London has three of the world's ten most expensive properties
01-01-2014
This Hampstead home would set you back £65m
Mira Bar-Hillel
Jonathan Prynn, Consumer Business Editor
Three of the world’s top 10 most expensive homes which are expected to change hands next year are in London, according to a survey.
The table of the most lavish “for sale” homes is topped by a Grade I-listed Regency residence at Carlton House Terrace in St James’s, estimated to be worth around £250 million.
Second is Saudi Prince Abdul Aziz bin Fahd’s home on the “billionaire’s row” of Kensington Palace Gardens, which is being marketed for around £100 million.
The third London home on the list, in tenth place, is the former residence of William Lyle of the Tate & Lyle sugar family. Agent Knight Frank is asking £65 million for the 15-bedroom, Grade II-listed mansion in The Bishop’s Avenue, Hampstead, which is the capital’s most expensive address outside Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea.
New York also has three properties on the list, which was compiled by researchers WealthInsight for lifestyle magazine Spear’s. They are the Residence at the River House, priced at $130 million, the Penthouse at Pierre Hotel, offered at $125 million, and hedge fund boss Steven Cohen’s One Beacon Court Duplex in Manhattan, also listed for $115 million. A further three US properties are included in the top 10, including timber tycoon John Rudey’s 50-acre waterfront estate in Connecticut, offered for $140 million. The only property outside the US and London is a 150-year-old palace in Istanbul, listed for $115 million.
Spear’s editor Josh Spero said: “No- one is surprised that London and New York have the most entries in the top 10 as they are the two cities which best marry economic might with outstanding housing stock: you only need to think of Canary Wharf and Kensington Palace Gardens or Wall Street and Fifth Avenue. But the other entries are revealing: wealth in America is much less concentrated than in England, so we see other centres like Los Angeles (film industry money), Dallas (oil) and Connecticut (hedge funds and finance). Turkey has a growing number of the super-wealthy, partly thanks to its position between Europe and Asia, soon to be the wealthiest continent.”
The research also shows some of the most expensive sales this year, which include the Malibu villa sold by billionaire investor Howard Marks for $75 million. Singer Cher’s Malibu home, which she reportedly sold to Beyoncé for $45 million, was also a top transaction, along with baseball player Alex Rodriguez’s Miami mansion at $30 million.
The top ten
Carlton House Terrace, London £250m
Kensington Palace Gardens, London £100m
The Owlwood Estate, Los Angeles $150m
Copper Beech Farm, Connecticut $140m
Crespi/Hicks Estate, Dallas $135m
The Residence, River House, New York $130m
The Penthouse, Pierre Hotel, New York $125m
Zeki Pasha Waterside Mansion, Istanbul $115m
One Beacon Court Duplex, New York $115m
The Bishops Avenue, London £65m