Ski purists say the skiing is dull, short lived and too cold but it’s an enduring conundrum why us Brits haven’t embraced Norway as a ski destination. The ski pass and beer prices on a par with the Alps, so why not? In a random moment of luck and happiness, Primelocation was invited recently to the northern most part of the north recently.

Yes, we were above the Arctic circle for a three day break so I’m we’re a little bit inspired by all places shivery at the moment so we checked out ski lodges for sale there, and found this Norwegian ski chalet.

You get the best of both worlds with Skarvegløtt near the Norwegian ski resort of Geilo. Amazing valleys in summer, but a great ski season throughout winter as well (wrap up warm). Either way, views are stunning (they’re across Europe’s largest plateau) and this house is just beautiful and is a 100-mile drive north-west of Norway’s capital, Oslo.

Everything you could want from a home. Huge rooms, wooden beams and lovely design. It’s a traditional home, but look, is that a swimming pool I spy out of the corner of that room? Traditional maybe, simple and modest? Not in the slightest. And hopefully you won’t mind the moose and reindeer just having a stroll through your garden.

You’re guaranteed to keep your view as well, the house is right on a conservation area meaning that no one can build in the area. This means you’re unlikely to get planning permission as well. But just look at that house, I can’t see anything that needs improving, can you? Especially not when I mention the fact that there’s already a jacuzzi. On the market for £5.9 million.

So you want an Italian bolthole? Or even more stylishly, a place to call hom in the capital of fashion, Milan? Then Primelocation has found this ’floating apartment within an extrordinary apartment block. Not a piece of gravity defiance, sci-fans will be sad to hear, but Europe’s highest ever 360 degrees apartment block (other contenders suffer from a blocked view at some point).

The penthouse for sale pictured here offers spectular views of the city from every single angle – so if you’ve got vertigo, this really isn’t the home for you. And even if you haven’t got vertigo, Primelocation reckons the strongest of stomachs would feel queasy if they leaned over too far.

But, you do get the best views of Milan, and on a clear day, Italy. And the location is head spinning by itself – once you’ve got your feet on the ground. You’re in Milan’s swankiest district but more importantly, consider the amazing design, each apartment’s huge windows, of course, and huge, open-plan design.

The downsides? Well, you don’t have a garden and the price is no doubt lofty, but the vendor is being shy about it so we can’t report yet how high.

Back in 2008, before things went a little pear-shaped with the overseas property market, Britons accounted for an incredible 70 per cent of all foreign ownership in Cyprus. While things are still a long way from those heady days of fun in the sun, a new development is hoping to rekindle interest in this buzzing eastern Mediterranean isle.

Michalis Hadjipanayiotou, the chief executive of property development at Cybarco, was in London this week where he told me about plans for Limassol Marina – a £350 million waterfront development featuring a mix of luxury apartments and villas, each with their own berth and surrounded by the buzz of slick waterfront restaurants, bars and high-end shops. And, although there are other marinas on the island, it is the first large-scale, purpose built waterside development of its kind on Cyprus.

Hopes are high for the 300-plus residential development, some of which is already available for sale. The marina, which can accommodate modest sailing vessels all the way up to the largest mega-yachts, is scheduled to be fully operational by the end of 2012 and the entire complex will be completed by the end of 2014.

Hadjipanayiotou told me the local community is 100 per cent behind the development, which builds on Limassol’s association with the sea and aims to compliment the city’s old harbour, the town’s historic centre and its medieval castle.

“I’ve no doubt this development will change Cyprus and really put it on the map,” he told me over lunch. “The benefits are that it’s right in the city centre – it’s amazing to have a marina in a city centre and it means there are things going on and things to do 365 days a year.”

While there is still a substantial part of the marina development under construction, the Nereids Residences  section has already been released and offers a choice of one, two and three bedroom apartments and penthouses  from £400,000.

I’ve been invited out to have a look at how things are progressing in the new year, so I’ll keep you posted on how things progress.

The city of Marrakech in Morroco has pulled in the A-list crowd for over seven decades now starting with clothes designer Yves St Laurent in the 1960s  – who owned a villa there – through to the Beckhams, who holidayed at its Amanjena luxury resort  in 2004.

The villas at the Baglioni Marrkech resort are being constructed by global design firm Yoo which Jagger has also designed for elsewhere including in New York, Dubai, the Cotswolds and Manchester and which in the past has also signed up Phillip Starck and Sophie Conran to design interiors.

Jade’s Marrkech properties include four and five bedroom villas between 665m2 and 815m2 which come with secure parking, large gardens, terrace, swimming pool and the interiors, as you might expect, have been given a strong Moroccan flavour by Jagger, who works with her design partner and up-and-coming architect, Tom Bartlett.

The 34-acre resort in which the villas sit includes 72-room boutique hotel, a spa and fitness club, restaurant as well as the villas.

