Monaco property buyers have often been retired sixty-somethings, staying away from their home country to avoid the taxes that come with selling their business. But today's Monaco buyer is just as likely to be in his mid thirties or forties as they are in their sixties, with the middle age British leading the way.

'A few years ago around one in ten enquiries we were receiving were from the UK', the agency continue, 'but now it's virtually four in ten - a significant shift in the nationality of Monte Carlo property buyers.

The buyers have often made their money from one of three sources. The traditional company owner with a bricks and mortar business who has sold up, but also younger entrepreneurs, some of whom have made money in e-commerce. A significant number of buyers from the UK have worked in the financial sector, invariably in the City of London. We see a lot of futures and commodity brokers who are on high million pound and more salaries with annual bonues to match.

Some British buyers continue to trade or run their businesses from Monaco. Nice Airport is a ten minute helicopter ride away, and the City of London can be just three hours away from their Monaco property with the right connections. With some clever accounting thrown in, today's technology enables people to manage their UK business from Monaco in a tax free environment'.

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A loca Monaco travel guide Your Monaco.com has also noticed more Brits on the streets of Monte Carlo.

'The British have arrived in Monaco in numbers recently. The ones I have spoken to have recently sold their business or are on very high salaries with million pound and more annual bonuses. I would like to think they are coming here for the Monaco weather, but of course it is for the tax environment we offer -and of course the Monaco Grand Prix.'

In recent years the British economy has consistently been one of the strongest in Europe, and with a top rate of income tax cut a decade ago to forty per cent the wealthy have become wealthier - and want to stay that way.

'Despite the top rate of tax coming down to forty per cent, by the time other direct taxes such as National Insurance are taken into account around half of top earners salaries are - as many of the Monaco property buyers from Britain see it - being lost to the Inland Revenue. By moving to Monaco they effectively double their disposable income.

When you go to hotels in Monaco and see a couple with estate agent details on the table and a map of Monte Carlo with various places highlighted, there's an almost even chance that they will be British. A lot more than just a couple of years ago. They like Monaco, the security, the tax advantages and the closeness to London'.

For a Monaco map and hotels in Monaco visit YourMonaco.com

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