Finance

The average property price in prime central London breached £1.5m in 2013, hitting £1,543,102 at the end of November after "robust" but "unremarkable" annual growth of 12.

The heart over-rules the head for many buyers of 'Billionaire Property' says Stephen Rees, Head of Real Estate Advisory at Coutts, in the second part of the bank's Objects of Desire report into passion…

In the first part of Coutts' new Objects of Desire Index - which charts the returns on "passion investments" from trophy homes and classic cars to jewels and wine - Mohammad Kamal Syed, Head of Strategic…

"Passion investments" - cars, jewels, trophy homes and the like - have out-performed shares since 2005 by quite the margin, delivering average returns of 77% according to Coutts' new Objects of Desire…

London has pipped New York to be named as the world's top city for foreign estate investment opportunity, according to a survey by the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate.

Bridging finance specialist Montello has scored "a real coup" by teaming up with CBRE for its latest real estate fund, which will dabble in short-term lending deals as well as getting involved in development…

There was an estimated £17 billion of gross mortgage lending in November, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders. This was 4% lower than October's figure of £17.

The majority of lenders plan to up their funding of residential development funding over the next 12 months, continuing 2013's shift towards being more ready with the readies.

After capital value growth of +3% in 2013's final quarter, taking the annual rise to +12.6%, the average property in prime central London is now worth £1.

Why did so many commentators and analysts get it wrong this year? Perhaps we still don't fully understand the strength of the forces behind the price growth we've been witnessing, says Camilla Dell...

English Rose Estates, which bought 406-408 Strand for £11.625m back in October, has made the 13-unit scheme into a joint venture with Sol Zakay's Topland Group.