The St Raphael Resort and Marina are expected to be completed soon with its own luxury tower, a residential complex designed to expand its services to its guests. The project focuses on the idea of a private residence within a Hotel Resort, with all the services of the hotel and the marina.

The idea of a resort that offers the possibility of permanent residence is something that is already being promoted in the Four Seasons Hotel, with the residential complex under construction. The 14-storey Tower  consists of 12 floors with apartments, 1 reception and lounge on the ground floor and 1 floor that will host the new, impressive restaurant with specialty cuisine.

The tower will enjoy a direct connection to the hotel and the beach. While the St Raphael marina is an official entrance to the Republic of Cyprus, which allows ships to go directly to the land of development through the sea. 237 berths in the marina and the 272 rooms of the 5-star St Raphael Resort are highlighting the high residential development facilities.

Source: CyprusBeat

The Layer House as its name suggest is designed as a series of ”layers” and intersections with a contemporary expression that secure abundance of living space, privet vistas and dynamic layout for the modern decor composition. The Robson Rak Architects had used a natural and honest materials selection: concrete, beautiful timber and locally sourced rammed earth. And because the brief was to construct a timeless, spacious house that can host many generations the choice of materials became an important part of that: so it edges gracefully, it is contextually sensitive, requires low maintenance and is sustainable and effective.

Located in coastal Victoria, Australia the site for the house does not offer some particularly exciting views itself, so the architects compensated that with inner courtyards, peaceful wooden terraces, surrounding trees, intriguing decor and architecture

The interior features comfortable and modern furnishing, elegant, colorful accents and beautiful custom made pieces:  like the green kitchen island clad with tiles that adds dynamic experience and though its color connects the interior and the exterior features. The open plan living premises offer simple and spacious interior with vast windows, clear lined custom made fittings and a great variety of components that compose its modern and characteristic ambiance. Throughout the house, multiple corners and spaces with a secluded vibe, an exciting appearance that invites comfort and relaxation and clever architectural and design choices secure the pleasurable experience of the home inhabitants and guests.

Source: Interiorzine

This palatial mansion home, which boasts six waterfalls and more than a million pounds worth of gold leaf, could be the most expensive house ever sold in America.

Due to be completed in 2016, the Chateau de Versailles in Florida's Hillsboro Mile is on the market at an incredible $159million (£105m).

Named after the famous château built by Louis XIV, it has all the splendour of the French original.

It features six waterfalls, one of which is 25 feet tall, 11 bedrooms, a $2million (£1.3m) marble staircase, $3million (£1.9) worth of gold leaf, a go-cart track, an ice skating rink, a 26ft fountain and even the world's first in-house IMAX cinema.

It also boasts a 30-car subterranean garage, a wine cellar with room for over 3,000 bottles, and a 1,300-gallon built-in aquarium.

The Le Chateau de Versailles spans 4.4 acres set on the beach between the sea and Florida's Intracoastal Waterway.

It initially went on the market last year for $139 million, but was delisted about a year later, listing agent Mayi de la Vega of One Sotheby’s International Realty told the Wall Street Journal.

She told The Guardian: “The owner had a vision and wanted to build something spectacular.

“No corner was cut, nothing was too expensive. They wanted the very best of everything and really thought it through. You feel the quality when you walk through the property, the craftsmanship and attention, it’s all there."

Joseph Leone, the project manager who has overseen the property's construction, said that the owner decided to take the main house off the market until it was closer to completion.

The current owner is Robert Pereira, the founder of Middlesex Corporation - a Massachusetts-based construction company that also has offices in Florida.

He initially planned to live in the house himself with his wife and young daughter but decided to sell it instead. Mr De la Vega told Mr Pereria had changed his mind because "They're just travelling a lot."

Mr. Leone said he’s spent about seven years designing and building the house with the goal of creating “something completely different than what’s been done in America.”

Outside the house, a 4,500-square-foot infinity pool has a swim-up bar and a water slide. Suspended above the pool is a glass-bottomed hot tub.

