They pop up every so often, the converted broom cupboards with asking prices that outstrip Scottish castles. This one... 11ft by 5.5ft, a genuine ex-broom cupboard, and smaller, apparently, than a snooker table... isn't for sale, but it must have been a slow news day at the Mirror, because they've invited themselves in and had it valued, nonetheless. It's in Knightsbridge, across the road from Harrods, and according to a local agent could fetch anything from £150,000 to £200,000. More here.

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

Thanks to the Rat and Mouse reader for the tip... "apparently" - and we're trusting you on this one - this is Daniel Craig's very lovely 4-bedroom mews house in SW7, complete with gym, cinema and conspicuously placed Tom Ford book. Guide price: £4.25m; particulars here.

If these walls could talk... Max Clifford edition [January 21, 2010]

Technorati Tags: celebrity, London, property, real estate

According to Mouseprice.com, Belgravia's Chester Square remains on top if the UK house price league, with an average property value of £6.6m, proving a vision of a property-owning democracy worked out well for Margaret Thatcher.

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

Courtney Love loves Hyde Park.

"I am going to move here. I am getting a house in New York and a house in the UK. A flat, anyway."

Between the second sentence and the third, presumably she typed W1 into Primelocation.

Technorati Tags: celebrity

I could link straight to a tabloid on this one, but that would mean missing out on the wonderful Divorce Diva divorce blog (I kid you, not), which says:

It has been reported that Ronnie Wood is selling his £7.25 million five-bedroom house for £5.8 million, as he needs a quick sell so that he can pay for his divorce settlement to ex-wife Jo Wood.

If we're right about this house, it's this, on Cheyne Walk, and he bought it a couple of years ago as an investment. (Not much of one, it turns out.) It's currently little more than a shell, with detailed planning permission for a substantial extension, including basement, sub-basement and pool. Click through to the particulars for its interesting history.

Technorati Tags: celebrity, London, property, real estate

John D Wood estate agents had to fight buyers back with rolled up newspapers after this modest and unmodernised three-bedroom house on Haldane Road was offered to the market. According to JDW, it went on the market on Wednesday, had 45 viewings and two offers by the end of Thursday. Sealed bids are next.. in two Tuesdays' time.

Technorati Tags: estate agents, London, property, real estate, real estate agents

There's a Press Association piece here about Ocean... this extremely striking houseboat moored at Cadogan Pier, and currently marketed by Foxtons, at £1m (illustration, above). They're saying it's the most expensive houseboat they've ever had on their books, and it comes with a swimming pool, a sunken (literally) utility room, three bedrooms with bathrooms and that kick-ass location. It's not, however, the most expensive houseboat currently on the market. Check out this Putney-moored four-bedroom extravaganza, with a 30ft reception room and a guide price of £1.3m (illustration, below). I've always thought there was a real romance to the houseboat, but that may well be because I've never lived on one. Anyone have any London houseboat experiences, good or bad?

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

The London market's set to blow up in an extravagant excess of top Capital property values, according to London Central Portfolio, a property search and management company. Expect - according to LCP chief Naomi Heaton in conversation with the Standard here - Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea prices to rebound 80% from recent lows.

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

And this time, they're extracting maximum metaphorical victory by picking former Home Secretary David Blunkett's one-time grace-and-favour apartment at 62 South Eaton Place. It's been lying empty since Blunkett left three years ago... alarmed, CCTV-monitored, bullet-proof glazed. Somebody apparently left the window open. (David!!!) More here.

The luxury squatters strike again [November 25, 2009]
Westminster Council: sell or be squatted [November 18, 2009]

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

I'd heard - on the grapevine - via a number of estate agents about growing numbers of Italians setting up home in London, driven by a combination of a strong Euro and a strange domestic tax situation involving a temporary amnesty. Now - according to Investors Chronicle:

An influx of Italian cash buyers to the central London property market is skewing house price indicators and leading to over-optimistic forecasts of a housing market recovery.

The story comes via, ahem, Capital Economics, and uses data from Savills, who claim 80% of Kensington enquiries and 70% in Knightsbridge are from Italian buyers.

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate