According to Winkworth, there's no sign of London's top-end boom market ending soon, while wealthy Eurozone and Middle Eastern buyers continue to plough money in. Prices in Knightsbridge, Chelsea and Belgravia rose 17% in 2011, with 41% of those sales involving figures above £2m (up from 33% in 2010). London's safe haven status is behind the demand, and a shortage of available properties is pushing prices ever higher. More here.

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The survey was by Lloyds TSB, and its Borough (Kensington & Chelsea) dominates the top ten list. Campden Hill Square has an average property price of £4.9m... former home to Harold Pinter and Antonia Fraser (and venue for the famous IRA bomb meant for her previous husband Conservative MP Hugh Fraser in 1975. Second came Merton's Parkside, with an average price of £4.8m, and Drayton Gardens was third with average prices of £4.4m.

The rise and rise of top-end London property... it appears unstoppable. New figures by Primelocation show "prime" London property up 10% in 2011. That's £306 a day.

[photograph by Peter Jordan]

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Battersea's seemingly cursed power station is once again for sale to the highest bidder after owners Real Estate Opportunities, after a full five years securing planning permission for an ambitious mixed-use development, is unable to find the £500m needed to repay debts. More here.

Chelsea eye Battersea power station [November 24, 2011]
Battersea Power Station - there's a "latest" [November 12, 2010]
Battersea Power Station saga latest [June 24, 2010]
Disappointing public opprobrium for Battersea's finest [March 23, 2010]

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In light of current developments, we now think it prudent to look again at the feasibility and potential for the BPS site to be developed for a football stadium.

But don't hold your breath. Currently, the club can't sell up, because they don't own the freehold at Stamford Bridge, and Real Estate Opportunities, notional owners of the Battersea site, is £300m in debt and could lose the keys to the power station at any time.

Battersea Power Station - there's a "latest" [November 12, 2010]
Battersea Power Station saga latest [June 24, 2010]

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Property. According to this, her well-connected father-in-law (Francois Pinault, founder of PPR) has just paid £20m for Uncle Monty's pad, a two-bedroom property with famous triple-heigh ceilings (in case Hayek needs to lie down) in Glebe House, Glebe Place, Chelsea.

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Buying into new build is as risky as ever, but there are places, according to new research by Knight Frank, where you stand a greater than average chance of making a return on your investment. Nine Elms, in Wandsworth, is forecast growth of as much as 140%, as the area gets set for the opening of the new US embassy in 2017. Go here for a fun and effective interactive map.

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A 44-year-old former helicopter pilot committed suicide due to the possible homelessness of his family after the changes to Housing Benefit in November. The Coroner commented:

“What I find particularly tragic in this case is this act appears to be pursued by a man who was not suffering from an illness and appears to have made a considered act in response to his inability to find employment. The fact his housing benefit was about to be cut and the family would be at risk of having nowhere to live, and being ordered to give up his training course because of the Job Centre's rules, would appear to be especially poignant and tragic.”

Suddenly it's all starting feel so much more real.

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Wandsworth's three hotspots, according to the Telegraph:

These are the Nightingale Triangle, a trendy pocket of cottages and terraced houses near Balham and Clapham South tube stations; the so-called Toast Rack – a cluster of larger Victorian and Georgian houses located near the restaurant Chez Bruce, where a young Gordon Ramsay honed his skills; or The Tonsleys, an area of smaller houses close to Wandsworth Town train station. The last of these is where BBC One’s hit comedy Outnumbered is filmed.

And prices are - according to the piece - rising at particularly alarming rates, leaving anyone renting in the borough with the idea of swooping on a family home as soon as it hits the market  in a very expensive position.

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It's this that's caused the fuss. A double space in an underground car park on Basil Street, Knightsbridge, with a guide price of £200,000 and currently under offer. The price of an average UK home? £163,049, according to the latest HBOS index, which actually surprised everybody by rising 1.2% on the month, still leaving the three month average down 3.5% on where it was a year ago.

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And they wonder why the Brits are obsessed with property investment. It's Gilston Lodge, last on the market in 1958 when it sold for £5,000. Now, this detached six-bedroom house with garage right in the heart of Chelsea is one of the area's hot property's, creating more than a little excitement and expected to fetch in excess of £8.5m. Whoever buys it will need even deeper pockets, though, as it will need a few more million spent on refurbishment. The house has received 50 viewings in three weeks, and will go to sealed bids. Particulars here.

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