Pooled resources: the terrace swimming area at one of the villas

And owners of the Residences, as the resort prefers to call the properties, will get more than just Jagger’s taste in interiors. On tap will be all the services that guests staying at the resort would enjoy so no need to cook despite the villa’s gorgeous kitchens (there’s an in-house cook) or worry about  stocking your cupboards (there’s a shopping service), organise excursions (via a travel arranger) or drive anywhere (there will be chauffeurs on tap).

The Baglioni Group, which owns hotels and resorts all over the world including one in London, is banking on Morocco’s much predicted race up the tourist rankings – particularly as Marrkech is its most famous attraction.

In July this year the number of tourists rose by 10 percent compared to the same month last year, and Morocco is fast approaching the ambitious target of 10 million tourist visits a year set by its modernising king, Mohammed VI.

As a million or more TV breakfasts balanced on a nation of knees so the second day of ITV’s much hyped Daybreak was rattling through this morning, carried largely by the nation’s favourite celibate couple, Christine Bleakley and Adrian Chiles. Both were looking flush, I thought, with the  millions ITV paid them to jump ship from the BBC’s quirky evening magazine programme The One Show.

But I don’t think Daybreak’s bleary-eyed audience will get the duo’s brand of early-evening humour and the allure of The One Show was its thought-provoking magazine-style features. But let’s give them a chance to blossom and develop.

Nevertheless one thing I can’t let pass was their report from Spain about the property market which, rather glumly, the show’s reporter said is now more Holiday Homes from Hell than A Place in the Sun.

Daybreak’s report chose its angle carefully and focused only on the most vulnerable of the British who moved to Spain, the ones who were always going to need an earned income to survive and who have been hit hard by the downturn.

The first to arrive in Spain during during the late 1950s were adventurous, well-off and usually bohemian home buyers but it wasn’t until Spain turned into the favoured holiday destination for millions of us that owning property on the Costas became a mainstream, discuss-down-the-pub type habit.

But the problems began when the most vulnerable started to move south; the ones interviewed on Daybreak this morning. These are the expats who retired early or moved their young families to Spain in the belief that they’d find jobs despite not speaking the lingo, having much money or possessing the skills needed to make a living on the Costas.

Each story has its own idiosyncrasies and some people have just been unlucky but it’s these type of ex-pats who are the ones moving back home in droves. The type of work they once relied on to keep them in paella and patatas bravas are now scarce – both the tourism and property markets are struggling to survive the recession and these were the traditional areas for unskilled Brits to find a job.

But one thing Daybreak didn’t mention is the 150,000 or more retirees who live in Spain and who – a NatWest bank survey revealed last week – are doing just fine.

The bank revealed that seven out of ten retired Britons living overseas were happy with their new country, and that one in five – or 20% – had returned back to the UK. I wonder if Adrian and Christine will get round to interviewing them?

On paper it looks like just another 114-acre farm for sale in a New York rural backwater, but to anyone who follows polo it is where  the sport’s most famous annual events takes place.

The Mercedes Benz Polo Challenge, hosted by the Bridgehampton Polo Club at Two Trees Farm, is a must-attend event on New York’s social calendar with Ralph Lauren, Brooke Shields, Chloe Sevigny, Christine Brinkley and Steven Spielberg all regular attendees. This year the event took place on 24th July and both Amber Rose and Kourtney Kardashian boosted the celebrity count.

But all this is now up for sale and for a lot less than two years ago when the property was first reported for sale. Back in 2008 Two Trees Farm was put on the market by owner and Brooklyn-based developer David Walentas for $95 million but the property is today for sale at $75 million.

Although this sounds like a lot for a polo farm despite the price reduction, Two Trees Farm offers both an idyllic and sought-after location and a lot of property.

It’s near Bridgehampton in the middle of Long Island’s most expensive patch of land, the seaside resort area of The Hamptons – a group of 24 villages and hamlets around the towns of Southampton and East Hampton. The area  is where America’s rich and famous like to own homes and current locals include Renée Zellweger and Nathan Lane.

Anyone considering buying Two Trees Farm, which was bought in 1993 by Mr Walentas for $2 million, has to be into horses. As well as two houses, an eight-unit apartment building (for grooms), pool and tennis court there are three barns, two indoor riding arenas and two polo fields.

The property is currently being sold via the New York office of Sotheby’s Realty International.

Primelocation is sponsoring this year’s  International Property Awards in association with Bloomberg Television, the housing world’s answer to the Oscars with a red carpet event to be held on November 25th and 26th this year in central London. 

So could your next home end up with an international gong for its architecture, build quality or a range of other categories?

These awards may not offer the same glamour and stars as the yearly Oscars in Hollywood, but in many ways they are not far off with categories that include best golf development, international property, apartment and interior design.

The event began it began in 1994 and has developed into a global concern with regional heats held across the world during the build up to the final in London. This comes to a glamorous climax at an event attended by the leading lights of the property world and celebrities.

