In brief

Grounding of the MSC Napoli on the Devon Coast should be a reminder of the dangers of shipping possessions overseas, removal specialist Robinsons International has warned. The Napoli is reported to have been carrying 2,400 containers. Some of the 50 thrown into the sea and washed onto the beach contained personal belongings.

‘Sight of damaged and plundered containers lying on the beach is a stark warning to anyone contemplating not taking out proper marine insurance when their belongings are being transported by sea freight’, said Robinsons' managing director Anthony Robinson. ‘By proper marine insurance, I mean all risk, door to door coverage, which isn't offered by all removal or other companies shipping a customer's goods overseas’.

Robinsons advises considering £30,000 to £50,000 insurance cover for each 20 foot container of belongings.

Nearly a third of all UK investors buying property in France are choosing French mortgage providers, Crédit Foncier de France has claimed. French mortgages are typically cheaper than in the UK, but foreign exchange company HiFX has warned any ga8in can be wiped out by excessive bank charges and unnecessary currency risk.

‘More and more Brits are attracted to the cheaper rates offered by French Euro mortgages. However, most people completely forget to take into account the transfer charges levied by their bank and the currency risk associated with transferring money abroad’, said HiFX director Mark Bodega. ‘To make the most of good French mortgage deals investors need to consider how they are going to transfer money abroad to meet the repayments. Using a currency specialist could save them over £800 a year, or £12,600 over the typical life span of a mortgage on bank charges alone’.

According to Crédit Foncier, the value of cross border mortgages in the French property industry is increasing by approximately 50 per cent a year to £4bn in 2006. Overseas buyers now make up over 6 per cent of the French property market and almost half of these are British or Irish.

Official attitudes towards illegally built property have seemingly toughened further in Andalucia after a woman was jailed and ordered to have her house, which had been built on agricultural land, demolished. The decision by the High Court, which cannot be appealed, was a reversal of an earlier ruling. This was to then effect that the house could remain even though its 1999 construction had been contrary to the local development plan for Costa de la Luz, and the owner had known this.

This is the first time a demolition order has been issued for a property in Zahora.

In Marbella, where planning irregularities are the subject of fraud trials and extensive demolition orders, the Andalucian government is pushing ahead with its hard line approach. However, local officials say it will be at least two years before court cases, appeals and compensation can be sorted out so the bulldozers can move in.

Spanish house prices fell on average by 1.6 per cent in the year to January, the latest Spanish Property Price Guide from Kyero.com has estimated. This puts the average price of a house at £159,500. The most popular province continued to be Malaga where average property prices are now 25 per cent higher than the national average. In average property prices were 157 per cent above the national average at £409,000.

Belgian house prices went up by 10 per cent last year, residential real estate network ERA has estimated. Flats moved up by 12 per cent, although ERA believes the market has now moderated. It puts the average price of a house in Belgium at £132,350.

South Africa’s annual rate of house price growth fell to 6.9 per cent in January, well down on the 18.5 per cent of a year ago, and the peak rate of 35 per cent in October 2004, Standard Bank has reported. Rising interest rates are one of the factors restraining the housing market, where relatively low single digit growth will prevail in the short to medium term’, said the bank. ‘In the longer term, however, continued growth in nominal income will eventually overcome the restraints currently impacting households’ finances, so that the medium-term outlook for the housing market is more favourable.