The Latest in Luxury Resort & Real Estate News

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Celtic Manor Resort Named Resort of the Year

(NEWPORT, WALES) -- The Celtic Manor Resort -- host of golf's 2010 Ryder Cup and premier luxury retreat less than two hours outside London -has been voted Europe's "Golf Resort of the Year" by the International Association of Golf Tour Operators (IAGTO).

Hailed as hosting the "greatest ever" Ryder Cup in October, Celtic Manor picked up its latest accolade at the 2010 International Golf Travel Market in Valencia, Spain.

The award was voted on by IAGTO's 345 members -- golf tour operators from no fewer than 51 different countries -- and recognizes the excellence of the service and facilities at the five-star resort in Wales.

"This is a great honor for The Celtic Manor Resort and it is wonderful to be recognized in this way by the world's golf travel specialists," says Dylan Matthews, chief executive of Celtic Manor. "It is very pleasing that in a year when we hosted one of the world's biggest golf tournaments, we also more than matched the expectations of the tour operators who bring so many golfers to our resort and its three championship golf courses."

In winning the award, Celtic Manor joins illustrious company including Open Championship venue Turnberry, Portugal's San Lorenzo and Ireland's Carton House and Doonbeg.

Golf tour operators cast their votes on criteria which included customer satisfaction, quality of golf courses and accommodations, value for money, accessibility to tee times and quality of service.

IAGTO chief executive Peter Walton adds: "Winning this award is recognition of the hard work and effort that Celtic Manor has gone to in developing relations with golf tour operators around the world and the positive reaction that operators have received from their clients who have stayed there and enjoyed the golf experience. Hosting of the Ryder Cup has also driven new enquiries for Wales and for Celtic Manor to IAGTO member operators."

Set in 1,400 acres of wooded parkland in the scenic Usk Valley, Celtic Manor Resort boasts two luxurious spas and health clubs, tennis courts, shooting, fishing and the choice of no fewer than six restaurants, as well as its three championship courses.

Ideally located on the M4 motorway just two hours from London, the resort was also voted the UK's Top Conference Hotel for the fourth year in a row this autumn by Conference & Incentive Travel magazine.

Masters champion Phil Mickelson described the Twenty Ten Course as "a wonderful golf course" and a "great venue for match play" while European Captain Colin Montgomerie called the facilities "seven-star."

As well as the Twenty Ten, which was purpose built for the Ryder Cup, golfers can choose between two other championship courses -- Roman Road, designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr. and host of the Celtic Manor Wales Open from 2005 to 2007, and The Montgomerie, laid out by the Ryder Cup Captain.

The resort is also home to a state-of-the-art Golf Academy which was appointed the Wales National Centre of Excellence in 2009 when a new all-weather short game practice area and indoor putting green was added to the covered driving range and teaching studios.

With some exceptional stay-and-play packages, Celtic Manor can tailor golf trips for individuals and groups. Celebrated links courses like Royal Porthcawl, Southerndown and Pennard are all within easy reach for an extended stay in Wales.

Celtic Manor is privately owned by founder Sir Terry Matthews, the Ottawa, Canada-based telecommunications entrepreneur who was born on the Celtic Manor site when the original Manor House was a maternity hospital.

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Florida Attracts Growing International Investment Community

(ORLANDO, FL) -- Florida has spent most of the past 10 years near the top of many Irish and British buyers list of places to purchase holiday homes and property investments.

Yet according to a recent survey carried out by the National Association of Realtors and anecdotal evidence from property agents on the ground, the international buyer has never been more important in Florida but they are being led not by the British and Irish, but by the Canadians.

Agents report surging international demand

"We´ve never had a bigger variety of international clients than we have now" confirms Colin Murphy, director of Orlando-based distressed property specialists Torcana.com. "For example, we sold 25 properties to seven different nationalities in October this year in one particular Orlando development, which included Americans, Canadians, Spaniards, Swedes, Germans and of course, British and Irish".

According to the official NAR survey, 36% of international buyers in Florida were Canadian, followed by 16% from Latin America, 15% from the United Kingdom and 14% from the rest of Europe.

Setting aside Florida´s natural strengths as a holiday, retirement and investment destination, the combination of a huge drop in property prices (up to 70% from 2007 prices) and a weak U.S. dollar are attracting large numbers of international clients whose British Pounds, Canadian dollars and Euro have never stretched so far.

"Another key trend we´ve noticed among our key overseas buyers is the disappearance of the new property purchase and the dominance of the cash buyer" continued Murphy. "Agents and developers who are depending on sales of brand new properties and/or sales to buyers who need mortgages are in for a very tough time on both counts. There simply isn't a demand for it."

The statistics bear this out: 81% of all international buyers and 73% of UK buyers in Florida paid for their properties with cash, while 89% of all international buyers and 81% of UK buyers purchased a second hand rather than a new home. These are both enormous changes from just three years ago.

"The typical two bed-apartment we are selling now for $65,000 to cash buyers would have been previously sold for $195,000 to buyers availing of cheap finance," says Murphy. "These are prime properties in great locations which can be sold either vacant or with a tenant already in place, depending on whether the buyer is a pure investor or somebody seeking a holiday home".

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