After 17 months of misery, luxury home prices in London are finally up on an annual basis. Banking and hedge fund industry professionals are spending money again, largely because they're being paid again. Homes with values of above $1.6 million appreciated 1.6 percent in November compared to the same month last year. This was the first annual increase since June 2008. Nonetheless, prices remain 15 percent lower than the March 2008 peak. From October to November, prices grew 1.2 percent.

Liam Baily, head of residential research at Knight Frank, told Bloomberg News, "Anecdotal evidence from across our offices suggests that City money is becoming more apparent as we get closer to the end-of-year bonus season," continuing, "Demand from senior management is driving the market." Bonuses could wind up growing by 50 percent this year to 6 billion pounds in London's largest financial districts, and professionals in this industry are responsible for half the city's demand for luxury homes.

For homes at prices of more than $16 million, the price increases are even better: 1.9 percent from October to November this year. Residences in Chelsea, Kensington and Knightsbridge got the biggest boosts.

This has led to a bit of optimism. Luxury real estate could reach May 2008 levels by 2012, up to two years earlier than expected.

Today's estate is as much fun to look at for the art itself as for the home. This home on San Marino island in Miami Beach was built in 1930 but has been glammed up and reinvented. I don't see the word eclectic used in a listing too often but it suits this six-bedroom home. The home is on 13,000 square feet with 80 feet of water frontage and has views of the Miami skyline over its infinity pool, jacuzzi and dock. In addition to having a taste for contemporary art the current owner must have a taste for Bali. The master suite is entirely outfitted in teak from there, giving the room a very exotic feel. This home is listed at $5.495 million.

Today's estate in pricey Montecito, California could actually, even at the high price of $18.8 million practically be considered a deal. After all this beachside home was once listed at $34 million (I also spotted an old listing for $24.75 million). The home has views of the Santa Barbara coastline, mountains and Channel islands all from the privacy of a gated enclave. The property has a historic renovated Monterey Colonial main house with eight bedrooms and a three-car garage as well as a beach cabana, guest house and a fenced in beach area. A second parcel is also available for an additional cost and is home to a pool, patios, fountains and has permits for building a new four bedroom home. The main home is an odd mix, for the most part it has the casual look of a beach house but some rooms have a more formal and luxurious look. You can't beat the location, Fernald Cove is one of the most desired areas in this celebrity-filled town.

If you'd like to be an author with a nice house, write thrillers. The best author houses I've seen belong to the thriller writers. Today's home in Palm Beach Florida belongs to James B. Patterson. According to the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties column Patterson calls his beautiful home with frontage on the intracoastal waterway the house that Alex Cross built, referring to his popular psychologist main character. Patterson used a wood-paneled office with a water view (outfitted with plenty of Patterson books in the listing pictures) as his writing studio. The turquoise and white kitchen currently decorated with a collection of gleaming copper pots has the type of farmhouse style appeal one doesn't usually see in lavish Palm Beach homes. Outside there is a terrace surrounding a heated pool with spa ,built-in barbecue and a dock with boat lift. This home is listed at $14.95 million.

Patterson is moving his family to an even bigger home, a two-acre Palm Beach estate, with a 20,505-square-foot main house which he picked up for $17.45 million over the summer.

Today's home is another reader submission, a beautiful vacation retreat in Vail, Colorado. The home was completed in 2007 and is located within a short distance of the ski lifts of Vail Village. It also offers immediate access to the Town of Vail's extensive hiking trail system. The home itself is a five-bedroom house that was constructed using state-of-the-art mechanics including radiant heat and a second humidified forced air heating system and air conditioning.

This home features custom rockwork inside and out, granite counter tops throughout the home, stainless appliances and more. A rec room has a full wet bar and a water feature. A heated drive, entry and rear deck area keeps you safe from icy walkways. The home also has an elevator, climate-controlled wine room, media room and a private patio with a hot tub, gas log fire pit and an outside shower. The home is offered fully furnished and the asking price is $5.995 million.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts veteran Barry Sternlicht is looking for real estate to surge in Greenwich, Connecticut. The wealthy New York City suburb got spanked over the past year as the city's financial industry gurus saw their bonuses jobs disappear and flooded the market with ostentatious homes on the market at a time when buyers were few and far between. A year later, Sternlicht thinks this town is ready to stage a comeback.

