A $27 million, 40 metre yacht? I'll take 3, please

 On this frozen, icy and depressing January day a blog about luxurious items you can't afford seems to be highly appropriate.

This blog post will either add to your new year's credit card induced woes or it will give you something to aspire to in 2014.

The London boat show, which began last weekend, has just previewed Sunseeker's new, 40 metre yacht for billionaires. Sunseeker International, the luxury boat company, is famous for providing those glitzy, high-end liners everyone lusts over in James Bond films.

Once the pride of Dorset, England, Sunseeker was bought last year by Wang Jianlin, the billionaire head of China's property development Dalian Wanda Group for $558 million. In 2012, his company bought the U.S. cinema chain AMC for $2.6 billion.

According to Bloomberg, Wang Jianlin was going to buy 30 Sunseeker yachts but then instead decided to buy the entire company.

At the London Boat Show, Sunseeker's new $27 million super yacht not only looks like a floating, cozy boutique hotel, they also come equipped with karaoke machines.

"We fit a karaoke machine to almost every vessel that goes out there," David Reed of Sunseeker, told Bloomberg.

Yachting is taking off in China. According to the New York Times, industry executives say there are 30 high-end marinas now in China and that number should double in less than five years.

Wang is one of the wealthiest men in China. He also owns the Wanda 2, the boat featured in the Bond flick Casino Royale. He recently purchased Pablo Picasso's painting Claude et Paloma.

Wang has also been at the centre of an international controversy regarding the freedom of western press in China. In November, the Financial Times reported Bloomberg was accused of suppressing a story on Wang and alleged ties to top Chinese communist bosses. Bloomberg has denied they spiked a story under pressure.

In a sign that Britain's economy is indeed recovering, London Boat Show participants have reported a rise in orders. The British boat industry is worth about $4.5 billion and exports rose 8 per cent in 2013 compared to a contraction by nearly the same percentage in 2012, reports Bloomberg.

Tanya Talaga is the Star's global economics reporter. Follow her on Twitter @tanyatalaga