Where (and why) the super-rich are investing in real estate. Key factor in this trend is the extraordinary wealth creation in Asia in recent years Land ownership is, perhaps, the most ancient expression of wealth.
Throughout history it has provoked conflict and inspired grandeur, from civic monuments and sacred spaces to egotistical towers and pleasure palaces. Today the relationship between land – or property – and wealth is more complex and more commercial than ever before. Since the economic crisis of 2008, real estate has attracted many of the world’s super-rich who have sought a safe haven, and a means of diversifying assets, and a very visual symbol of power and sophistication. In 2008, $146bn of global private wealth was invested in the large-deal (above $10m) real estate market and by 2012 this had increased by 111 per cent to $308bn. “It’s a case of push and pull factors,” says Yolande Barnes, director of residential research at Savills.
Global real estate by the numbers Then there are the wider economic factors to consider. Valuations: Is this nuts? How does Francois Hollande pull these women? like Julie Gayet and Valerie Trierweiler. Officials say Valerie Trierweiler, the partner of French President Francois Hollande, has been hospitalised.
To access our premium content,please subscribe or log in. It's quick and easy. Your video will begin in 5 seconds WOMEN troubles are not new for Francois Hollande, to the bewilderment of those who can't see what beautiful, talented females see in him. From the lecture halls of the elite Ecole National d'Administration (ENA) to the summit of the state, affairs of the heart have played a central role in Mr Hollande's political journey.
The next step in that journey comes on Tuesday afternoon, when Mr Hollande is due to appear before more than 500 journalists and, the world expects, explain exactly what is going on in his private life. With his long-term girlfriend, France's First Lady Valerie Trierweiler having taken to a hospital bed with stress following the revelation of Mr Hollande's clandestine trysts with actress Julie Gayet, that will be no easy task. Valerie Trierweiler: So French women get furious after all. Discretion: La Maison Blanche. Google: The new GE: Google, everywhere. Bank capital: A worrying wobble. Technology and jobs: Coming to an office near you. INNOVATION, the elixir of progress, has always cost people their jobs.
In the Industrial Revolution artisan weavers were swept aside by the mechanical loom. Over the past 30 years the digital revolution has displaced many of the mid-skill jobs that underpinned 20th-century middle-class life. Typists, ticket agents, bank tellers and many production-line jobs have been dispensed with, just as the weavers were. For those, including this newspaper, who believe that technological progress has made the world a better place, such churn is a natural part of rising prosperity. Although innovation kills some jobs, it creates new and better ones, as a more productive society becomes richer and its wealthier inhabitants demand more goods and services.
Remember Ironbridge Optimism remains the right starting-point, but for workers the dislocating effects of technology may make themselves evident faster than its benefits (see article). Why be worried? The problem is one of timing as much as anything. Venture capitalists: From leafy to lofty. Tech startups: A Cambrian moment. Mapping China: A cartographer’s dream. French politics: Le Hollande nouveau. Coming to an office near you.