The grounds also include a putting green, an outdoor kitchen with a pizza oven, and two boat docks on the Intracoastal.

Sources: Daily Mirror

A prominent art dealer has turned an estate once owned by infamous drug baron Pablo Escobar into luxury accommodation filled with items from his collection.

Located in the Mexican beach resort of Tulum, Casa Malca was renovated and turned into a hotel by New York-based Lio Malca – who deals contemporary works by the likes of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Kaws.

The property was abandoned after Escobar – the world's wealthiest-ever drug lord, who built and acquired many properties for himself across the Americas – died in 1993. His life story forms the basis for current Netflixseries Narcos.

The villa was rediscovered in 2003 and returned to its original owner, before Malca stumbled upon the mansion in 2012 and bought it soon after.

He has since embarked on an ongoing project to overhaul the buildings and surrounding land into a five-star hotel, operated by Design Hotels.

It opened with nine bedrooms in 2015, but Malca is constantly adding to the site, which hugs 180 metres of white sand beach.

After a short drive along a winding palm-lined track, guests arrive at a forecourt covered with Persian rugs.

A pair of giant doors disguised in a huge wall covered in tree bark form the principle entrance.

Inside the lobby, paintings, sculptures and furniture by some of the most revered contemporary artists and designers are displayed against white walls and polished concrete floors.

The art across the hotel is frequently rotated, so returning guests can enjoy different works.

Other ground-floor rooms in the villa include a bar lined with graphic black-and-white wallpaper.

A spiral staircase provides access to the roof, where a terrace bar frequently hosts events and a tower offers views over the lush tropical landscape.

Along with the accommodation in the mansion itself, a row of small two-storey buildings was recently built along the beach in the same architectural style.

Each has one guest suite per floor – bringing the hotel's total to 35 rooms. Plans are in place to add more.

Full-height glass doors slide open directly onto the sand, while the tall rooms are decorated with a stark palette similar to the main property. Red velvet curtains, rugs and other soft furnishings add colour.

At the end of the row is a larger building that houses another bar and restaurant, which is panelled with chunky lengths of rough timber.

Tables spill onto patios that face the beach and a large swimming pool, which is lined with iridescent blue tiles.

There's also a hidden underground steam room that lights up in different colours like a James Turrell installation, and exits directly to the pool.

Locally made hammocks slung between palms and wooden cabanas on the sand provide ample opportunities to lie and relax.

Tulum is located on the Caribbean coast of Mexico's Yucatán peninsula, known as the Riviera Maya. The area has become a trendy getaway destination in recent years and subsequently seen a boom in hotel development.

Further up the beach, a sculptural treehouse suite was recently added to an eco-resort.

Source:dezeen

New legislation was put into force in May regarding the granting of housing loans to consumers, bringing Cyprus in line with an EU Directive, introducing a number of regulations and obligations upon credit institutions for the protection of borrowers. The law governs loan agreements to consumers, that are secured with a mortgage or another similar security and relate to immovable properties which will be used for housing purposes.

It includes an obligation on banking institutions to evaluate the creditworthiness of the borrower before granting the loan. The legal framework requires the borrower be a consumer acting outside of his commercial, business or work activities. Apart from the provisions regarding unfair practices, banking institutions are obliged to inform borrowers and implement practices which must be followed prior to the signing of the loan agreement to ensure that the borrower is in a position to evaluate whether the proposed loan agreement and any other supplementary services are in line with his needs and his financial status.

The banking institutions are obliged to inform borrowers on the total annual percentage charge and how it is assessed, on the total credit cost and the total amount payable, as well as interest rate.
When examining a housing loan application, the banking institution must follow the prescribed procedures and carry out a thorough evaluation of the borrower’s creditworthiness, taking into account all the relevant factors to establish whether the consumer is in position to meet his obligations under the loan agreement.

