Everyone knows weddings are pricy. Meghan Markle’s upcoming wedding to Prince Harry in the UK will take things to the next level.

Seasoned wedding planners estimate the cost for the May 19 wedding could reach £1 million ($1.4 million) or more. The cost for special security raises the bill much further.

Still, even the most lavish weddings don’t generally exceed £10 million ($13.5 million), according to Jamie Simon, head of events at the luxury British event management firm, Banana Split.

“There’s only so many ideas you can come up with before you [start] inventing ways to spend money,” he said.

Plus, the couple is getting some things for free. Swipe through to review a breakdown of the expected costs.

There’s a nice little real estate boom underway in Europe.

Europe took 11 of the top 20 spots on a ranking of cities with the largest price increases in the first quarter, according to global property agency Knight Frank. Prices spiked more than 14% over the previous year in Berlin, Rotterdam and Budapest.

EU data back up the findings, showing that home prices increased by an average of 4.7% across the bloc in the first quarter, the highest price growth since late 2007 when the global financial crisis was about to explode.

Demand has been fueled by low interest rates, an improving job market, rising consumer confidence and growing interest from foreign buyers, according to Kate Everett-Allen, a residential property expert at Knight Frank.

At the same time, the number of new homes being built has slumped.

“There’s a massive reduction in what’s coming out of the ground in terms of new dwellings,” said Everett-Allen.

One prime example of the trend is Spain, where only 55,000 new homes were built in 2016. That compares to 735,000 in 2006, before the country’s economy was rocked by a debt crisis.

Everett-Allen said that prices have increased 10% in Madrid, making it one of the strongest growth areas.

“Madrid is a key one,” she said. “The economy has improved significantly. A lot of commercial activity is feeding into the residential side … You’re seeing interest from European buyers and some from Latin America as well.”

Related: Is this the future of home renovation?

Dublin is also bouncing back after a major property bubble burst during the financial crisis. Prices there jumped nearly 12% in the first quarter.

“Prices [in places like Ireland and Spain] are still below their pre-crisis peak,” said Everett-Allen. “They’re rising from quite a low base.”

Europe is also seeing a “small-city renaissance” due to increasing interest from young buyers, said Paul Tostevin, associate director at real estate agency Savills.

“Compared to higher-cost, congested global mega-cities, historic European cities on a smaller footprint offer residents shorter commutes, a lower cost of living and high quality of life,” he said.

There are some outliers. EU data show that prices in Italy and some Nordic nations are slipping. Knight Frank estimates that prices in Turin dropped 7.1% in the first quarter.

London’s famously expensive housing market has also experienced price declines as Brexit and new taxes have scared off buyers.

Related: American prices are rising faster than they have in six years

Changes in monetary policy could constrain future demand.

The European Central Bank has announced plans to end its €2.5 trillion ($2.9 trillion) stimulus program and it could hike interest rates as early as 2019, making mortgages more expensive.

Everett-Allen said buyers may be trying to lock in purchases before rates go up, contributing to the current market strength.

CNNMoney (London) First published July 17, 2018: 7:27 AM ET

After the thrill of buying a new home wears off, new owners can get overwhelmed thinking about all the new costs incurred.

You may be tempted to outsource it all. But maybe you’re not made of money? Besides, there are things that are worth doing yourself.

“If you want to DIY changing out the vanity in your bathroom, okay, but that may be above the average person’s skill set and time,” says Angie Hicks, co-founder of Angie’s List, the home services site. “But do you know that you need to change your furnace filter once a month? And did you know that if you drain a quart of water out of your water heater every couple of months that will extend the life of your water heater?”

Those are easy things to do yourself that can save you money, says Hicks. “But if you don’t know what to do, you’ll just end up having bigger expenses down the road because you’re not taking care of things.”

For homeowners embarking on something new, it may not be clear what to take care of or how, and when to try to do it yourself and when to call the pros. Here are some of Hicks’ guidelines.

Hicks recommends taking an annual inventory of your home projects, independent of cost or time commitment.

“When you are getting ready to buy a home, you look at it with a more critical eye than you ever will again,” she says. “Once you’re in it, you start thinking about your budget or you don’t have the time.”

She suggests taking a day once a year to list all the projects you need to do. And then rank and categorize them: structural problems, mechanical problems, cosmetic issues, down to the wish list of a new kitchen or deck.

Outsource jobs totally over your head

Sometimes it’s hard to know what’s in your wheelhouse, especially if you fancy yourself a handy person.

Hicks has some suggestions: “You shouldn’t do electric work. And the worst enemy of your house is water, so don’t DIY your plumbing, unless you know what you’re doing.”

Another thing that’s usually pretty affordable to outsource and can save you time and your health in the long run: anything on a ladder.

“People are like, Oh yeah, I’ll just clean out my gutter. This is a task anyone can do. I just have to climb up this ladder and scoop the leaves out. But if they don’t have the right sized ladder, or a secure base, that’s where injuries happen.”

