interview. “It’s growing as a residential area and increasingly there’s an international crowd. Getting the Broadgate West site clinched the deal.”
Broadgate West is owned by the property developer Peter Marano, who created L’Anima restaurant there in June 2008. He plans to open L’Anima Cafe, a casual venue with a bar and a takeaway counter, next door. It will seat about 160 people, the same as L’Anima, and should open early next year.
Japanese Chefs
Chrysan is Murata’s first overseas venture. He plans to create a pioneering Japanese restaurant brand for the international market where local chefs will work alongside Japanese chefs using mainly local ingredients.
“I visited Scotland and tried the local salmon, both native and farmed, lobsters, and crab, and I was very impressed by the amazing quality,” he said in a statement. “The salmon was even better than in Japan. English pork is very good, too. There are so many high quality, superb ingredients in the U.K. so what is the point of sending foodstuff from Japan over to London?”
Murata is chairman of the Japanese Culinary Academy, which promotes Japanese cuisine internationally by mentoring and inspiring chefs such as Ferran Adria and Heston Blumenthal. His chef in London will be Daisuke Hayashi. The menu will include a set lunch option plus a bento box.
“In the City, we need to be able to get people in and out in an hour at lunchtime,” Howard said.
Michelin Stars
The Chinese establishment HKK -- a contraction of Hakkasan Kitchen -- is inspired by the tradition of banqueting, will offer a single tasting menu of Cantonese delicacies created by chef Tong Chee Hwee, the Michelin-starred chef of Hakkasan restaurants.
Also coming up near Broadgate is Sushisamba, a venue with bars and restaurants serving Japanese, Brazilian and Peruvian cuisine on the 38th and 39th floors of the Heron Tower. It’s scheduled to open in July. The executive chef is Jeffrey Kipp, who was previously at Daylesford Organic, and Gordon Ramsay, as well as at Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago.
It’s the first European outpost of Sushisamba, which has sites in New York, Chicago, Las Vegas and Miami.
Restaurants that have opened in the City in the past three years include Galvin la Chapelle, Goodman and Hawksmoor, as well as Gordon Ramsay’s Bread Street Kitchen and Barbecoa, founded by Jamie Oliver and the New York chef Adam Perry Lang.
Hakkasan, which is owned by Abu Dhabi investors, has restaurants in New York, Miami, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Mumbai, In London, there are two Hakkasan outlets and the group also owns Yauatcha and Sake No Hana.
(Richard Vines is the chief food critic for Muse, the arts and leisure section of Bloomberg News. He is U.K. and Ireland chairman of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards. Opinions expressed are his own.)
Muse highlights include Ryan Sutton on New York dining.
To contact the writer on the story: Richard Vines in London at rvines@bloomberg.net or http://twitter.com/Richardvines.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Manuela Hoelterhoff at mhoelterhoff@bloomberg.net.
Hakkasan Mayfair
Bacchus PR via Bloomberg
The ground floor dining room at Hakkasan Mayfair in London, with design by Paris-based Guillaume Richard.
The ground floor dining room at Hakkasan Mayfair in London, with design by Paris-based Guillaume Richard. Source: Bacchus PR via Bloomberg
June 6 (Bloomberg) -- Niall Howard, chief executive officer of Hakkasan Group, discusses the company's plans to open a Japanese and a Chinese restaurant in London's financial district. He spoke with Bloomberg's Richard Vines in London on May 31. (Source: Bloomberg)
Hakkasan Mayfair
Bacchus PR via Bloomberg
The basement dining room at Hakkasan Mayfair in London.
The basement dining room at Hakkasan Mayfair in London. Source: Bacchus PR via Bloomberg
Hakkasan Mayfair
Chris Gascoigne/Bacchus PR via Bloomberg
The basement dining room at Hakkasan Mayfair in London is a good spot for cocktails.
The basement dining room at Hakkasan Mayfair in London is a good spot for cocktails. Photographer: Chris Gascoigne/Bacchus PR via Bloomberg
Niall Howard
Richard Vines/Bloomberg
Hakkasan executive Niall Howard has plans for two new restaurants in London. He is expanding the business around the world.
Hakkasan executive Niall Howard has plans for two new restaurants in London. He is expanding the business around the world. Photographer: Richard Vines/Bloomberg
L'Anima Cafe
L'Anima via Bloomberg
An architect sketch of L'Anima Cafe. The restaurant is scheduled to open early next year.
An architect sketch of L'Anima Cafe. The restaurant is scheduled to open early next year. Source: L'Anima via Bloomberg
L'Anima Cafe
L'Anima via Bloomberg
An architect sketch of L'Anima Cafe. The restaurant is scheduled to open early next year.
