By Kieran Corcoran and John Hall
A central London penthouse has become Britain's most expensive ever flat after a wealthy Eastern European reportedly bought it for £140million - despite it not having any furnishings, flooring or internal walls.
The 16,000sq ft 'core and shell' property is part of the exclusive One Hyde Park development in Knightsbridge, and is believed to have been purchased by a man from Russia or Ukraine.
Concrete walls, floor-length windows and one of the most exclusive views in the world is all the new homeowner will have got for his money.
Record: The unfurnished penthouse flat is one of four at the exclusive One Hyde Park apartments in Knightsbridge (pictured), and is believed to have been purchased by a man from either Russia or Ukraine
Record: The unfurnished penthouse flat is one of four at the exclusive One Hyde Park apartments in Knightsbridge (pictured), and is believed to have been purchased by a man from either Russia or Ukraine
Experts estimate he will have to spend hundreds of thousands more dividing the penthouse into rooms and installing the luxuries befitting one of the country's most expensive addresses.
As part of the deal the new owner will also have access to the services of 80 hotel staff who maintain the properties and provide housekeeping, room service and security.
The property - known as Penthouse D - is one of four at One Hyde Park, and consists of the entire top floor of one of the towers, which sit between Knightsbridge and the southern border of Hyde Park, five minutes walk from Harrods department store.
The sale was today confirmed by the property developers. It is thought the deal has been in the works for months.
Properties costing most than £2million attract high rates of stamp duty - which for this penthouse could hit £21million.
The rate for properties bought by individuals is capped at 7 per cent - in this case £9.8million - but if a corporate body purchased it on the man's behalf, stamp duty is charged at 15 per cent - which would be £21million.
A spokesman for CPC Group, the developers of the property, told MailOnline: 'A 16,000 sq ft duplex Penthouse (Penthouse D) at One Hyde Park was recently sold. CPC Group is not able to comment on the sale price or the purchaser'.
Describing the currently bare property, the spokesman continued: 'It's a shell and core unit - concrete walls, concrete floors, no rooms or walls put in yet - the owner can decide on their preferred layout for their needs or lifestyle.
Luxury: When the One Hyde Park apartments first went on sale at the start of 2011, every inch of their polished marble floors contrasted sharply with the state of Britain's economy, which was deep in recession (file image)
Luxury: When the One Hyde Park apartments first went on sale at the start of 2011, every inch of their polished marble floors contrasted sharply with the state of Britain's economy, which was deep in recession (file image)
Demand: One Hyde Park has become a 'luxury ghetto' for some of the world¿s richest people, including Arab sheikhs, Nigerian oil tycoons and Naomi Campbell's former boyfriend, Vladislav Doronin (file image)
'They can decide how many bedrooms, kitchens, or whatever it is they want. The property runs the length of the building - from the park side to the city side. At one end you’ll have views of Hyde Park, and at the other end you’ll have views of Knightsbridge and Harrods and so on. You only get that in the penthouses and in the five-bedroom units, where you get the entirety of one level.'
The value for the sale and nationality of the buyer was reported in The Times.
All four penthouses in the development are now spoken for, and the only One Hyde Park property still on offer from the developers is a three-bedroom flat, which is likely to be worth around £15million.
It is thought that a flat in Britain has never sold for so much before. In 2011 another One Hyde Park penthouse was sold for £136million. It was also reported last year that a mansion in Mayfair - 18 Carlton House Terrace - was on the market for £250million, but it is not clear whether a sale was made.
As well as being a new high-water mark in the property market, the suspected nationality of the buyer has added to evidence that rich Eastern Europeans are offloading their wealth into London in the wake of political unrest in Ukraine.
It will also add to the mounting fears that Britain's property market - particularly in London, where foreign interest is high - is in danger of crashing.
A report released by Nationwide yesterday warned that house prices across the board are rising at their fastest pace for nearly seven years.
According to the research, the average home costing nearly £18,000 more than it did last year, building society said yesterday.
Graham Beale, chief executive of the building society, warned: ‘We need to watch the situation carefully.’ In just one year, house prices have jumped by 10.9 per cent, the first time that annual house price inflation has been in double figures since 2010 and the highest rate since June 2007.
New figures this week also revealed a booming trade in the most expensive houses, with 33 British homes selling for £1million or more every day
Jon Cunliffe
Wealth: The Duke of Westminster is one of the richest people in Britain
Concerns: A number of people, including Sir Jon Cunliffe (left), are worried that London's high-end property bubble may be about to burst. The Duke of Westminster (right) recently sold off £240million of luxury property
Land Registry statistics reveal that in January this year there were 1,011 houses sold in this price bracket, with most going in London and the South East. The figure is almost double that for January 2013.
It came as a deputy governor of the Bank of England issued a strong warning that Britain’s housing market is spiralling out of control.
Sir Jon Cunliffe, deputy governor for financial stability, said the housing market was a 'blinking warning light', and indeed 'the brightest light on that dashboard'.
He added that it would be ‘dangerous to ignore the momentum that has built up’, given the well-established history of boom-and-bust in the British property market.
However, not everyone is so optimistic about the future of luxury property in the capital.
Earlier this week the property company owned by the Duke of Westminster said it had sold £240million of luxury homes in central London amid fears the capital's house price bubble may be about the burst.
Grosvenor Group said it was cutting its exposure to high-end residential properties after growing concerned that the rate of growth in the London luxury house price market was unsustainable.
The company - which is controlled by Gerard Grosvenor, one of Britain's richest men - says it is branching out from its traditional Mayfair and Belgravia turf, and targeting more affordable rental homes south of the river in Bermondsey.
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