These in past years have included Rick Wakeman of 1970s supergroup Yes, BBC Royal Correspondent Jenny Bond, interiors expert Linda Barker and Location, Location, Location star Phil Spencer. And the awards have high profile sponsors too. As well as Primelocation.com these include newspaper The New York Times, Google, Bloomberg Television and Maserati.

But one thing that doesn’t change is the robust judging process. Every year the world’s industry experts gather to judge - including this time round Primelocation.com’s Nigel Lewis - whether the hundreds of entries from across the globe pass the quality test.

A wide range of residential and commercial properties are judged from grand villas in Dubai to office developments in Budapest, and previous winners have included UK agent Knight Frank, developer Berkeley Homes (for its Sugar House development in London) and the Dunas Douradas Beach Club on Portugal’s Algarve coast. But winners come from a wide range of countries including Panama, Brazil, India, Singapore, South Africa and Cape Verde.

Golf resorts, like Lady GaGa, are gorgeous to behold but occasionally contentious. Usually neatly trimmed, bunkered and full of white wash villa wonders they are nevertheless sometimes criticised for being water and land hungry.

But despite these weak points resorts such as Monte Rei in Portugal (picture, above) are enormously popular with the club swinging crowd, lauded as the golf equivalent of the ski-in, ski-out chalet.

And for most it’s the brilliance of the golf that really matters – the devious dog legs, the angle of the greens, placing of the bunkers and length of the rough. If these are up to par then it’s time to look at the design of the houses, a resort’s location and its reputation.

So the Primelocation team has found a writer to rank them. He’s played many of the world’s best golf resorts and seen their properties, becaise Peter Swain (and his writer wife Cheryl Markosky) have spent many weekends away in recent years writing a column for the The Daily Telegraph, so who better to sift through the hundreds of golf resorts around the world and name the 20 best? Read the ample fruits of his efforts here.

I was reading the other day that the LA house that Marilyn Monroe died in is up for sale. Monroe-mania ensures that pretty much anything the actress touched sells for exorbitant amounts, so really it’s no surprise this $3.6 million Spanish-style home is attracting a lot of attention.

If the walls could talk, I wonder what they would say. But is this chance to buy a piece of Hollywood history just a little bit  morbid?

For Monroe fans looking for a home with happier memories, there are two other properties that might better fit the bill:

1. Marilyn’s former holiday home in Palm Springs is also up for sale. Another Med-inspired property, it looks made for entertaining (thanks to the huge patio area) and relaxing (thanks to the pool), it’s on the market for $1.4  million and comes with five bedrooms, five bathrooms and mountain views.

2. This New York apartment building was Marilyn’s home with Arthur Miller between 1955 and 1956, and it’s said they were even married in this very apartment. With neo-classical detail and cityscape views, the building was designed by Emery Roth in 1938. The apartment in question is a two-bed, two-bath, on the market for £1,872,900.

In the UK we all know how much our homes are worth and a large industry has grown up that tracks national, regional, local and even street-by-street prices.

But overseas the picture is very different. Except Australia, New Zealand, Cyprus and the US, which have up-to-date land registry systems like ours – and Spain, which has recently modernised and put its online – British owners of property overseas often have little idea which way prices are swinging.

French property for sale: Apartments within the Les Jardins d’Eos developing in the village of Veyrier du Lac near Annecy in France by developer MGM (0207 4940706). Prices start at €380,000 for a one-bedroom apartment.

France relies entirely on estate agents to provide this information, Greece has only recently emerged from the stone age house price wise, and in Portugal and Italy the systems are, at best, obscure.

But our latest figures for holiday homes overseas, produced by our sister site FindaProperty.com and featured in this weekend’s Sunday Times, give a snapshot of which way asking prices are rising or falling across the globe.

These figures give an interesting insight into how the global recession has affected property prices in sunnier climes. The biggest dips have been witnessed in Florida, which despite enjoying a brighter 12 months following an easing in the US recession, has nevertheless seen its property prices dip by 29% since 2008.

At No.2 is Cyprus, where prices have dropped by 27% since 2008 and continue to fall as the island’s banks and property market struggle to cope with a dramatic reduction in demand for both its mortgages and homes.

And at No.3 in the price drop league is France, where prices are now 22% lower than they were two years ago, followed by Bulgaria at 20% and Italy at 16%. Spain, whose downturn in asking prices began a year or more earlier than all the other markets has witnessed asking prices drop by a more modest 15% since 2008.

But it’s not all drops. Some countries where British buyers like to own homes have not witnessed such dramatic reductions and in some markets prices are up, not down.

Portugal has seen asking prices recover recently (+1.5% compared to 2008) and Turkey - which is outside the Eurozone and its faltering currency – has seen holiday home prices increase by 7%, the FindaProperty figures show.

In Canada, which is more of an emigration rather than holiday home hotspot, prices have risen by 10% and both New Zealand and Australia have endured only modest losses during the worst of the global downturn.

Vote in our poll on the state of the international property market:

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