Last year China passed a law that allows individuals or companies to hire uninhabited islands off the country's coast. In April China's Ocean and Fisheries Bureau announces the list of the 176 uninhabited islands, part of which can be offered for rent. These islands are to everyone's taste - most have an area of 500-1.000 square meters. There are islands at the north-eastern Liaoning province and by the tropical island of Hainan. The islands that are not classified as protected national areas and with the area more than 500 square meters can be rented for 50 years. There is no legal reason why foreigners or foreign companies cannot hire one for themselves. The prices for hiring an island has not been confirmed yet, most likely it will be set for each particular case and the closer the island to the shore the more it will cost. In case there are several bids for one island, the owner will be chosen through the auction by a high bidder. Those who wish to rent the island will need to submit a detailed plan for the future use. Officials are also interested in how the owner will decide the matter of waste disposal and landscaping of the island. Ocean and Fisheries Bureau continues an inventory of all the islands, which belong to China. According to data of 1998, China owns about 7 thousand islands with the area of more than 500 square meters. At the end of last year marine patrol services found more than 30 cases of illegal exploitation of the coastal islands. China's desire to use the offshore islands efficiently is quite logical and economically reasonable. However there are a lot of problems concerning with islands development, and first of all - high cost for the construction works (material supply and etc.), as well as providing drinking water, electricity and so on.

Famous Russian composer Igor Krutoy bought a luxury apartment in New York, at a famous Plaza Hotel with a panoramic view over Central Park. The apartment has about 557 square meters and cost more than $40 million. As Wall Street Journal reported, this is the second most expensive townhouse or apartment sold in New York since the start of financial crisis. But this estate is not the first real estate purchase of Krutoy in New York. In 2003 he purchased half of the 28th floor at the Chatham condominium (a 34-story condominium tower) for $6.1 million. Three years later he paid $7.4 million for the larger apartment next door. In April 2009 Krutoy put both apartments on the market together for just under $20 million and in June he sold the larger one for only $7 million. Note that a luxury apartment in New York is not the only "shelters" of Krutoys' family; they also have apartments in Moscow, houses in Miami and Yurmala.

The youngest billionaire, Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of Facebook social network, and his girlfriend Priscilla Chan rent a house with a monthly payment in Palo Alto, CA near the headquarter of the famous company. Zuckerberg house was built in 2002, has an area of 353 square meters (3800 square feet), 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. Clearly, Zuckerberg can afford to build or buy the most expensive luxurious house, what really seemed to stem the move, is the location. Now, Zuckerberg lives only a few steps away from Facebook Headquarters. This surely comes in handy since he reportedly spends as much as 16 hours a day at the office and comes home only to sleep. Mark clearly does not want to change the neighborhood and prefers to live as close as possible to his "working nest", as he previously also rented a house in the same area. His previous house was smaller- only 183.5 square meters (1.976 square feet), also had 4 bathrooms, but the number of bedrooms were only 3, and besides it was much further- seven blocks away from workplace. The young billionaire even allowed Oprah's (57-year-old American billionaire actress best known for her talk show "The Oprah Winfrey Show", the World's Most Powerful Celebrity on Forbes' 2010 celebrity list and the Most Influential Person in Show Business in 2009.) camera crew inside his home for an exclusive look at his modest dwelling place and office. (watch video)However, not only Zuckerberg surprises everyone with his quirks. For example, David Packard, the billionaire and co-founder of Hewlett-Packard lived and died at his 139 square meters (1,500 square feet) home also near Palo Alto. Another well-known IT-mogul Sergey Brin, Google co-founder and one of the richest people in the world, until 2006 lived in a simple three-room apartment, until he married ... That is how live people, who are fully devoted to the job they love. Thus, they are creative, gifted and happy in their own way.

When it came to advertise a new luxury apartment complex in Moscow, developer-billionaire Vladislav Doronin looked no further than the woman living next to him-supermodel Naomi Campbell! She has appeared in a TV commercial for the luxury apartment complex "Legend Of Tsvetnoy" in Moscow, developed by Capital Group, that is owned by her Russian boyfriend. Naomi really does her best to shift this exclusive property and a 60-second ad was enough for working out in the fully equipped gym and then taking a dip in the swimming pool, have a dinner in a restaurant and come back to the apartment with a panoramic views over Moscow city. The advert finishes with Naomi breathing the lines: "I listen to your heart, Moscow. Now you know where I stay". Indeed, for those who do not know where and with whom is the "black pearl", we report; in early 2008 Naomi Campbell met with Vladislav Doronin at the Cannes Film Festival, and they soon began dating. Wedding of Naomi and Vladislav was to be held in August 2009, however, the billionaire is having difficulties with the divorce ... Together with her lover Naomi Campbell has settled in Russia, while Ekaterina,( Doronin's wife), lives in London. According to "GQ" magazine, in the ranking of the most stylish men of Russia in 2009, the billionaire took second place, and according to Building.ru, he entered the top ten list of the most professional developers of Russia. To date, Doronin's assets are estimated at nearly two billion dollars, although data from different sources considerably vary - from one to six billion.

Invest in property in Dubai was pretty profitable a few years ago, and some real estate companies, even today, do not cease to advertise the desirability of investment in UAE real estate market, but ... A property boom in Dubai collapsed at the end of 2008 when it was hit by the global financial crisis. According to a poll by Reuters, Dubai house prices, already nearly 60% off their peak, are set to drop another 10% over the next two years, as new units are released onto a market awash with supply. Prices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi are to fall 5% and 10% respectively in 2011, according to the poll, which was taken over the past week. The decline will continue in 2012 with prices falling in both cities about by 4%. Even the most optimistic analysts do not see Dubai's residential market bottoming out until the second half of this year at the earliest. Debts of some development companies have already crossed over billions of dollars. In the latest sign the property market is struggling, the Abu Dhabi government has stepped in with a $5.2bn aid package to the state's largest developer Aldar Properties to help the company meet looming debt obligations. Some of the major UAE developers have already switched to the fast growing eastern markets, towards India and China. The fate of the oversupplied real estate market of UAE remains still unclear. Who knows, maybe those 2 years will be best for property acquisition for the people who really need it? The situation on the real estate market in Armenia is partly similar to the Emirates, but there are some differences. Since 2009, there was not slump in real estate prices, but gradual decline. Falling prices naturally led to inappropriate investments in real estate as a means of raising capital, and positive growth trends are not observed. Supply of housing in older buildings and in new ones has increased, the number in need of housing is rather high, but the financial situation of the population and the high interest mortgage loans do not yet allow the real estate market stirring up.