Long awaited changes to Cypriot property law aimed at similutating sales of new homes in Cyprus are finally in place.

The changes, which either abolish or reduce property transfer fees (depending on whether you are paying VAT on your purchase) came into effect on December 2, 2011 and will remain in force for a period of six months.

To benefit, the property must be new and the contract must be dated and concluded before June 2012.

Essentially, if you pay VAT on your house purchase, you’ll pay no transfer fee at all and if you are eligible to pay VAT on your purchase, your property transfer fee will will be reduced by 50 per cent.

Richard Way, of the Overseas Guides Company says it’s hoped the Cypriot tax initiative will kick start the property market in the face of growing financial uncertainty across Europe.

“Now that a favourable decision over transfer tax has been announced, buyers who had been waiting in the wings for confirmation will now be happy to commit to a purchase, thereby injecting some life into the depressed Cyprus property market,” Way says.

Whether things run as smoothly as that remains to be seen, but this does seem to be a step in the right direction for a property market that’s had its fair share of struggles over the past years.

Many properties are said to be the world’s most expensive. There’s the mansion in Surrey for sale at £73m, or the £130m paid for an apartment overlooking Hyde Park in London recently.

But nothing comes near the price of a house being built in the Swiss mountains and claimed by its designer to be worth £7.5 billion and no, we don’t mean £75 or £750 million. It’s not location or size that cranks up the value of this mountain hideaway, said to be in the near the Italian border, but rather its fixtures and fittings designed by Liverpool-based gold plating specialists Stuart Hughes.

He was asked by Swiss luxury home firm exklusivHAUS to create the “world’s most expensive and most unique house ever built”  featuring 200,000 kilograms of solid gold and platinum fixtures and fittings – although it’s not clear where so much gold came from.

Nevertheless, given that gold currently costs £1,150 an ounce it’s not difficult to see how a valuation of £7.5 billion has been achieved.

Mr Hughes is known for coating almost anything in gold from fish tanks to cars – as well as a custom-made 24ct gold iPhone owned by Victoria Beckham. He also recently claimed to have built a £2.8 billion yacht covered in gold for an anonymous Malaysian businessman.

But his most ambitious creation could set the record for most expensive real property. The Swiss chalet is an eight-bedroom home featuring a terrace, large garden, stone wine cellar and a four super-car garage.

And for an added historical interest it features flooring made from meteoric stone with shavings of an original 65 million-year-old T-Rex dinosaur bone embedded in each tile.

All pictures copyright: Stuart Hughes/Rex Features

There’s a reason why one of Spain’s most expensive homes for sale is in Marbella. The Costa del Sol destination is synonymous with luxury and international glamour and is the Spanish equivalent of St Tropez or Monte Carlo. Marbella abounds with multi-million pound yachts, high net-worth individuals and celebrities including Sean Connery and Antonio Banderas.

So it was no surprise when a Marbella property for sale at an eye watering €50 million landed in our inbox. It’s not the average home a Brit looks for in Spain but there is no doubt a market for this exquisite luxury home.

La Casa Lorianna, as it is called, was built in 2002 and sits elevated just above the Golden mile beach. It’s walking distance into town and close to the Marbella Club Hotel, a longstanding favourite with the holidaying elite.

Not that the new owner of La Casa Lorianna would need to be near a hotel – as this home is designed with entertaining in mind and can sleep 20 guests – in suites with their own bathrooms and balconies. And for those seeking some extra privacy there’s a separate guest house and a beach house. Plus there’s separate accommodation for 3-4 staff which is ideal help to look after all those visitors.

The Spanish mansion not only offers the luxury lifestyle of Marbella, it has an enviable quality of life from within its grounds as well. There’s a cinema, health centre with sauna, Turkish bath and gym, a swimming pool – complete with waterfall and grotto and the top floor accommodation is all for the lucky owner with an office, library, his and hers bathrooms, walk in wardrobes, a terrace from which to enjoy the sea view and – in case you fancy the mountain view – a terrace to cover that vista too.

Exclusively available through Fine & Country Spain.