After signing the loan agreement, the banking institution cannot cancel or amend it to the detriment of the consumer with the reasoning the evaluation was not carried out properly. The loan is granted only when the outcome of such an evaluation shows that the obligations deriving from the loan agreement can be fulfilled in accordance with the agreement.

The banking institution must ensure that its internal and external valuers who carry out the property valuations are professionally qualified and independent and that they are in a position to prepare an unbiased and objective valuation of the property in question.

The value of the property, even if it is higher than the amount of the loan, cannot be the main factor upon which the evaluation of the borrower’s creditworthiness is based; the banking institution must carry out an evaluation based on the borrower’s income and expenditure. In this respect, the banking institution ensures the consumer is aware he has to submit correct and complete information to properly establish his creditworthiness.

In respect of a loan in a foreign currency, the banking institution needs to obtain adequate information regarding the knowledge and experience of the borrower relating to the exchange rate risk. The banking institution must execute the agreement correctly and if the borrower repays the loan earlier, the management fees to be imposed should not be more than 1.25% of the reduction or the amount of €100, whichever is lower.

The law regulates the consumer’s default in the payment of his instalments and the settlement procedure for the amounts due, requiring the banking institution to grant a reasonable tolerance period before taking the settlement process and the forced sale procedure to collect the debt. It also includes provisions and the way of calculating the charges imposed when obligations are not met by the borrower.

If after the settlement procedure or the forced sale of the property there remains a balance of the debt payable, the repayment terms imposed should not provide for payments which will not allow the borrower to have income to cover his living and family expenses.

Source: CyprusMail

These concept Glass Houses, by Santambrogio Milano, are located in Milan, Italy.

The barriers usually created by floors, ceilings, and walls in a home are nonexistent here, and every nook and cranny of the house is visible from everywhere else.

“The woodland house rests on land with the scent of sun and rain. It erects the development of its transparencies till it looks onto the tops of the branches of ancient trees.

The house on the sea lives the landscape. It bears witness to the succession of natural phenomena, responsive to their contrasts, reflecting and integrating into its transparencies the anger and peace of the elements.”

Source: Architecture & Design

SINCE THE DAYS OF THE cave painting, humans have designed and lived in dwellings that reflect our social, psychological, and physical needs. The longer we exist, the more our simple caves evolve into works of art and living that not only provide relief from the elements but homes that show the ever expanding artistic nature of our species.

We’ve collected 10 of the most surreal, bizarre, odd, and interesting houses on the planet. Perhaps they’ll provide inspiration for your next home

UPSIDE DOWN BLUE HOUSE

An upside down house in Trassenheide in Germany. Even the furniture inside is stuck to the ceiling. 

MUSHROOM TREE HOUSE

The Mushroom House (also known as Tree House) in the Hyde Park section of Cincinnati, Ohio is designed by late architect Terry Brown, a professor of Architecture and Interior Design at the University of Cincinnati. The building was created with the assistance of university students.

A HOUSE CARVED IN A BIG ROCK

The "Casa da pedra" (House of Stone) built inside a rock in the mountains of Fafe in Portugal.

HOUSE WITH WALLS MADE OF EMPTY BEER CANS

The "Beer Can House" in Houston is a project started in 1968 by John Milkovisch, a retired upholsterer for the Southern Pacific Railroad. It has more than 50,000 cans on its facade.

AN OLD PHOTO OF A HOUSE SHAPED LIKE A SHOE

The "Haines Shoe House" was built in Pennsylvania in 1948 as an advertising gimmick by Colonel Mahlon N. Haines, the Shoe Wizard of York.

A FUTURO HOUSE IN THE SHAPE OF A UFO ALIEN SPACESHIP

A Futuro House in Frisco, North Carolina. These round, prefabricated houses are designed by Matti Suuronen, and are composed of polyester plastic and fiberglass.

VORTEX ENTRANCE

"Vortex House" was an art installation in Montrose, Houston, on a house awaiting demolition. Unfortunately, the house has already been torn down.

