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Day: 12 October 2016

Monaco property buyer younger and non-European, says report

by: Cassandra Tanti
12/10/2016

monaco propertyThe typical buyer profile of Monaco homes is in flux, skewing younger, and leaning toward non-Europeans, according to a recent report by Knight Frank.
Buyers from China, the Middle East, and Russia are reportedly springing for Monaco properties priced above €10 million ($11 million), while their British, Italian, Swiss, and northern European peers tend to be active in buying properties below those price points, according to property-report.com.
“Not only is the age of buyers lower than it was a decade ago, but the nationality of buyers can increasingly be defined according to their purchasing power,” wrote Knight Frank researcher Kate Everett-Allen.
Monaco remains a highly coveted tax haven among high-net-worth individuals (HNWI) worldwide. “Unlike many other tax havens, it is neither remote nor compromised on its lifestyle offering,” Edward de Mallet Morgan, head of Knight Frank’s Monaco department, said. “Monaco is, after all, located on the most sought-after coast in the Mediterranean, with the Côte d’Azur and the Italian Riviera on its doorstep, ski resorts an hour away and Nice airport with connections to Europe and beyond within approximately a 30 minute drive.”
While the Principality baulks at the label “tax haven”, it’s home to 12,200 millionaires, and has seen a 62 percent increase in its population of wealthy people or those with net assets of more than €30 million over the last 10 years, according to Knight Frank. Prices for Monaco properties have also soared by 27.8 percent over the last five years, according to the Monaco Statistics office.
Meanwhile, a survey by market research company New World Wealth ranked Russia as having the world’s sixth biggest outflow of individuals worth over $1 million (€990,000), with the number of millionaires in the country falling 2 percent last year.
The conflict in Ukraine and the depreciating ruble have driven rich Russians to other shores. In a survey by property broker Tranio.com and Spear’s Russia, 58 percent of HNWI emigrants from Russia cited geopolitical and economic instability as main reasons to change their country of residence and buy overseas property. Around 2.2 percent reasoned that they were in search of more attractive tax regimes.

Small WHO European States have huge impact

by: Cassandra Tanti
12/10/2016

Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director for Europe; Stephane Valeri, Government Counsellor - Minister of Social Affairs and Health ,and Geneviève Berti, Director of Communications. Photo: ©Direction de la Communication/Charly Gallo
Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director for Europe, Stephane Valeri, Government Counsellor-Minister of Social Affairs and Health, and Geneviève Berti, Director of Communications. Photo: ©Direction de la Communication/Charly Gallo

Gilles Tonelli, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and Stéphane Valeri, Minister of Health and Social Affairs, on Tuesday opened the third High Level Meeting of the Initiative of Small WHO European States in the presence of Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director for Europe.
The initiative was established by the WHO so that the Member States of the European region with fewer than one million inhabitants can conduct a regular exchange on common issues and share experience in order to improve the life of their populations, in line with the WHO program “Health 2020”.
The meeting at the Novotel Monte-Carlo focused on the theme “Health and Sustainable Development: the advantages of small countries” with delegations led by the Health Ministers of eight small European states, all members of the World Health Organisation. Together they released the Monaco statement, which outlines health goals and a call for climate action within the Sustainable Development Programme for 2030.
“We are small countries,” Monaco’s Health Minister stated during a press conference, “but our impact is huge, reaching far beyond our borders.”
The Minister later told Monaco Life that this gathering is important for sharing ideas about health issues, and that the eight countries have many common points. “It’s important to treat statistics more selectively for small countries. For example, in Monaco, if one year you have no reported cases of infectious disease but the following year one person is infected, you have an increase of 100%. This can not be taken seriously.”
Mr Valeri also cited the importance of discussing preventative health care measures that have proven successful in one country with the others. “We launched a breast cancer awareness campaign, a free test for women from the ages of 50 to 80 and have been able to detect 200 cases, with half of the women having never been screened. We know that if we catch the cancer early enough, in 90% of cases the disease can be cured. So launching more active prevention policies is something we’ve emphasised to other countries, explaining how they could do the same thing.”
During the press conference, Dr Jakab announced that she had just personally given the Scientific Centre of Monaco a letter of collaboration for their internationally recognised work. Speaking to Monaco Life about the partnership, she said: “The scientific institute is doing an outstanding job in the field of climate change and is doing something extraordinary by bringing together three main streams: polar health, marine health and human health, and detecting whether climate change been impacted.”
The Regional Director added, “WHO is very serious about whether a centre is appointed as a WHO-collaborated centre and it takes four years of joint work before a decision is made.”
The eight small countries include Andorra, Cyprus, Iceland, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro and San Marino.
The 4th meeting of the High Level Initiative will be held in Malta from June 24 to 27, 2017.
 

Popular Nice-Monaco bus gets boost

by: Cassandra Tanti
12/10/2016

Lignes-d’Azur-busThe Monaco Government is constantly trying to ameliorate the problems faced by everyday commuters to the Principality, and this week announced that more buses will be added to the very popular, and often overcrowded, number 100 route that runs from Nice to Monaco with some services continuing to Menton.
As part of this policy, a new line, the 101, was introduced to serve Saint-Laurent d’Eze to the west and Carnoles to the east in July 2014, but usage has been disappointing. In consultation with the Alpes-Maritimes, the resources given to the 101 will now be reallocated to the much busier 100 route.
Two more large capacity articulated buses will be added, allowing seven more departures in peak hours from Nice to Monaco, with the last bus to Nice from Monaco leaving at 9 pm, an hour later than the current schedule.