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[ places ] New & Noted Places and plans for your travel diary 49 french connections Why now is the right time to invest in France 52 down under Where to buy on Australia’s east coast 58 taking on tax Your guide to tax efficient destinations 64 top ten LOFT looks skyward to the world’s tallest buildings 70 singapore shophouses Beautiful renovations are transforming the town 82 LOFT DIRECTORY Spaces, Faces and Places that inspired us this issue 88
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Steve Leung Hampton 3A_Photo Index
LOFT
winter 2011/2012
The Hampton 3A_003
The Hampton 3A_007
The Hampton 3A_002
The Hampton 3A_009e
The Hampton 3A_015
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r
winter 2011/2012
Foster & Partners Top Projects:
- Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts - Stansted Airport - American Air Museum - Carre d’Art
Never be afraid to wipe your mind clean and start afresh. A clean sheet of paper
LOFT
[ spaces | west kowloon ]
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LOFT
winter 2011/2012
[ spaces | aGenT SecReTS ]
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[ spaces | no place like home ]
Sanlitun Village at Beijing
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Yadua, Fiji
Private Island
THE RICH AND FAMOUS OWN FIJIAN ISLANDS INDEED, SIR RICHARD BRANSON HAS SAID ‘ BUYING HIS PRIVATE ISLAND, NECKER, WAS ONE OF THE BEST BUSINESS DECISIONS HE EVER MADE, ISLANDS ARE TRUELY THE ULTIMATE LUXURY INVESTMENT ’
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PARIS Hotel Thoumieux
JODHPUR Raas
winter 2011/2012
Investment from the Chinese has been particularly noticeable in Paris
LOFT
[ places | french connections ]
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Art nouveau in Paris
Sydney
PORTSEA - VICTORIA Mornington Peninsula hot spot Portsea has recorded a rare 3.5 per cent slide to its $1.45 million (HK$12m) house median. Nonetheless, the narrow slice of prime water-fronted land is protected by “a property market love bubble”, according to longtime observer Warwick Anderson. It has only posted 36 house sales in the past 12 months so the tricky part for investors will be securing one of its few listings, RT Edgar director Anderson says. “Our homeowners tend to downsize in Melbourne before they will ever sell in Portsea,” Anderson explains. “Perhaps it is partly ego-driven but no matter what, they tend to hold on and do the opposite of what happens in a traditional holiday home location.” Anderson says recent “long, cold” months have been quiet. There have been some sales under $1 million (HK$8.2m) but vendors with houses above $1 million have largely opted to remove their listings from the market. “Most of these people don’t have to sell so you could say Portsea sits in a property market love bubble protected by its low stock numbers and the fact when times get tough listings
disappear.”Anderson says $2 million to $3 million (HK$16.4m to HK$24.6m) buys a house less than 15 years’ old on 1,000 sqm to 1,500 sqm ... but good luck finding one.
ASCOT – QUEENSLAND Queensland’s prestige house values have struggled since 2008 due to the doublehit of GFC-fallout and natural disasters. Ascot, in the inner ring of Brisbane, is one of the northern city’s most prestigious suburbs. Its highest sale price this year was $4.8 million (HK$39.7m) for a house on 1239sqm, according to the Real Estate Institute of Queensland. Its median house price, however, slid backwards to $972,500 (HK$8.05m); a dip of 8.9 per cent. “Many owners of prestige property are either deciding not to sell until market conditions improve or those that need to sell have had to be very realistic in their asking prices to achieve a sale and some owners are selling at prices below what they would
of the property cycle and now is a good time to buy.” Harcourts Ascot agent David Havig says the leafy suburb has 12 “top streets” with blocks averaging 500 sqm to 600 sqm and buyers should hunt west of Racecourse Drive. “Traditionally we get a lot of expat buyers investing in Ascot and have seen more expats returning home from Europe this year with families and looking for lifestyle properties,” Havig reports.
MERMAID BEACH QUEENSLAND Facing the Pacific Ocean, Mermaid Beach is home to Hedges Avenue, a one-way street with a 40kph speed limit and a three-storey height limit, known to locals as “Millionaires’ Row”. Today its mansions are changing hands for less than half their 2007 prices although agents say prices have finally stopped freefalling after 2008/2009’s
normally have achieved in a booming market
flurry of distressed sales, which saw $20
like the one we experienced in 2007,” REIQ
million (HK$165.4m) abodes selling for less
manager director Dan Molloy says. “It is
than $10 million (HK$82.7m).
fair to say we are currently at the bottom
“Anyone who had to sell has sold so
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FACT
The wealthy are attracted by the Lump Sum Tax in Switzerland.
The Wave, Muscat in Oman
[ places | taking on tax ]
420.5 metres high
in the world
071 [ places | top ten ]
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winter 2011/2012
LOFT
autumn 2011
[ places | top ten ]
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reviving the shophouse
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