A HOUSE LIKE A SEASHELL BY THE OCEAN

The Sea Shell House is a luxurious vacation rental home in Isla Mujeres in Mexico, with a 180-degree view of the ocean.

HOUSE SHAPED LIKE A PICKLE BARREL

The Pickle Barrel House in Michigan is a two-story cabin built of two barrels. The house design is based on 2-inch-tall cartoon characters who live in a pickle barrel.

NETHERLANDS RESIDENCES SHAPED LIKE CUBES

Kubuswoningen, or Cube Houses, are a set of innovative houses designed by architect Piet Blom in 1984 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. There are 38 small cubes and two so called 'super-cubes', all attached to each other

Source: travelstoke

The Cypriot passport has scored a passport rank of 12 worldwide, in the list of the Global Passport Power Rank by the Power Index 2017.

Germany and Singapore came first with a visa-free score of 159, while Sweden and South Korea came second with a visa-free score of 158.  Denmark, Italy, Finland, France, Spain, Norway, the Uk, Japan and the USA followed with a score of 157 and Luxembourg, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Portugal came next with a score of 156. Scoring 155 and coming up next were Malaysia, Ireland and Canada, followed by Greece, New Zealand and Australia with a score of 154. Malta, Czechia and Iceland were next, with a score of 153 and then came Hungary with a score of 151. Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia ranked 9th, with a score of 150, and in the 10th position came Estonia with a visa-free score of 149. Right before Cyprus, in the 11th position came Liechtenstein with a score of 148.

A Cypriot citizen can freely travel, reside and work within any of the 28 European Union Countries, and travel to a total of 147 countries without visas or with passports stamped on arrival. Cypriots can travel to a wide range of countries all over the world visa-free, ranging from Switzerland and Norway in Europe, to Tanzania and Zimbabwe in Africa, to Costa Rica and Brazil in America, to Cambodia and Hong Kong in Asia and New Zealand and Fiji in Oceania.

Source: CyprusBeat

Melco International Development Ltd, will be assuming the majority stake of 70.74% shareholding of the integrated casino resort project in Cyprus, with the agreement to purchase Hard Rock’s interest in the project company. 

According to a Melco press release, the company currently holds 35.37% of the project company and has entered an agreement to purchase Hard Rock’s interest, completion of which is subject to the approval of the Cyprus government. 

The remaining 29.26% belongs to CPZL (the Cyprus Phassouri (Zakaki) Limited).

Source: Stockwatch

EU antitrust regulators hit Alphabet (GOOGL.O) unit Google with a record 2.42-billion-euro ($2.7 billion) fine on Tuesday, indicating they will likely take a tough line with the company in two other ongoing cases.

The European Commission said the world's most popular internet search engine has 90 days to stop favoring its own shopping service or face a further penalty of up to 5 percent of Alphabet's average daily global turnover.

The Commission found that Google had systematically given prominent placement in searches to its own comparison shopping service and demoted those of rivals in search results.

"What Google has done is illegal under EU antitrust rules. It denied other companies the chance to compete on the merits and to innovate. And most importantly, it denied European consumers a genuine choice of services and the full benefits of innovation," European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.

The action came after a seven-year long investigation prompted by scores of complaints from rivals such as U.S. consumer review website Yelp (YELP.N), TripAdvisor (TRIP.O), UK price comparison site Foundem, News Corp (NWSA.O) and lobbying group FairSearch.

This is the biggest fine for a single company in an EU antitrust case, exceeding a 1.06-billion-euro sanction handed down to U.S. chipmaker Intel (INTC.O) in 2009.

It is also the biggest regulatory setback for Google, which settled with U.S. enforcers in 2013 with a requirement to stop "scraping" reviews and other data from rival websites for its own products.

The EU competition enforcer has also charged Google with using its Android mobile operating system to crush rivals, a case that could potentially be the most damaging for the company, with the system used in most smartphones.

The company has also been accused of blocking rivals in online search advertising, with the Commission warning of deterrent fines if Google is found guilty of breaching EU rules.

Source: Reuters