In brief

Marbella property owners faced with the possible anguish of having their homes demolished are being offered a lifeline. IFG Spain has come up with an insurance policy that will cover the cost of forced removal and demolition because the original building licence is now held to non-compliant with the town’s general development plan.

IFG managing director Elaine Higgins Told Fly2Let that 950 building licences covering some 30,000 properties had been held to be illegal. In theory all could be demolished.

Cover is limited to private owners (or those who have bought through a private company) or fully completed properties in Marbella, with policies underwritten by FirstTitle. The cost for a renewable four year bond – subject to adjustment in the case of higher risk properties – has been set at 1,000 euros plus 2 euros per 1,000 euro of value – meaning a 200,000 euro property would cost 1,400 euro to ensure.

Besides relieving the anxiety inherent in the current uncertainty, the insurance cover has the befit of making properties saleable, thereby unlocking investments, said Higgins.

The IFG website, at has further details, or email enquiries can be sent to first-title@ifgspain.com.

Canada is the next big thing for canny property investors, with capital gains of 9.4 per cent a year, growing demand for rental accommodation and relatively cheap property compared with the UK.

So says property investment company Assetz which has launched a specialist Canada division to cope with increasing demand for British investors.

‘With one of the longest ski seasons in the world and a wide and varied range of summer activities, Canada is truly a year round global destination’, said Assetz sales manager Martin Sadler. ‘Prices are still considerably cheaper than in most other mature markets, with a typical one bedroom ski apartment costing around £150,000. Strong capital gains, low interest rates and growing demand from the British holiday market are ensuring Canada makes an impact on British investors looking for affordable growth’.

South African house prices were up by 15.2 per cent in 2006 - compared to 22.7 per cent in 2005 and 32.2 per cent in 2004, ABSA Bank has reported. In real terms, after stripping out inflation the annual rate of growth was 8.2 per cent, it said.

In the ‘middle segment’ prices went up by 13.5 per cent last year, This was lower than the 14 per cent average rate of increase reported in November. The December increase brought the average ‘middle segment’ price to £60,600.

‘Nominal house price growth is projected to continue its downward trend of the past two years for most of 2007. Year on year growth of about 9 per cent in house prices is forecast for this year, with prices set to rise by around 3 per cent in real terms’, said the bank.

New low cost air fares for economy flights from London to Larnaca announced by Monarch have pushed Cyprus further up the property hotspot list, according to Principal International ‘Cyprus is already tipped as being one of the top three investment opportunities in Europe for the overseas investor in 2007, and this news will add more fuel to the buying frenzy’, said the firm. ‘The high fares cartel between Cyprus Airways and British Airways will no longer survive and the flag carriers and chartered airline services will no longer be the dominant operators’.

Scams directed at people trying to let US homes and apartments seem to be on the rise, the US website ConsumerAffairs.com has reported. Most of the scams originate overseas, with the victim being sent a large and authentic looking money ordger with instructions to deduct the first month's rent and send back the rest. But the money orders are fake and any landlords who wire money to the scammer before realising this lose out. Fraudsters are apparently targeting landlords advertising property to rent on Internet listings sites, said the website.

France is to embed citizens’ rights to a home in law. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said legislation would be introduced in two stages. From 2008 it would cover the poorest section of the community, and from 2012 all of the population.