An architect sketch of L'Anima Cafe. The restaurant is scheduled to open early next year. Source: L'Anima via Bloomberg
Labour MP: Jubilee stewards left by roadside at 3am in London - ITV
Arrived in London 3am, left by roadside, eventually taken to London Bridge to 'sleep' but had to start work 5am/5.30am.
From @KerryMP on Twitter:Four killed in Somerset car crash - BBC News
Four people have died after a crash involving two cars in Somerset.
Emergency services were called when a VW Passat and a Vauxhall Astra, carrying five people, collided on the A39 Cannington Straight at about 14:40 BST on Tuesday.
A man, 68, travelling in the Passat and a woman, 73, travelling in the Astra were pronounced dead at the scene.
A woman, 59, and a man, 76, travelling in the Astra were taken to hospital but later died, a police spokeswoman said.
A fifth man is being treated at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton.
Officers closed the road for more than six hours after the crash.
'Very shocked'Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service said: "Two crews from Bridgwater and the specialist rescue tender from Taunton attended.
"On arrival the crews discovered there had been a road traffic collision between two vehicles and three persons were trapped.
"The crews got to work using hydraulic cutting equipment to remove the roof of the vehicle.
"Three casualties were removed from the vehicle and handed over to ambulance personnel."
The county councillor for Cannington, John Edney, said he was "very shocked".
New Opel/Vauxhall Astra saloon revealed - AUTOCAR.co.uk
Opel/Vauxhall has revealed this new Astra saloon – but the four-door is not destined for sale in the UK. The Opel Astra saloon will instead be sold in select western European markets, including Germany and Spain, where 'notchbacks' are popular, as well as Eastern Europe, Russia and Turkey.
The Astra saloon is offered with four petrol and three diesel engines. The most powerful engine is a 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol unit with 177bhp. The most frugal is a 94bhp 1.3-litre oil-burner with CO2 emissions of 99g/km and 76.3mpg.
Opel has also confirmed its new family of turbocharged four-cylinder 1.6-litre petrol engines will be launched in the new Astra four-door from early 2013.
The Astra saloon, sister car to the Buick Verano, is 4658mm long, 1814mm wide and 1476mm high. That makes it 239mm longer than a standard Astra five-door. The four and five-door models share the same 2685mm wheelbase, but the extra length allows for an increase of 90 litres in boot capacity. The 460-litre volume can be increased to 1010 litres by folding the 60:40 split rear bench flat.
Visually, the Astra four-door is identical to the five-door from the rear doors forward. The rear screen has a sharp rake to better integrate the boot. There’s also an integrated rear spoiler and an ‘inner wing’ shape for the rear lamps, an Opel hallmark.
The new model is set to make its public debut at the Moscow motor show in August.
London 2012: Team GB athletes will learn anthem - head coach - BBC News
British athletes will definitely know the words to the national anthem before the London Games, says UK Athletics head coach Charles van Commenee.
The Dutchman believes the step is necessary to head off potential criticism over "plastic Brits" - or athletes who have switched allegiance to represent Team GB at the Olympics.
"They know the words, or they will," said Van Commenee.
"If they don't, somebody will make an issue of it."
Asked if it should matter whether athletes know the words to the national anthem, he added: "That's a different question.
"I'm not going to rehearse everybody because we have 90 athletes, but people that matter... let's say the relevant ones, the ones on your radar (will rehearse the anthem)."
Van Commenee's choice of United States-born Tiffany Porter as team captain for the World Indoor Championships in March sparked the "Plastic Brits" row after she declined to sing God Save the Queen at a news conference ahead of that meeting.
Porter, who qualifies for Britain through her London-born mother and has held a British passport since birth, said she knew the words but questioned her singing ability.
Charles van Commenee“This is nothing compared to what football managers have to go through, but at least it tells me that athletics is worth talking about”
"I do know the first lines," she said at the time. "I know the whole of God Save the Queen."
Van Commenee, who insists he would only know the first two lines of his own national anthem, believes the "Plastic Brits" row is not important in the scheme of things.
"I know in Olympic year all sorts of rubbish comes up," he said.
The 53-year-old claims he had far more important matters to deal with when he was technical director of the Dutch Olympic Committee for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
"In the lead up to Beijing, there were lots of issues around Taiwan, Tibet, smog, human rights, not having the ability to express yourself in public, child labour," he said. "All these things had to be addressed by me.
"The issues I deal with now are partly not serious, but it comes with the job. This is nothing compared to what football managers have to go through, but at least it tells me that athletics is worth talking about.
"When you are in the spotlight then yes, you get issues to talk about."
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