Could it be that we’re getting back on the luxury track?  If you take a peek at a recent survey, you can see that UK house prices are on the rise.

In August alone, houses in the United Kingdom rose 1.6%, which is an increase not to sneeze at, it being the largest leap since back in December 2006.  Now you see what we mean.

This might just mean that will will start seeing luxury estates selling more quickly and finally becoming more of a seller’s market than a buyer’s bazaar.

Want your own private island?

Taylor’s Island is a four and a half acre private, gated island. near Solomons Island in Maryland. The island has a main house, three outbuildings, a pool, hot tub, a pier and a sandy beach and comes with a golf cart for navigating the property. The island is accessible to land over a gated wooden bridge and is also accessible by water and helicopter.

Outbuildings include a two-story observatory or lighthouse which also has a spa, kitchenette, bath and shower. There is also a two-bedroom guesthouse facing the pool. The main house is older and relatively small (2,488 square feet) and includes a deck on the river side. This property is offered for sale at 3.5 million dollars.

It can be quite the challenge to buy something for the “hard to buy” person in your life.  However, for a mere $50k in earnest money, you can submit your bid deposit to take over the operating license of New York City’s famed eatery Tavern on the Green.  The license expires on 31 December but you need to act quickly because interested parties only have until 18 May to submit their proposals and cash.

The 25,000-square-foot restaurant in Central Park has been a tourist draw for decades. One thing that doesn’t come with the license to operate the restaurant is its famous name. The name has been owned by the LeRoy family since 1973. Restaurateur Warner LeRoy took over the restaurant’s lease in 1974 but the first incarnation of Tavern on the Green as a restaurant dates back to 1934 when Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia opened the restaurant with a brass key. Le Roy reopened the restaurant in 1976 after $10 million in renovations. Since LeRoy’s death in 2001, it has been managed by his daughter, Jennifer Oz LeRoy. The NY Times reports that Michael Desiderio, Tavern’s chief operating officer, said last month that the name “Tavern on the Green” had been appraised at $19 million.

Parks officials are planning to select the winner of the license by July. While the restaurant brings in millions of dollars each year it also has substantial overhead and that could increase. The Times says that under the terms of its current license, the LeRoy family is required to pay 3.5 percent of its gross receipts to the city but more recent licenses for other businesses often demand a larger percentage. The restaurant also could use a bit of refreshing. But for potential bidders the promise of a restaurant that is a guaranteed draw is pretty alluring.

If you are looking for a quaint abode to escape from the care of action packed London – and you have an extra couple hundred million burning a hole in your pocket, feast your eyes on this mansion in London‘s posh Belgrave Square has hit the market for £100 million, or about $150 million.

The home has 21,000-sq.-ft. with 12 bedrooms, 20-ft. ceilings, a basement swimming pool, gym, media room, and every imaginable luxury fitting.

You won’t need to worry about the neighbors as Belgrave Square is also home to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the Emir of Dubai, as well as several embassies. The Square was built for the 2nd Earl Grosvenor, later the 1st Marquess of Westminster, in the 1820s and is one of the grandest in London.