There's a rather swanky house in a posh area of north/central London up for sale on Rightmove:
The price tag? £45 million. That's a lot of money for bricks and mortar, you might think, sure it has 12 bedrooms, 8 receptions, swimming pool etc, but it wouldn't cost more than a few million quid to build.
Correct, what makes it so expensive is the plot - a hefty 1.8 acres. The plot alone would cost about £35 million. As a guide, today's Evening Standard (use the e-edition and go to the one dated 15 March 2012, page 35) has an article about a 1.6 acre plot on the same street which is expected to sell for "at least £30 million".
Suffice to say, the people who oppose the Mansion Tax on the basis that it is "a tax on bricks and mortar and no better than the Window Tax"* need their heads examining - the clue is that 95% of homes affected would be in central London (and a fair few on Sandbanks, Poole, Dorset).
* I wonder whether there was a lot of wailing about "Poor Windows In Mansions" when they brought that one in?
Thursday, 15 March 2012
It's the bricks and mortar, innit?
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I used to work with someone from Poole whose father was offered several acres in Sandbanks for the then going rate for poor-quality agricultural land - a few hundred quid. It was some time ago and no, he didn't go for it.
I note that the illustration is a painting rather than a photograph. Is the place yet to be built, or are they trying to hide something?
B, he must be kicking himself. Think of all that private wealth he could have created... oh. Yes, it's an artist's impression of what the place will look like once rebuilt.
Very FBRI - a copy of an Arts and Crafts copy of a mediaeval manor house.
Even if I had the money I wouldn't buy a monstrosity like that. Why do "the rich" so often have so little taste?
When I am super rich I will be building my own cutting edge eco glass box in the middle of nowhere to get on Grand Designs and spending the rest of my time in a Georgian town house in inner London.
A 20% deposit on £35m, invested for income and giving you 3.5%pa, would mean you have about £350 a day spending money after tax.
I think I'd just live in hotels.
B, yes, FBRI to the n-th power.
BE, the instinct to keep ahead of the Joneses is as old as mankind itself, when they do these archeological digs of primitive societies, they always find fancy jewellery, pottery, elaborate burial sites and so on. There is no upper limit to this - which is why kleptocrats end up spending hundreds of millions of pounds on yachts to try and outdo each other.
SL, me too.
MW I know all that, but you can spend money and still not be hideously vulgar!
Whenever someone wins the euromillions all the girls in the office start daydreaming about what property they'd buy with the money.
Within a few minutes they've normally gone through two-thirds of the jackpot, just buying swanky city appartments and luxury beach villas.
It's madness. I worked out that one of these euormillions wins was like having £4k a day spending money. Imagine that, being able to spend £4k a day, every day and not go bust.
Why on earth would you buy a house or anything for that matter? Life would just be one big holiday surely? I think I'd simply buy a small suitcase or rucksack and get the taxi to Heathrow, chargecard at the ready.
What is it about Sandbanks? The place will get washed away the next time a tsunami comes up the English Channel. It has not happened within living memory but such events are not unknown. The one to worry about will be a repeat of the Lisbon 1755 event, which is getting overdue.
PR, that puzzles me as well.
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