Still struggling to gauge the sheer luxury and expense of this Spanish pad? Check out the video of it below:

Living in Los Angeles, California and being a rising star means the more famous you are the higher up the property ladder you’ll need to climb regardless of actual need. You just have to live somewhere identifiably starry; it’s an easy but expensive way of shouting ‘I’ve made it’ in a city super-obsessed with profile and wealth.

A perfect example of this is Katy Perry and Russell Brand. The oddball couple (she a squeaky clean Popsicle and he a lewd stand-up comedian) originally bought a house on Sunset Strip, outside the limits of Los Angeles, at the foot of the hills that overlook the city.

It’s where famous but not-yet-hyper-wealthy celebrities tend to live and Katy and Russell recently put their 1920s detached house in Los Feliz up for sale at £2.1m. Almost simultaneously they bought a much larger and grown-up £4m mansion in the Hollywood Hills (pictured above and below) where the city’s rich and famous buy when cash is no longer a problem.

Their mansion is an 8,835 sq ft Spanish-style property bought off National Lampoon chief executive Daniel Laikin, who was sentenced to four years in prison recently after being caught manipulating stock prices.

Brand and Perry’s new three story home was built in 1925 and is in off Laurel Canyon Boulevard. It features stained-glass windows, carved fireplace mantel in the living room, a pub, a study and a media room. The house has seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms, including a four-room master suite, two guest suites and staff quarters.

All property pictures © Realtor.com/Rex Features

David Cameron has a growing reputation for his spectacular U-turns while his predecessor Margaret Thatcher famously said ‘this lady’s not for turning’. But in France Nicholas Sarkozy has made one of the most extraordinary and speedy about-turns in France’s political history.

Nicholas Sarkozy: Hisplans to tax non-resident holiday home owners in France have been dropped

After announcing last week that he intended to bring in an additional property tax for absentee holiday home owners in France, Sarkozy backed down following howls of protest from both the 180,000 British ’second’ home owners in France and a similar number of French ex-pats with properties back in ‘la belle France’.

Although the French parliament and Sarkozy’s cabinet had approved the new tax last week, strong representations from French people living overseas – who will be able to vote in French elections for the first time next year – persuaded Sarkozy not to risk his political capital with this newly enfranchised electorate.

Comments made to French papers also revealed how it had dawned on Sarkozy just how unpopular the move was among Brits who own holiday homes in France, and would lead to demonstrations in the UK the next time he pays a visit.

PrimeLocation had been pondering this pub-quiz question ever since an invite arrived in our inbox last week, beckoning the team to join a select gathering at the Westbury Hotel in Mayfair. 

The RSVP invite mentioned cocktails and canapes and encouraged us to join upmarket Portuguese and Swiss property experts from agent Sotheby’s Realty International. A more unlikely mob is hard to imagine – clipped, tight lipped Swiss suits mixing with louche, heavily tanned ex beach bums.

The reality was very different. An eclectic mix of PRs, accountants and estate agents from London, Europe and even Miami gathered in a small back room of this posh hotel; there were some distinct accents and the odd good sun tan as well as a buzz from the excitement of being in London for the night.

Over Moet & Chandon bubbles and smoked salmon blinis everyone chatted and predictably shared the same view – it’s a must to own a property abroad. And if you can’t choose between the skiing in Switzerland or the sunbathing in Portugal, why not have a property for each season?

So what do one of Europe’s richest countries and one that’s nearly bankrupt have in common and why are we having a party for them? Apart from the obvious sales push from the agents about the luxury resorts and apartments for sale, it was a celebration of their favourable tax regimes; something of a hot topic for London’s big earners at the moment, as the UK’s higher taxes and regulation bear down on them.

John Duggan from PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Portugal office stands up at the end of a small, informal presentation and cliams that it’s not only Switzerland that has all the tax trump cards.

Despite Portugal’s catastrophic government finances at the moment, we are told it’s a great place for foreign buyers to invest – relocating residents enjoy a  10-year tax holiday plus exemption from tax on foreign pensions and exemptions on investment and rental income. At the mention of in-depth tax and finance we began to glaze over but Mr Duggan has promised to write us a guide explaining in more detail how to invest in Portuguese property, so watch this space.

