Q&A: Sandbanks
Why are houses on Sandbanks so expensive? The main reason is its proximity to London, which is a two hours' drive from the shore of Sandbanks. The views are also very good. Poole Harbour is the second-largest natural harbour in the world, and the area is excellent for water sports.
Has it always been as exclusive? No, believe it or not, the peninsula once looked more like a shanty town. Many of the houses, which were built at the turn of the 20th-century, had no drainage or water. The last disappeared in the 1960s. The whole peninsula was once offered for sale for £200 (Dh1,215). There were no takers.
So when did it become fashionable? In 2001 a local property agent sold a 1,200 square foot plot on Sandbanks for £1 million. He calculated the price made it the fourth most expensive home in the world per square foot and had it ranked accordingly. Property prices rose as a result. In 2005 a bungalow, which even the property agent who sold it admitted was run down, sold for £3m.
Ask anyone to name the world's most expensive places to buy property and they would reel off a list of the obvious cities. But among the likes of London, New York and Tokyo is a location that few in the UAE will have heard of.
Sandbanks, a small peninsula in Poole, Dorset, claims the fourth-highest land value by area, with average property prices at about £850 (Dh5,160) a square foot. One of the most expensive houses on the market at the moment is Harbour Watch, a six-bedroom waterfront property on a plot of less than a fifth of a hectare. The imposing white house is for sale for £7.4 million and comes complete with six reception rooms, a cinema, gym and a jetty.
"Sandbanks has a reputation for being one of the most expensive places to live in the world and Harbour Watch is probably one of the best houses on Sandbanks," says Keith Fensom, of Savills, a property agency. "There aren't many as big as this. It's about 11,000 sq ft and it was only built about seven or eight years ago."
The home has ample space for toys you would expect the super rich to own. One feature: a berth with hydraulic gates so the homeowner can park the boat. "You can park two boats in there," says Mr Fensom. "It also has an underground car park that can accommodate seven or eight cars."
When Harbour Watch came on to the market in 2006 the asking price was substantially higher at £11m, proof that even Sandbanks suffered during the global downturn. However, in September 2008, a Russian multimillionaire paid £5m for a house just to knock it down and then spend another £5m to build something else. And just a year later a 14,990 sq ft plot of land was put on the market for £13.5m - almost £10,000 per sq metre.
Top 5: most-expensive houses for sale on Sandbanks
1 Solaris, a five-bedroom beach-front home, £9.7m
2 A five-bedroom waterfront property, £7.9m
3 Harbour Watch, £7.4m
4 A double plot with planning permission for two houses, £6.2m
5 A plot with planning permission for a house, £5.9m
Source: Tailor Made Estate Agency
The Quote: This place makes the American gold rush of the 17th century look like an oasis of calm, measured prudence. Piers Morgan, the TV show host, on the Sandbanks peninsula
[ gduncan@thenational.ae ]
Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
UFC FIGHT NIGHT: SAUDI ARABIA RESULTS
Main card
Middleweight:
Robert Whittaker defeated Ikram Aliskerov via knockout (Round 1)
Heavyweight:
Alexander Volkov def Sergei Pavlovich via unanimous decision
Middleweight:
Kelvin Gastelum def Daniel Rodriguez via unanimous decision
Middleweight:
Shara Magomedov def Antonio Trocoli via knockout (Round 3)
Light heavyweight:
Volkan Oezdemir def Johnny Walker via knockout (Round 1)
Preliminary Card
Lightweight:
Nasrat Haqparast def Jared Gordon via split decision
Featherweight:
Felipe Lima def Muhammad Naimov via submission (Round 3)
Welterweight:
Rinat Fakhretdinov defeats Nicolas Dalby via split decision
Bantamweight:
Muin Gafurov def Kang Kyung-ho via unanimous decision
Light heavyweight:
Magomed Gadzhiyasulov def Brendson Ribeiro via majority decision
Bantamweight:
Chang Ho Lee def Xiao Long via split decision
Banthology: Stories from Unwanted Nations
Edited by Sarah Cleave, Comma Press
The five pillars of Islam
Fixtures (all in UAE time)
Friday
Everton v Burnley 11pm
Saturday
Bournemouth v Tottenham Hotspur 3.30pm
West Ham United v Southampton 6pm
Wolves v Fulham 6pm
Cardiff City v Crystal Palace 8.30pm
Newcastle United v Liverpool 10.45pm
Sunday
Chelsea v Watford 5pm
Huddersfield v Manchester United 5pm
Arsenal v Brighton 7.30pm
Monday
Manchester City v Leicester City 11pm
Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022
First match: November 20
Final 16 round: December 3 to 6
Quarter-finals: December 9 and 10
Semi-finals: December 13 and 14
Final: December 18
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Switch Foods
Started: 2022
Founder: Edward Hamod
Based: Abu Dhabi, UAE
Industry: Plant-based meat production
Number of employees: 34
Funding: $6.5 million
Funding round: Seed
Investors: Based in US and across Middle East
Company Profile
Name: Direct Debit System
Started: Sept 2017
Based: UAE with a subsidiary in the UK
Industry: FinTech
Funding: Undisclosed
Investors: Elaine Jones
Number of employees: 8
Imperial Island: A History of Empire in Modern Britain
Author: Charlotte Lydia Riley
Publisher: Bodley Head
Pages: 384
RESULTS
Cagliari 5-2 Fiorentina
Udinese 0-0 SPAL
Sampdoria 0-0 Atalanta
Lazio 4-2 Lecce
Parma 2-0 Roma
Juventus 1-0 AC Milan
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
Company Profile
Company name: Hoopla
Date started: March 2023
Founder: Jacqueline Perrottet
Based: Dubai
Number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Investment required: $500,000
How to avoid getting scammed
- Never click on links provided via app or SMS, even if they seem to come from authorised senders at first glance
- Always double-check the authenticity of websites
- Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) for all your working and personal services
- Only use official links published by the respective entity
- Double-check the web addresses to reduce exposure to fake sites created with domain names containing spelling errors
MATCH INFO
Euro 2020 qualifier
Ukraine 2 (Yaremchuk 06', Yarmolenko 27')
Portugal 1 (Ronaldo 72' pen)