One of the scariest things about homeownership is a financial surprise. So knowing the age and level of operation of systems in your house can help you anticipate upcoming costs.

If you know your water heater is 15 years old, you might want to get it checked before committing to a brand new deck.

“That’s what makes a bad situation worse,” says Hicks, “when something breaks and you’re already committed.”

A good rule of thumb, Hicks says, is if your appliances are seven or eight years old and it will cost half as much to fix them as it will to replace them, replace them.

“Because you’ll end up nursing it along,” she says. “And the new technology and efficiency of a new system can make total sense.”

Updating your home with smart technology — programmable thermostats or video doorbells — is a fairly easy DIY way to not only increase the home’s value when it comes time to sell, but can deliver immediate savings on energy or security bills, says Hicks.

“For $1,200 you can buy the most popular smart home technology,” she says. “That could increase the value of your home by 5%.”

For larger, non DIY improvements, kitchen and bathroom remodels are always very popular and generally boost the value of your home.

But be careful not to over-renovate, says Hicks. “When you think about remodeling, you want to keep up with the Jones’s, not outdo them. You don’t want to price yourself out of the neighborhood.”

If outsourcing a task allows you to tackle a project or spend more time with important people in your life, then that’s a good use of your time.

But Hicks cautions that outsourcing these chores shouldn’t turn into a stressful financial situation. You shouldn’t go into debt outsourcing your lawn care or house cleaning.

“If you’re spending $50 or $60 to have your lawn mowed, you need to be okay with that as an expense you want to incur and endure every week for the 20 weeks of summer.”

Once you’ve concluded you’re going to pay for a service, your work doesn’t stop with the first service rep you meet.

“It always can be a negotiation,” says Hicks. “And don’t rest on getting one estimate. Get two or three estimates. It gives you an opportunity to negotiate and also to see if you have an outlier.”

You should always have a contract in writing when paying someone to work on your home, she says. And she adds, the terms of the contract are also negotiable.

Underplay your budget, too, she says.

“If you’re thinking about remodeling your bathroom and your budget is $10,000, tell the contractor it is $8,000. Have them work a plan at $8,000. Because something will come up. It always does.”

“The time to DIY is when you have the skills, the time and the know-how to do it,” says Hicks.

And always start small, she adds.

“We’ve turned home improvements into entertainment,” Hicks says. “A lot of the things we see or read about make it seem so simple. But no project is ever as simple as it is presented on TV.”

If you’re not an experienced DIYer, try painting a small bedroom, she says. “Start with something you can finish in a weekend.”

CNNMoney (New York) First published June 5, 2018: 10:47 AM ET

Earlier this year, Lin He made a $400,000 profit from a single home flip.

The 3,600-square-foot house in Malibu was in foreclosure and was listed for $1.39 million. He purchased it for $985,000 in 2017 without ever stepping foot inside.

“Boy, it was bad. It was a lot worse than I thought,” he said. The renovations took three months and cost him around $300,000, plus he incurred many other costs like taxes, staging and realtor commissions.

But it was worth it.

He listed the home for $1.97 million — exactly double the price he paid for it. He got a full-price offer within three weeks of listing it.

Home flipping increased to an 11-year high in 2017, according to data from ATTOM. That’s roughly 6% of all home and condo sales.

The rapid rise in home prices nationwide has made flipping more lucrative than it has been in recent years. The average gross return in the past three years was 50%, according to ATTOM. From 2004-2006, the average return on a flip was 31%.

Related: Even rising mortgage rates won’t stop homebuyers

House flipping surged in popularity following the Great Recession, when prices bottomed out and some investors saw a buying opportunity.

“At the bottom of market, you had professional investors well capitalized who were able to go in and scoop up deals with a lot of cash,” said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at ATTOM.

He, who’d been working in real estate for years, became an investor around that time. Between 2008-2014, He bought more than 100 homes. Some he flipped, others he kept in his rental portfolio.

Many housing markets have seen prices return to pre-recession levels. Some have become so hot that prices increased by double digits.

The epic rise caused He to hit pause on flipping in 2015 and start to deleverage. He sold off a portion of his rental portfolio and focused more on his design-build construction business.

But when the Malibu home came up last year, it was too good of a deal to pass up.

Related: Are you ready to buy a home?

The ratio of flipped properties to sales nationwide was 6.2% for the first three months this year, according to CoreLogic, matching the post-crash high at the start of 2013.

Banks and other institutional investors were heavy in the flipping market at that time, but these days more individuals are getting in on the action.

“There are more of these bandwagon home flippers or novice home flippers jumping into the market because home prices are going up,” noted Blomquist.

But amateur flippers have their work cut out for them. The lack of inventory means prices are high and many are buying homes that need a lot of work, he added.

