When the first signs of the international financial crisis emerged in the second half of 2007 the Spanish property market had already been in a steady decline for a while. Not surprising, if you consider that almost a decade of feverish growth had led to a textbook case of an overheated market in which builders, buyers, sellers, investors and banks alike became accustomed to the kind of volumes that had never been seen before – and which would prove to be wholly unsustainable.

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With the dominance of ‘black box’ minimalist design in the 1970s it was hardly surprising that the next big movement would head in the opposite direction, towards more decoration; it didn’t have anywhere else to go.

Once the Bauhaus mantra of ‘form follows function’ had been reduced to its absolute basic skeleton, a quiet revolution began in Italy.

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New York is packed with fascinating corners but few are more unique and quirkily charming than über-fashionable TriBeCa.

Gaining its name from a description of its location in Lower Manhattan (the Triangle Below Canal Street), this bustling area is bounded by Canal Street, West Street, Courtlandt Alley, Broadway and Chambers Street and was New York’s first residential neighbourhood, with suitable homes being constructed as early as the late 1700s. By the mid 1800s the tone of the area had changed completely and large numbers of store and loft buildings dominated.

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As every top businessman knows, these days it is as essential to promote one’s company via the Internet as it is to maintain a high profile on the street.

Rimontgó’s dedicated, experienced and hard-working IT team has spent the past few years planning and executing a superbly effective SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) strategy, which has paid dividends.

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To the uninitiated, the New York Yacht Club might seem just that, a yacht club somewhere in New York. For those in the know, however, the very name is legendary – and synonymous with the very best in yachting tradition.

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The long-awaited showdown in Valencia between holders Alinghi and America’s Cup challengers Oracle saw this most venerated of yachting’s trophies return to its ancestral home in the US as the American team beat the Swiss champions to take the trophy back home.

The high-tech Oracle trimaran proved too strong for the Alinghi catamaran, scoring two back-to-back victories and taking the second win with a more than five-minute lead over their European rivals. Oracle’s victory was hailed in the US, as it is the first American win since 1995, when the San Diego Yacht Club beat the Compagnia della Vela di Venezia.

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The fifth edition of Villae International, the elegant publication of the European Real Estate Network (EREN) is out now. With stylish design and quality editorial that reflects the nature of the EREN organisation itself, Villae offers an appealing focus on the good things in life that invites you to sit back and enjoy its beautifully laid out pages and engaging prose.

The current edition, as ever, features luxury properties from the most idyllic of spots, news on EREN initiatives and the successful annual conference held in Estoril, Portugal. Villae, however, also contains such non-vocational features as culture, fine dining, travel, motoring and similar pursuits of pleasure and refinement.

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