| Monte Carlo attracted the new rich Russians a | | | | has sold up, but also younger entrepreneurs, |
| decade ago, but a decade later it's the | | | | some of whom have made money in e-commerce. A |
| British – using conventional banking | | | | significant number of buyers from the UK have |
| methods and with it a degree of | | | | worked in the financial sector, invariably in |
| respectability – who are investing in | | | | the City of London. We see a lot of futures |
| Europe's top tax haven. | | | | and commodity brokers who are on high million |
| | | | pound and more salaries with annual bonues to |
| While the British have been players in the | | | | match. |
| region for nearly two hundred years, with | | | | |
| Nice just along the coast being a favourite | | | | Some British buyers continue to trade or run |
| resort of the genteel Victorian English | | | | their businesses from Monaco. Nice Airport is |
| – in recent years the British have held | | | | a ten minute helicopter ride away, and the |
| a presence in Monaco, but now they're back in | | | | City of London can be just three hours away |
| numbers not seen for over a century. | | | | from their Monaco property with the right |
| | | | connections. With some clever accounting |
| The new wave of British buyers is welcomed by | | | | thrown in, today's technology enables people |
| Monaco real estate agents as their funds are | | | | to manage their UK business from Monaco in a |
| more likely to be legitimately earned, while | | | | tax free environment'. Hotel |
| some of the 90's Russian cash was often a | | | | de Paris Monaco |
| little suspect. | | | | |
| | | | A loca Monaco travel guide has also noticed |
| 'Things have changed since the 90's when the | | | | more Brits on the streets of Monte Carlo. |
| Russian mafia were the big players in town', | | | | |
| explain a Monte Carlo property agency, 'Then | | | | 'The British have arrived in Monaco in |
| it was easy to put a few million cash down | | | | numbers recently. The ones I have spoken to |
| for a property and not have questions asked. | | | | have recently sold their business or are on |
| In the last few years the banks have really | | | | very high salaries with million pound and |
| tightened up due to government pressure | | | | more annual bonuses. I would like to think |
| because of the 'war on terror' and tracking | | | | they are coming here for the Monaco weather, |
| money from illegitimate sources. Estate | | | | but of course it is for the tax environment |
| agents in Monaco know that the chances of a | | | | we offer -and of course the Monaco Grand |
| British buyer being able to show the source | | | | Prix.' |
| of their money as legitimate is very high'. | | | | |
| | | | In recent years the British economy has |
| With quite ordinary one bedroom apartments at | | | | consistently been one of the strongest in |
| just under a million Euros, and a typical | | | | Europe, and with a top rate of income tax cut |
| three bedroom apartment at over three million | | | | a decade ago to forty per cent the wealthy |
| Euros, property prices have more than doubled | | | | have become wealthier – and want to |
| in Monaco in the last ten years. | | | | stay that way. |
| | | | |
| In the past Monaco property buyers have often | | | | 'Despite the top rate of tax coming down to |
| been retired sixty-somethings, staying away | | | | forty per cent, by the time other direct |
| from their home country to avoid the taxes | | | | taxes such as National Insurance are taken |
| that come with selling their business. But | | | | into account around half of top earners |
| today's Monaco buyer is just as likely to be | | | | salaries are – as many of the Monaco |
| in his mid thirties or forties as they are in | | | | property buyers from Britain see it – |
| their sixties, with the middle age British | | | | being lost to the Inland Revenue. By moving |
| leading the way. | | | | to Monaco they effectively double their |
| | | | disposable income. |
| 'A few years ago around one in ten enquiries | | | | |
| we were receiving were from the UK', the | | | | When you go to hotels in Monaco and see a |
| agency continue, 'but now it's virtually four | | | | couple with estate agent details on the table |
| in ten – a significant shift in the | | | | and a map of Monte Carlo with various places |
| nationality of Monte Carlo property buyers. | | | | highlighted, there's an almost even chance |
| | | | that they will be British. A lot more than |
| The buyers have often made their money from | | | | just a couple of years ago. They like Monaco, |
| one of three sources. The traditional company | | | | the security, the tax advantages and the |
| owner with a bricks and mortar business who | | | | closeness to London'. |