Property Letter – 13 th November 2006

Dear All,

There are some very interesting properties at the end of the letter, so if you want to get straight to them, please scroll down.

MORE on Capital Appreciation:

We have to face it, that as important as rental returns are to our cash flow, the thing that defines property as a wealth-builder is capital appreciation. Last week I couldn’t help noticing a news item that was repeated on Sky for a day or two.

On AVERAGE the UK property market has risen by 187% in the last 10 years! That’s 18.7% per annum. However in the same period the average earnings of Brits only rose by 54%.

So how does France compare? If I can find out I will let you know in my next Property Letter. What is more interesting though is the “big picture”. The questions Sky interviewers inevitably asked of the experts interviewed were “Why?” and “How?” when people’s earnings are only up 5% p.a. 

SURVEY: FRANCE : The art of the impossible

A morose France has fallen behind its competitors. But there is nothing inevitable about its decline, argues Sophie Pedder: all it needs is political will

Bridgeman

“SOMETHING seems very wrong with this country. Once the very model
of a modern major power—stable, rich and smug—it appears beset now by
political and economic instability and by civil unrest and disorder.
One observer has even taken to calling it ‘the sick man of Europe’.
Hardly a month passes without the appearance of a new book or learned
article on the decline and imminent demise of a once proud country.”

http://www.economist.com/surveys/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_RDQRNGV