High home prices are a double-edged sword, and the temptation is just too great for a lot of flippers. They see prices continuing to go up they can continue to make money even though buying at high price,” said Blomquist.

But flipping isn’t as easy as it looks on TV.

“It’s not glamorous and it’s real work, dealing with gross properties,” said He. “It can have the potential to give you a good return on your money, but it’s not as easy as people think.”

CNNMoney (New York) First published June 5, 2018: 10:29 AM ET

Unemployment keeps falling and home prices keep going up. It’s a great recipe for a strong housing market.

Nothing has been able to stop the housing boom — not even higher interest rates.

Luxury home builder Toll Brothers (TOL) said Tuesday that demand for its houses was strong across the country — the company signed a record number of contracts last quarter.

Toll Brothers reported quarterly financial results that easily topped forecasts and raised its outlook for the year, citing a backlog of new homes for the third quarter.

Higher rates do not seem to be an issue for prospective buyers, mainly because the job market remains strong and housing prices are rising.

The company said that the average price of its homes in the most recent quarter was $851,900, compared to $791,400 a year ago. And Toll Brothers expects that prices for the current quarter will range between $840,000 and $870,000.

The only weak spot was California, where demand cooled a bit.

Toll Brothers executive chairman Robert Toll said the company believes the new home market can continue to grow in the coming years — especially as people seek to cash in on the rising value of their current home and trade up.

As the value of people’s homes increases, empty nesters and homeowners looking for bigger houses have more equity to work with, Toll said in the company’s press release. He also expects those two groups and Millennials will fuel demand for new homes in the coming years.

Shares of Toll Brothers surged more than 11% on the solid earnings Tuesday — but the stock is still down 20% for the year.

The results are the latest sign that the recent homebuilder stock slump may have been an overreaction. Investors feared that rate hikes would weaken demand for homes. That hasn’t happened yet.

Rival builder Lennar (LEN) also reported healthy quarterly results in late June.

Retail giant Home Depot (HD) just posted strong numbers last week as well, another sign that people continue to spend on their houses. Home Depot rival Lowe’s (LOW) will report results Wednesday and analysts are expecting a nearly 30% jump in earnings.

CNNMoney (New York) First published August 21, 2018: 10:45 AM ET

Leaked documents published on Sunday suggest that the private estate of Queen Elizabeth II invested in offshore funds.

Revelations from the leak, which has been dubbed the Paradise Papers, were reported by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and outlets including The New York Times.

In Britain, the BBC said it had seen documents that show the Duchy of Lancaster, which provides the Queen with an income, had invested £10 million ($13.1 million) into funds in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda.

The documents have not been reviewed by CNN.

The Queen has not been accused of any wrongdoing. But the investments are potentially embarrassing for a royal family that closely guards its reputation.

“We operate a number of investments and a few of these are with overseas funds. All of our investments are fully audited and legitimate,” the Duchy of Lancaster said in a statement.

The Duchy added that the Queen, who is officially exempt from U.K. tax laws, “voluntarily pays tax” on income she receives from the estate.

The £519 million ($680 million) Duchy, which provides the Queen with an income to cover official expenses, says it invests primarily in commercial, agricultural and residential properties.

In the most recent fiscal year, the Duchy generated £19.2 million ($25 million) in net income according to its website.

Related: What you need to know about the Paradise Papers

One of the Duchy’s offshore investments has generated some controversy.

The BBC reported that the Duchy invested $7.5 million in Dover Street VI Cayman Fund LP in 2005. The fund, which invested in medical and tech companies, later put money into U.K. retailer BrightHouse.

The Duchy said its investment in the company is worth £3,208 ($4,200).

BrightHouse, which gave customers credit so they could buy its home furniture and appliances, was later forced to compensate consumers after the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority found it was not a responsible lender.

“We sincerely apologize to those customers who were affected,” the company said in October. “We’re absolutely determined that this doesn’t happen again and have made significant improvements over the last 18 months.”

The Duchy said in a statement that the investment in BrightHouse was made “through a third party,” and equates to just 0.0006% of the Duchy’s value.

The ICIJ noted in its report that “there are legitimate uses for offshore companies and trusts,” and it was not suggesting that any people or companies it named either broke the law or acted improperly.

David Pitt Watson, an executive fellow at the London Business School who focuses on responsible investments, said he “very much” doubts that the Queen knew where her money was invested.

Instead, she’s like “so many others who have a pension, or an investment account,” he said. “We just don’t know what is being done with it.”

The Paradise Papers reporting is similar to the Panama Papers, which in 2016 exposed cases involving celebrities and business executives who reportedly moved large chunks of their wealth into offshore tax havens.

The new project, which is based on more than 13.4 million documents dated from 1950 to 2016, covers a large number of global corporations and prominent people and their use of offshore accounts.

— Max Foster contributed reporting.

CNNMoney (London) First published November 6, 2017: 11:08 AM ET