Sternlicht just raised the asking price on his 5.8 acre estate in Greenwich to $5.95 million, even though the local market is about to finish its worst year in the past 30. Jean Ruggiero, Sternlicht's real estate broker, said he pushed up the asking price because "we felt like we were giving it away." People showed some interest in the home, and the fact that other sellers were cutting prices didn't mean that Sternlicht had to follow. "Just because people are lowering their price doesn't mean it's right, because he's not a desperate seller, "Ruggiero said of Sternlicht.

The new number is 8.3 percent higher than the $5.495 million Sternlicht previously asked, even though prices for single-family homes in Greenwhich dropped 40 percent year-to-date.

Originally, the home was put on the market at $8.25 million in June 2008, and it was cut three times from September 2008 to April 2009. It boasts a tennis and shuffleboard court, pool and guest house ... and is of course gated.

Even at $5.95 million, Sternlicht will come out ahead. He bought the place in November 1994 for a mere $2.93 million.

Earlier a bunch of you lamented that we didn't have the $100 million listing in Charlottesville, Virginia up yet. Thanks to a kind gentleman for directing me toward the listing which has now gone live. The Wall Street Journal broke the story that Virginia winemaker and philanthropist Patricia Kluge has put Albemarle House, her 300-acre English country estate up for sale for $100 million,making it one of just a handful of listings in the nine-figure range. Kluge is the former wife of John Kluge, a billionaire who founded the Metromedia. She has been living in the area for a while making wine and working on a development called Vineyard Estates which is selling multi-million homes in the area.

Her estate is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and James Monroe's Ash Lawn-Highland on over 300 acres. On the grounds there are three ponds, a pool as well as a pool house, log cabin, a greenhouse and several staff cottages. The main house was completed in 1985 and spans over 25,000 square feet with 45 rooms. The home was designed by architect David Easton and his team and includes a theater, library, recreation room with spa and sauna, a card room and an Islamic gallery featuring an antique Syrian fountain. It's a bit of a pastiche, gilded Versailles-like rooms contrast with simpler spaces that have a more Early American style. Should you have some leftover cash after buying the home you can turn the front grounds into an 18-hole golf course. Arnold Palmer has already designed it.

Any guesses on a final sale price?

Think Lenny Dykstra had the poshest pad in the Southern California community of Thousand Oaks? Not hardly. Check out this incredible home on 23 acres. The French formal home has amazing grounds that feature elaborate ornamental flower beds. Large terraces and a fountain lead to an infinity pool with a fountain. The two-level home is over 16,000 square feet of space. Around 3800 square feet of that is taken up by the master suite which includes two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a gymnasium. The gourmet kitchen is large enough to require two islands. Everything in this home is done on an elaborate and grand scale. It's rococo for the modern age, all swags and flourishes and curlicues but with a healthy dose of technology (the huge media room boasts a massive screen and motorized arm chairs). This home is listed at $29.9 million.

If you were waiting for the bottom, it looks like you just missed it. Home prices in the Hamptons are on their way back up, rising 4.7 percent in the third quarter. Houses priced in the range of $2 million to $5 million led the charge. In fact, the number of properties clocking in at more than $2 million (including the former getaway of Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, which went for $9.41 million) jumped 44 percent -- 46 sales occurred from July through September this year. And, the median price for this part of Long Island increased from $860,000 last year to $900,000 this year.

The action appears to have been driven by buyers who'd normally look for something close to $10 million ... who began to see what they could get for a mere 20 percent of that price. When opportunity knocks ... you know the drill.

Even with this bit of good news, the number of homes sold last quarter fell 2.3 percent, with those fetching less than $500,000 posting the largest decline (22 percent). So, all isn't rosy in the land of the wealthy, unless of course, you're still wealthy.

The next luxury condo building in Boston is going to be closer to the ground than expected. Local windbag controversial real estate developer Don Chiofaro has been fighting a losing battle over the new building and is finally yielding to pressure from the community. The $1 billion plan involves two towers, with commercial space in the shorter sibling of the residential tower.

A decorative arch atop the residential building (which would also include a hotel) would push the building from 690 feet to 780 feet. Removing the arch and cutting the size brings it down by 155 feet – to the 625 feet that the Massachusetts Port Authority will allow. Anything higher, Massport says, would get in the way of nearby Logan International Airport's air traffic.

Chiofaro tells the Boston Globe, "I have no problem with 625 feet, if that's where [we] end up," leaving room for a small victory that would put this Icarus a touch closer to the sun. Given how scarce his friends were when he nearly lost his International Place towers a few years ago, I'm betting he isn't likely to get much above the Massport cutoff.

