For all you cool cats and kittens who thought that life in lockdown could not get any wilder, fear not – Netflix’s hit docuseries Tiger King is here to prove everyone wrong.
The saga continues beyond the screen with another outrageous twist – and a real estate one at that. Big Cat Rescue keeper Carole Baskin has won ownership of the 16-acre zoo previously owned by Joe Exotic, her arch-nemesis, as part of a $1m trademark dispute.
A judge ruled that Exotic – who is in prison after being found guilty of 17 counts of animal abuse and a murder-for-hire plot against Baskin – had fraudulently transferred the Oklahoma zoo to ex-business partner and rival Jeff Lowe. Lowe now has 120 days to vacate the zoo, which he had renamed Tiger King Park.
Is the battle to rule the jungle over? Or have we just spoiled the plot of season two?
What’s this got to do with the price of cheese?
In 2020, we have to take opportunities to celebrate where we can. So, in that spirit, Diary wishes you a very happy National Cheese Day! But wait, you ask, isn’t every day in lockdown cheese day? That may be so, but it isn’t every day we receive a punny press release from Benham and Reeves celebrating the “cheesiest property pockets of the UK market”.
B&R looked at the average house price, annual growth and rental yields available from fromage-related place names. Gloucester tops the “cheese charts” with properties selling for £269,371, while Stilton (predictably) also ranks highly with property prices in Huntingdonshire going for an average price of £260,863, followed by “Stinking Bishop” (apparently from Dymock in the Forest of Dean) going for £243,237.
Other notables include Cornish Yarg (£238,059), Cheddar (£232,815), Red Leicester (£231,840) Cheshire (£218,595) and Wensleydale (£215,327), but poor Durham Blue sits at the bottom of the table with an average house price of just £100,095. However, for the “most fermented levels of house price growth”, homebuyers should look to Wensleydale, where prices have increased by 2.9% over the last year.
B&R director Marc von Grundherr said: “For the large part, cheese-related pockets of the market should leave a sweet taste in the mouths of their respective homeowners, with the majority sitting around the national average or above and buoyant levels of house price growth occurring across almost all of them.” Plus, offering some consolation for fans of Durham Blue, he added: “While the Durham Blue may prove a bit of a stinker for homeowners in the area, it proves the most lucrative where a rental investment is concerned.”
Settle it on the yield
Diary can’t wait for the Premier League to return to our screens on (fingers crossed) 17 June – and the same is true of the number crunchers at peer-to-peer lending platform Sourced Capital. While the last few weeks have been filled with debates about how to calculate the final league table in the event that fixtures cannot be completed, they have come up with their own plan: calculating the available rental yield surrounding each stadium.
It isn’t the worst solution Diary has heard. And, if you think Sheffield United were having a great season before the shutdown, wait ‘til you see them now: champions!
| Team | Available rental yield |
|---|---|
| Sheffield United 6.67% | 6.67% |
| Manchester City 6.58% | 6.58% |
| Newcastle United 6.28% | 6.28% |
| Liverpool 5.71% | 5.71% |
| Everton 5.71% | 5.71% |
| Aston Villa 5.39% | 5.39% |
| Southampton 5.19% | 5.19% |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers 4.79% | 4.79% |
| Norwich City 4.41% | 4.41% |
| Manchester United 4.34% | 4.34% |
| Burnley 4.32% | 4.32% |
| West Ham United 4.24% | 4.24% |
| Crystal Palace 4.15% | 4.15% |
| Tottenham Hotspur 3.96% | 3.96% |
| Leicester City 3.93% | 3.93% |
| Watford 3.79% | 3.79% |
| Arsenal 3.70% | 3.70% |
| Brighton & Hove Albion 3.65% | 3.65% |
| Chelsea 3.00% | 3.00% |
| Bournemouth 2.71% | 2.71% |
Despite holding a 25-point lead in the real world, Liverpool can only come joint fourth with their near-neighbours (and bitter rivals) Everton in the yield table – probably calling for some sort of winner-takes-all Champions League knock-out clash.
Newcastle look like a shrewd investment (if Mike Ashley will ever let go) and Manchester United continue to disappoint, but the big news is at the bottom, where Frank Lampard’s Chelsea crash all the way from the European places to relegation: blue is not the colour.
Also dropping out are Bournemouth and Brighton, suggesting renters don’t like to be beside the seaside.
Sourced Capital managing director Stephen Moss said: “The matchday buzz of living near a stadium can be a huge bonus point for many, but it can also deter others from buying or renting, so when looking at property investment around a major sports stadium of any kind it’s vital that you gauge demand before diving in headfirst.”
Indeed, take each deal as it comes.
Genealogy genie
Forget perfecting your sourdough starters, those really looking to make the most of lockdown would do well to take a leaf out of James Morris-Manuel’s book. Or perhaps an entire tree – as long as it is of the family variety. Matterport’s EMEA managing director has been whiling away his free hours dabbling in a spot of genealogy on ancestry.com.
“Work is still very busy,” he told Diary. “But I’m not travelling so I do have some spare time and I decided I wanted to do something worthwhile with it. I have been investigating my family tree and it has been absolutely fascinating. I have found relatives in Russia, Germany, America…”
So, has he made any shocking discoveries worthy of a Who Do You Think You Are?-style revelation? Not yet, he says. But while lockdown might be easing, it isn’t over – so who knows what mysteries Morris-Manuel may yet unearth. We’ll keep you posted.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fi… too late
It’s a first-world problem, sure, but for journalists poring over companies’ stock market announcements at 7am, the redesign of the London Stock Exchange’s website is as welcome as a share price crash to a finance director.
Nothing seems to be where it once was, and a movement of the cursor anywhere near the top of the screen unleashes a massive drop-down box headed “Start your journey here”, which isn’t as helpful as the designers may have thought.
“Looks lovely… but unusable,” said Richard Fletcher, business editor at The Times, on Twitter. Start your journey here? We might have seen enough.
To send feedback, e-mail diary@egi.co.uk