A villa with private pool at the luxury Pine Cliffs Resort in Portugal

As well as the tax benefits, a tanned Artur Simes showed us his model village of his luxury Algarve resort, Pine Cliffs. Having washed down buckets of champagne and too many prawn skewers, we were somewhat impressed and fancied buying one. Simes is walking proof of the 300 days of sunshine the area gets and he claimed a guaranteed five percent return on investment for three years if you want to let out our property through them.

So what about Switzerland? Many a banker knows the benefits of relocating there. It has one of the lowest taxation rates of any western nation and its taxes are based on your expenditure and standard of living rather than income or assets. And if you’re looking for a property to suit the well-off lifestyle, Du Parc - an imposing Belle Epoque mansion, converted from a hotel to luxury apartments, on the shore of Lake Geneva is a great place to start.

Du Parc Kempinski Residences in Switzerland

But the time had come to go home. The last of the Moet bottles had been upended and the warm Spring evening’s air beckoned. Thanks to Sotheby’s International Realty for the hospitaltiy hospitality.

While everyone is talking ad infinitum about the wedding of William and Kate this month, many have forgotten Will’s horse-mad cousin, Zara Phillips, and her July nuptials.

Zara doesn’t seem to mind as she has lots to be excited about besides her lower-key wedding. There’s the 2012 Olympics in London to prepare for (she’s in the Olympic equestrian team) and a newly built villa on the CampoReal Golf Resort and Spa to move in to.

Back in 2009 Phillips bought the land within the 200-acre gated site and began building her villa, largely because she was drawn to CampoReal’s extraordinary equestrian centre (for her) and its 18-hole golf course (for him).

Royal splash: One of the villas at the Campo Real equestrian resort.

The location is ideal for their busy lifestyles because it’s only 30 minutes from Lisbon airport, from which it’s easy to hop back to Bristol, the nearest airport to the couple’s Cotswolds home. The four-bedroom Portuguese villa (with 220sqm of living space) comes with a private swimming pool and was built on the edge of the old vineyards. It will be the Zara’s first home abroad.

The CampoReal Golf Resort and Spa, which opened in 2006 near Turcifal, offers 372 properties with access to the 18hole golf course. This includes villas, town houses, apartments and a five-star hotel. Buyers can sign a freehold leaseback which means they can stay for six weeks of the year and earn rental income from when they’re not there.

Prices range from €250,000 (£219,015) for a one bedroom apartment, €440,000 (£385,500) for the three-bedroom and three bathroom townhouses and €690,000 (£604,600)for the basic premium villa, but there are extra costs and services that can also be added on. Owners and guests will have access to; on-site restaurants, a car and driver, baby sitting, 24 hour room services, swimming pools, laundry services.

Back to school: villa owners at CampoReal can exercise their horses at the resort's huge outdoor arena.

Phillips and Tindall have had to postpone their honeymoon this July because Tindall will be training and playing in the World Cup warm-up game against Wales on August 6th. As the house should be ready before the wedding they are hoping to get away for a pre-wedding honeymoon before July.

The site – founded by Eduardo Netto de Almeida, part of a dynasty of Portuguese horsemen – is not the first equestrian centre to open in Portugal. In 2007 world ranked show jumper and Irish television personality Jessica Kuerten opened an equestrian centre in Quintas de Obidos after noticing the number of top international show jumpers taking their horses to the silver coast of months at a time. The luxurious and exclusive country club and spa has 79 large lakeside homes, with the equestrian centre at the heart of it.

This Friday the Channel 4 TV show A Place in the Sun begins its three day tenancy at Earls Court in London and Primelocation International will be there, along with 160 companies offering overseas properties for sale and homebuying services.

Headlining the event will the show’s three most famous presenters – Amanda Lamb (who presents the show’s video, below), Jonnie Irwin and Jasmine Harman – who will be appearing on stage to give advice about buying foreign property and answer questions about their work as TV presenters and signing copies of A Place in the Sun magazine. But they will also be joined by other experts including LBC radio presenter, property investment guru and Apprentice TV show contestant James Maxx.

