ASKING prices for prime properties – the top quarter of the market by value – dipped 0.5 per cent in January, ending a nine-month rally in which asking prices reached new heights, according to PrimeLocation.com.

Despite prices dipping in December, the average asking price for a prime property in the UK is now 4 per cent higher (£19,097) than last January, at £473,373.

In comparison, asking prices for the UK property market as a whole have increased by just £2,471 (1 per cent) over the same period, with the average asking price now £218,468.

GOT a spare £48 million? Then you could buy the island next door to Johnny Depp.

The Hollywood A-lister, who also has homes in the south of France, Paris and Norfolk, owns Little Hall's Pond Cay in the Bahamas – and now the island right next door is for sale through Sotheby's International, PrimeLocation.com reports.

At 38 acres, the island includes a large plantation-style manor, separate fitness centre, infinity pool, a working lighthouse and a staff village for 29 people.

There's also a heliport, deep-draught docks, fresh water treatment plant, beach cottage, harbourmaster's house and twin guest cottages – all accommodating 22 people in fairly lavish luxury.

THE number of first-time buyers who are exempt from paying stamp duty on properties up to £250.000 increased in December, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

There were 18,700 loans advanced, worth £2.3 billion, up 7 per cent by volume and 10 per cent by value, from November.

There was also an increase in the proportion of properties (from 50 to 53 per cent) bought by first-time buyers within the price band exempt from stamp duty, making it likely that they are beginning to rush through purchases before the first-time buyer stamp duty holiday ends in March.

"We have been expecting a flow of first-time buyers on to the market as the stamp duty exemption ends in March, and December's figures appear to show that this has now begun," said Paul Smee, CML director-general.

CELEBRITY chef Gordon Ramsay has splurged on a £4.3 million luxury Los Angeles mansion, presumably to capitalise on his popularity across the Pond.

Ramsay will host the third series of Masterchef in the US this year, and has a new show called Hotel Hell to air on American TV in March.

He is also opening a new restaurant in Las Vegas later this year.

But Ramsay will not be leaving the UK permanently, according to The Sun newspaper, which reports that the 45-year-old has no plans to sell his home in south-west London.