Fraudster Bernard L Madoff assets are being stripped from his ownership whilst he spends the rest of his days behind bars. The latest asset to go is his Florida waterfront mansion and vintage yacht   U.S. marshals changed the locks at the unoccupied property and inventoried the 8,753-square-foot home, listed on tax rolls as worth $9.3 million. Madoff's 55-foot yacht named "Bull," a 1969 Rybovich valued at...

After Slovenia officially ratified Croatia’s accession to NATO, the country will join the alliance on March 4. Albania is also scheduled to join the alliance then as the other 25 members have ratified both Croatia’s and Albania’s accession to the organization.   Slovenia, a member of both the EU and NATO, had vetoed Croatia’s bid to join the EU in December because of a dispute between the two...

Singapore’s luxury resort company Banyan Tree is set for an expansion into the Philippines with a new island resort worth some US$200 million. The company recently held a ground breaking ceremony at Coron in Palawan province. The 55-hectare resort is scheduled for completion in 2012 and will have three resorts with a complete range of lodging and amenities and include a marina for guests and...

In the midst of a global economic downturn, office occupancy costs are another area taking a hit in the real estate sector. Worldwide real estate firm DTZ said that costs would continue to drop in 2009 as their annual survey on occupancy costs shows demand for space falling throughout the year. The 12th edition of the DTZ Global Occupancy Cost – Offices was recently published and it surveys 114 business...

The Andara Residences on Thailand’s tropical island of Phuket are now available for potential buyers to view. The property just finished its 4-bedroom show home for viewers, and there are already 2 and 3-bedroom apartments to see and from which to choose.   The 37 Residences are located next to the Andara Villas development, which sold out very quickly. These new apartments and homes are about halfway...

Good news for the UK housing market, it seems that the huge cuts in interest rates maybe taking effect with some positive UK house price news from the Nationwide Building Society This comes at a time when the Bank of England recently announced that mortgage approvals were also up   House prices rose last month for the first time in 16 months, the price of a typical house increased by 0.9 per cent to...

The Office of Fair Trading has today welcomed a Court of Appeal Judgment confirming its views on the application of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations 1999 (UTCCRs) ahead of a substantive hearing against Foxtons Limited at the end of this month. The OFT commenced High Court proceedings against Foxtons in February 2008 seeking an injunction under the UTCCRs preventing the estate agency using...

Signs that the UK property market may be heading for recovery come from figures released by the Bank of England. The number of mortgage approvals for house purchases were up by 19% in Feb 09 indicating that home buyers were back seeking to buy property in the UK The Bank of England figures show a total of 37,937 loans were approved for people buying a home in February which made it the highest level since...

A new study released by Hotels.com shows that Portuguese hotels are the cheapest of any major destination in Europe. With the onset of the global economic crisis in 2008, Portuguese hoteliers acted quickly and lowered their rates. The average rate during the fourth quarter of 2008 for a hotel room in Portugal was 77 euros a night, down 12 percent from the same period in 2007.   Hotels.com has a regular...

The Bank of Spain recently decided to take over the Caja Castilla la Mancha, a regional savings bank. The move was the first bank bail-out in Spain since the global economic crisis arose last year, and is the first large intervention in Spain since 1993. The action comes after the bank failed to find a merger partner after months of looking with the help of the government.   The Spanish Minister for the...