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New Monopoly map responds to rising property prices

20th June 2006 | back to article listings BACK    print this article PRINT

The world's best-selling board game has undergone something of a facelift, with property experts contributing to an up-to-date reflection of the London property scene.

It is likely that many of today's top investors will trace their enthusiasm for property investment back to their first encounter with Monopoly, but property price increases in recent years have made the finances involved increasingly obsolete.

The new version is set to offer a realistic impression of the property market in London, but the prices are not the only thing to have been transformed.

Former favourites including Old Kent Road and Park Lane have disappeared from the new version, while Wapping, Primrose Hill and Brixton Hill now feature. The new Monopoly board has also seen Mayfair replaced by Kensington Palace Gardens as the most expensive location in London, with players forced to fork out £4 million.

Thanks to the blossoming financial sector in London, Canary Wharf makes an appearance on the revamped map, as do Saville Row and Camden High Street.

Oxford Street is actually the only place to survive from the original version although its price has soared from £300 to £3 million in the last 70 years.

Property experts from Rightmove have been heavily involved in redesigning the new board and they have offered guidance on some of the investment hotspots in the City. They point out that the original board was simply based on tourist attractions and famous locations, while the Here and Now version is the result of scientific research.

Consequently, game players will be able to snaffle the likes of Brick Lane, Old Street and Notting Hill Gate - all of which have emerged as trendy locations within the last few years.

Maud Rousseau, a spokesman for Rightmove, said: "We started by selecting London’s most well known areas and we classified them from the cheapest to the most expensive. We then adjusted all of the prices, but we have been careful to keep the ratios between the values constant in order to maintain the character and balance of the game."

This attempt to keep the ratios constant means that the new locations can be very clearly matched against their predecessors. For example, Bishopsgate at £600,000 replaces Old Kent Road at £60, while Lime House at £1.4 million replaces Whitehall at £140.

Similarly, Kings Road now occupies a desirable position on the board at £3.2 million and it replaces Old Street which used to be purchased at £320.

The new board certainly offers a contemporary and dynamic representation of the property market in London but time will tell whether or not it can replace the magic of the original classic. The property investors of the future may well be drawn to the Here and Now version, but nostalgia will most probably influence the choice made by many of those who grew up dreaming of Park Lane and Mayfair.

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