Free Google sat-nav - world domination continues

So yesterday the shares in major satellite navigation suppliers took a huge hit.  If you want to find out why just click here.

US firm Garmin fell 18% after details of Google maps navigation were revealed. Dutch firm TomTom fell 9.5% when markets closed on Thursday.


The Google application promises free real-time, turn-by-turn directions for people to follow on their phones.

The Motorola "droid" will be the first mobile phone equipped with the system.

Google maps navigation combines services including a search engine to find addresses, Google street view for photos of locations, and live traffic data.

The implications for estate agents and people searching for property remain to be seen as this is just one tiny segment of the thousand piece jigsaw that Google are currently weaving.

www.cognacproperty.com

More than 25,000 UK shops closed this year

Planning Resource magazine has just run a story saying that over 25,000 shops have closed in the UK so far this year (presumably a few estate agents among them).

I'm just pulling together some research for a story that I'm writing for French Property News about the impact that Google and sites like Tepilo will have on the future of the property market (they picked up on this blog entry I wrote last month).

One thing for sure is that the days of just having a prime high street position are well behind us.

Think I'm scare mongering?  Get yourself a coffee, clear your mind, click here and then let your imagination run riot.

www.cognacproperty.com

French property market sees lending soar

The prudent French banking system seems to be paying off with finance still available (even at 100%) and a rise in house prices of 2.8% over the last six months (although a drop of 7.8% if you take the last 12 months.....lies, damned lies & statistics eh).

The source of these nuggets is the FNAIM and you can read a fuller report here.

Of course, as any estate agent will tell you, it's the number of transactions that is the key indicator rather than the vagaries of price.  This is why many agents are still struggling and thousands of staff have been laid off throughout France.  I don't know of any agencies in this region that are hiring again yet.

It seems to me that there is still a steady trickle of international buyers looking to purchase property in France but that many more are still waiting in the wings.  It's not a case of "if" this trickle will turn into a stream but "when".

Timing is always crucial in the property market - if any of us knew the answer to this for sure we'd be millionaires but I do have a hunch that Spring next year will see some of those currently vacant high street shops having shiny new agence immobilier signs being hung up over the door.

www.cognacproperty.com

Top 10 property investment destinations

Just read an interesting little piece of research from a company called Global Edge marketing.  They rank the investment potential of property held in 77 cities throughout the world (using gross rental yields as the determinant).

Surprisingly Paris only comes 59th (outlook very poor) with New York 62nd and dear old London down in 66th.

Chisinau (me neither) heads the list and is marked "spectacular". Amongst the top 10 you'll also find Jakarta and Bogota.

Now, I've never been to Chisinau (it's in Moldova) or indeed any of the other "hot spots" listed but I'd have thought that it's a brave man who decides that buying property there is a better long term investment than in, say, Fulham.

I'm not sure that I'd feel too confident that my money was entirely safe either which surely has to be a factor if you're claiming to offer investment potential - the upside is that I guess you'd have great fun visiting your portfolio!

www.cognacproperty.com

Bordeaux set for first great vintage of new century

The grape harvest has come to a close and the experts are unanimous; all the factors are there to make this the first great vintage of the 21st century.

‘Nature has been very generous,’ says Denis Dubourdieu, director of the Institut des sciences de la vigne et du vin (ISVV) at Bordeaux. ‘It is difficult to find comparisons – you have to go back to weather of the 1940s to find, perhaps, comparable conditions.’

My viticulteur friends also seem to have wider smiles than usual this year so it does indeed seem to have been an excellent year for the local firewater.

Let's hope it's a double whammy with the football team seeing off Bayern Munich in the Champions League this wednesday then going on to lift the trophy in Madrid next year.

www.cognacproperty.com

Digital age comes to Jarnac schools

France has just introduced a national scheme to bring the digital revolution into rural schools and I'm all for it.

Our two (8 & 10) came back the other night saying that maitresse was excited because she's had it confirmed that they're taking delivery of fourteen new laptops - all wifi enabled and fully loaded.

That's one laptop between two pupils (CM1 and CM2 share a classroom) which I think is a pretty decent ratio for a state run rural school in one of the poorer regions of France. Hopefully now the girls will have sufficient time online in the classroom to stop them kicking me off the laptop when they get home.

I love the schooling out here as they seem to have a sensible mixture of "arty" cultural activities and rural field trips as well as an understanding that the basics of maths, french & computing need to be mastered early.

The lunches aren't bad either!

www.cognacproperty.com

UK - investor confidence returns for overseas property

There's a touch of Mandy Rice-Davies' "well he would say that wouldn't he" about this but it's worth repeating.

Nick Clark, managing director of the Property Investor Show has commissioned some research which shows that investors think that confidence has risen by 43% over the past three months.  He says:

"There has been a strong shift in the market, with savvy UK investors beginning to explore overseas opportunities as they search for sound investments with better returns than the other poor performing investment vehicles such as bank savings and the stock market".

Strangely he failed to mention either John Profumo or Christine Keeler.

www.cognacproperty.com

Tories to ditch "Home Information Packs"

Just been announced at the Tory Conference by the shadow housing spokesman.

Hard luck on those poor buggers who spent thousands on training programmes in anticipation of a long term career change (assuming that Cameron does get in next Summer).

I think the French system works really well with the vendors paying for obligatory tests for asbestos, lead, termites, energy efficiency etc.

Everyone knows where they stand and it's just a given part of the process. What next for the UK though?

www.cognacproperty.com