VIDEO: Watch Amanda Lamb introduce this year’s A Place in Sun Live show

Primelocation International’s property analyst Nigel Lewis will also speaking every day at the show on the main stage, revealing ‘ten things you didn’t know about overseas property’ including which country has the easiest buying/conveyancing process; which town the Spanish holiday home revolution started in, which country offers the best quality of life and which day was the best financially to buy a property in Europe over the past year. Catch him during the show at 11.45am on Friday, 12.30pm on Saturday and 2pm on Sunday.

And if you want a free ticket to attend the show – follow this link to claim yours.

When primelocation wants Hollywood bling that bucks the trend, we look no further than “The Fortress” – the name movie veteran Anjelica Huston has given her LA home now on sale.

At first sight the building, completed in 1994 by sculptor Robert Graham - Huston’s husband until his death in 2008 – looks like a warehouse. But it sits four-square in Venice Beach, one of the plushest parts of Los Angeles and close to the estates owned by other Hollywood glitterati like Kate Beckinsale, Alec Baldwin and Francis Ford Coppola. 

Huston, perhaps best known for her role in The Addams Family franchise and The Witches in the 1990s – as well as being a long-time girlfriend of Jack Nicholson - says she and Robert Graham were inspired by the privacy of the Californian convent in which they spent their honeymoon in 1992.

So they created The Fortress, a functional Bauhaus design complete with girders and struts, steeply walled on its boundaries to keep out prying eyes. But step inside and you see a huge tropical garden, a swimming pool and a garden jacuzzi as part of almost 10,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor studio and gallery space.

There are also almost 4,000 square feet of interior living quarters including a library, dramatic galleries looking over three-storey studio and dance-floor areas, three bedrooms and five bathrooms. There’s also a basement games room and gym for that compulsory LA daily workout.

The property went on sale last year and was first advertised only in California but now, with even Hollywood stars hit by a declining US property market, it is being marketed in Europe by estate agency Engel & Volkers.

The publicity in Europe concentrates on the Mediterranean and French design influences and the Venice Beach boho chic reputation of the house – magazine Vanity Fair says it is found most easily by heading for the tattoo parlours and marijuana shops across the street.

But despite the continuing US downturn and change in global marketing strategy for the house, the asking price remains unchanged at a cool $18m. The owner is clearly not the only stellar characteristic of this particular LA home…

Singer Annie Lennox is probably feeling pretty chuffed at the moment, Primelocation is guessing, following her recent OBE for her charity work with Oxfam in the New Year honours list. And deservedly so.

But on the other hand, she is probably less than ticked pink by her most recent foray into Spanish property development, which has ended less happily. 

Because, if you fancy owning a bargain Spanish place in the sun for only £32,000, consider the ex-Eurythmic’s Andalucian townhouse (pictured above and below).

Lennox, who also owns a holiday home in Majorca, invested in two properties in the pretty town of Olvera three years ago with hopes of sweet financial dreams.

But the shaky Spanish economy has stalled her plan to make a profit by renovating the houses, which are in prime locations in the ancient Moorish town, and she has decided to get out.

One of the houses has already been snapped up, but other, which is on one of the prettiest streets in the protected area of the town, is still available.

Zoe Males, director of Olvera Properties, who is selling the home tells Primelocation that, “it’s spread over three floors and could be made into a lovely family or rental home, with a fantastic terrace to make the most of the views”.

 Of course, you will need a bit of spare cash for the renovations.  “The cost depends on what sort of finish you want,” adds Zoe. “For a rustic look you can pay as little as €400 per square metre, rising to over €1,400 for a very high spec.”

And, Zoe tells us, it is feasible to organise the renovations from home.

He says the people who bought Annie’s other house have managed the build from England. The builders have sent a lot of photos, and “they just came over to make the big decisions”.

But what attracted Lennox to Olvera in the first place?

Primelocation understands the town is known as one of the biggest ‘white villages’ in Spain and the Via Verde, 38 km of walking and cycling paths, runs past the bottom of the town.

It has a historic church, a castle, and something like 105 bars and restaurants, ranging from someone’s living room to flashy lounge bars. “It’s a fantastic place,” adds Zoe.