When the building is finally finished, residents will get fantastic views of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, along with unbeatable bragging rights.

Las Vegas was one of Michael Jackson's favorite places and according to an article back in August, appearing in the Las Vegas Sun, Jackson planned to buy the Primm Compound in Las Vegas and make it his home after his London concerts. The article said that Jackson planned to call the home "Wonderland." The estate, which was then listed at $25 million offers a variety of security features that appealed to him as well as other dramatic features like a pool with a waterslide, waterfalls and a grotto guest suite built inside a cave.

Move Trends reports that the home is now listed for $16.5 million. Jackson never lived in the home but it is being marketed as Michael Jackson's Wonderland. The 10-bedroom compound has secret tunnels and many of the home's doors are bulletproof. Another detail that Jackson would have appreciated is the panic room with its own oxygen supply.

The gated compound is on ten acres and in addition to the pool there is also an equestrian center, basketball and tennis courts, golf driving range, and underground shooting range which could be turned into a recording studio. The 20-car showroom also has a deionized-water car wash and gas station. Other details include an elevator, a 5000-bottle wine cellar and tasting room, a screening room, casino game room, library, trophy room, gym and a professional beauty salon.

Update: Mohamed Hadid, he of Ritz Carlton fame, just slashed the price on his Bel-Air home from $85 million to $72 million. Will it make a difference and generate a few more land barons coming to take a look-see? Coldwell Banker listing agent Joyce Rey, the diva of Beverly Hills high-end real estate, believes so. "At the new price, this home offers a remarkable lifestyle and a great value," she says. The property, with a 48,000-square-foot main house, was featured as a Luxist Estate of the Day on Feb. 23. The home has a 5,000-bottle wine cellar and a ballroom that seats 200-250.

Today's home is an incredible new luxury compound is Aspen, Colorado that includes two large residences on two contiguous lots located on over two acres on the Ridge of Red Mountain. The compound offers direct views of Aspen Mountain, Independence Pass, and the entire valley. The main home is a contemporary estate that is 11,300 square feet with five bedrooms, a gourmet kitchen, theater, wine room, gym huge recreation room and resistance pool. The home is rendered in stone and dark wood with curved roofs and glass windows facing the mountains. The second home is a 4,178 square foot guest home with five bedrooms and a two car garage. This estate is listed at $35 million which makes it one of the more expensive listings in the area but still millions below some of the properties in the area.

Experience more lush living in luxury homes and mansions or see the stars living large with celebrity homes galleries at AOL Real Estate.

When the listing for Brooke Astor's famed New York co-op at 778 Park Avenue hit the market last year it seemed like it would be easily snapped up. After all, the five-bedrom home was considered to be an exceedingly prime New York co-op. But in between expectation and reality yawned an economic crisis that has made even the most choice pricey real estate linger on the market. This apartment hit the market at $46 million in May 2008 and as Max Abelson of the New York Observer reported this week, has now hit a new low, bumping along at $24.9 million, a price cut of $21.1 million.

The home, like Astor herself is a beauty from another era. The co-op's high ceilings, six terraces and five wood-burning fireplaces all invite envy. The home's corner library with gleaming red lacquer walls, a wood-burning fireplace and French doors opening onto two terraces seems redolent of intellect and intrigue. The apartment occupies the 16th and part of the 15th floors of the building which was designed in 1931 by Rosario Candela. A 30-foot gallery has 18th century oak floors and leads to the formal entertaining rooms which include the formal dining room with fireplace. The private quarters include two master bedrooms, one on the 15th floor and one on the 16th floor. The home still retains the service area which consists of a large servants' hall, kitchen and pantry with three maids' rooms and bath. The listing says that this space could be turned into a family room, kitchen, laundry and staff area. With the deep price cut that seems a bit more feasible although the monthly maintenance has increased over the past year. Last year it was at $17,251 and this year it is at $18,458. It's not easy to follow in Mrs. Astor's footsteps.

If you like tile you'll love today's estate in Paradise Valley, Arizona. This Spanish-style home on over four acres features tile floors, tile fireplace surrounds and tile details on walls and counters. The tile is offset by adobe walls and heavy beamed ceilings. The home has five bedrooms, a family room with a tiled bar, a wine vault, large kitchen and media room. The property includes a one-bedroom guest house and pool. It is listed at $11.9 million.