thankfully we don't have an annual tax on our houses here, but there is a tax on buying a house called stamp duty, it is a % of the cost, anything below 317k is exempt and then it is a sliding scale from 3%, i think, up for 9% for houses sold for more than about 800k. i England i think they have an annual tax, they used to at least in the poll tax.
~M

>Interesting how property has appreciated all over. However, I have a question, over there, you mention your house has gone up 75% in 3 years, do you pay a yearly tax and if so, has it gone up the 75% as well?
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>>its the exact same here, in 3 years my house has gone up about 75% and its not even near the city, about 20 odd miles away, my parents house is "worth" well in excess of 750k and its just a normal 3 bed semi-d in a reasonable area, some 4 beds in their estate are going for 1m!
>>~M
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>>>It's interesting, isn't it. There are young professionals in, say, London, from normal middle-class families (say, their dads were high-ranking bank clerks) who could not afford to buy the house that their similarly classed parents raised them in.
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>>>Yet, their parents wouldn't have been able to go out clubbin' several times a week, afford holidays in Thailand (or even to fly there), have so many clothes as they, skiing hols, so much disposable income, etc. I live in a very high-rent part of the country, in the SE, south of London, one of the most expensive parts of the country to live. The area of the city where I live is now up and coming, I was lucky to buy my house in the late 80s, at c. £63.5 G (within 4 times our joint income). Now it's worth some £350 G (I WISH!). I doubt I'd be able to afford to buy that now. Yet, when I came here it was dead of a night. Now all the pubs have been done up and are regularly packed out, the local bank has 2 ATMs, etc., etc.
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>>>What gives!?