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From The Sunday Times

March 16, 2008

World's most expensive property sold in London

A flat in central London has become the most expensive home in the world, with a price understood to exceed £115m

Holly Watt

A flat in central London has become the most expensive home in the world, with a price understood to exceed £115m.

The flat in St James’s Square, equidistant from 10 Downing Street and Buckingham Palace, was granted planning permission last week. The value of the off-plan sale indicates that the world’s most expensive properties are not yet being hit by the international financial crisis.

It is to be carved out of a seven-storey 1930s office block, which will be used to create a total of six extravagant apartments.

The figure exceeds the £100m asking price for the most expensive apartment at One Hyde Park, the Candy & Candy development designed by the Richard Rogers Partnership.

It is also far in excess of the highest completed sale of £80m, paid for a house on Upper Phillimore Gardens in Kensington last month. Four years ago Lakshmi Mittal, Britain’s richest man, achieved a world record by paying £70m for a 12-bedroom mansion near Kensington Palace.

A source close to the deal for the flat at 8 St James’s Square, which has not yet been registered in public documents, said: “The price has been agreed. It is between £115m and £120m.” The identity of the purchaser has not been disclosed. Three of the other flats, which have been sold privately and not through estate agents, have also been “reserved” according to the source.

Only the most basic building proposals have so far been submitted. There will be large solar panels on the roof, a car lift to take vehicles to the basement parking – and cycle racks, to comply with regulations.

The St James’s district has become the centre of London’s hedge funds and private equity houses. Old money is represented by the clubs on nearby Pall Mall, and Clarence House, home of the Prince of Wales. The Hinduja brothers bought a family home in Carlton House Terrace in 2006 for £58m. It will provide accommodation for 38 members of their extended family.

The office block at 8 St James’s Square was bought in November 2007 by Labarre Trading, a British Virgin Islands-registered company. The firm paid £125m for the block together with the next door house, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

Labarre is understood to operate on behalf of an unnamed Swiss family. The property development company Pacific Group is coordinating the project. It declined to comment.

Westminster council granted planning permission despite concerns from a local conservation group about plans for a private bar on the ground floor.

The council has secured an unusual payment from the developers, forcing them to contribute £3,978,000 towards affordable housing in the borough because of the “exceptional size” of the flats. Normally developers need to contribute to affordable housing only if they are creating 10 or more flats.

From the outside, 8 St James’s Square looks unremarkable. However, Peter Wetherell, a specialist in St James’s properties for more than 25 years, said: “The main selling point could be sheer exclusivity These will be the only flats available in St James’s for a long time – the last ones were sold eight years ago.”

He said that while there are 86 flats in the One Hyde Park development, this project will command a premium because it comprises only six flats. Half of the 80 apartments available at One Hyde Park have now been sold, although completion is not due until 2010. The average price paid has been around £20m or almost £6,000 per square foot.

Guy Bransby – director of planning at Jones Lang LaSalle, which coordinated the planning permission application – said: “Residential values have continued to rise in this area, and there has been a movement away from using properties as offices to housing. There will be only one flat on each floor.”

Piffle. Mukesh Ambani's little cottage in Bombay is the world's most expensive. 400,000 sft of space for family of 5, 3 heliports 600 permanent servants. One billion US dollars construction+land. Not bad for the son of a man who started as a pavement hawker. Face it: you Brits taught us too well.

Ravi, Takoma Park, MD, USA

We should get rid of the anti-wealth culture in Britain. They are perfectly entitled to such an great property if they can pay for it. Too much of our taxes are invested in the cost of failure.

They would not like it themselves, so why do people question how other people spend their own money?

James Burdass, London, UK

If I was a billionaire I would have paid £200m because money wouldn't matter if it was that good. I think the agents did a poor job. As usual.

Mike, London,

WERE I to live in such a flat I wouldn't know WHERE to hide my face - for shame.

San Ying, Montreal, Canada

Gerin: Right on - but of course!

lyn, santa barbara, calif, usa

A clear indication that the market in London is bucking the trend....

Tom, South,

Of course no money laundering is involved in those transactions.

Those deals comply with the highest standards of transparency as the article abundantly shows.

Money invested in high-end real-estate only come from the most legimates of sources.

Gérin, saint-etienne, france

just to get so many people wonder, think, love, hate me as you guys do, would I get the luxury of buying a £120m property if I could afford. that guy must be delighted to get so much attention

Lyly, Kensington, uk

Adversely rich and poor people become more extravigant at times and loose money and common sense. Any how & importantly, It follows that the richer the rich the richer our tradesmen become, given that they are good at what they do.
Finally, Lets not forget that ones riches are never soley earnt.

T.M.M, T.Wells, England

Personally I think, why not...these people have obviously worked hard to earn this sort of cash and not from a non-productive enterprise-obviously it is a dream come true for them, and so let them be, different things make different people tick - it has nothing 2 do with common sense..

Dee, london, uk

If I had that kind of money I certainly wouldn't be spending it on a flat in London no matter the location. I'd definately find a nice spread abroad with views to die for. I wouldn't be paying £120m for it either. More money than sense applies here.

Gen, London, UK

Money is perspective. Leslie Corrin, you say people buying expensive flats suffer from lack of common sense - people who are that rich generally have rather a lot of common sense; that's how ....they become rich.

charlie, london, uk

Glad to see the london property market is moving ahead even in these uncertain times.

kirk, london, england

Haha someone was ripped off. Why pay that? People should refuse to pay such money. Only by paying such prices do the prices stay high.

Peter, South Coast,

Well, everyone has to get about somehow - whether your'e rich or poor. Even the rich have to walk in order to move from one point to another by using their legs! So it doesn't matter what method they choose - nobody escapes from having to move their limbs, and excert energy.

Joe, Exeter,

Are they on crack ?

Global Inflation isnt becoming a problem is it....

Mark Smith, London, UK

Why not? If someone could pay Â£120m for my flat why in God's name would he/she want to cycle? I smell jealousy

Nathan Lee, Oxford, UK

"And cycle racks, to comply with regulations" eh? Sad reflection on our times. Or are these people *really* too (self-) important to actually cycle?

James Styring, Oxford, UK

What this doesn't say is that the building used to be the headquarters of Universal Music International.

There were conspiracy theories that part of it was previously a CIA office and that it was from there that female PC (Yvonne Fletcher) was shot, not the Libyan embassy a couple of doors down.

Either way, we never managed to get mobile reception on the top floor of the building...

chris tant, London,

It sounds nice. Would I get a 100% mortgage for that???

Ingo Kaufmann, Vilamoura, Portugal

The amount of money exchanging hands for 'flats' in London beggars belief, I can only assume that whilst the people purchasing these property's, obviously do not suffer from a shortage of cash, they do suffer from a severe lack of common-sense, or to put it another way, a fool and his money are soon parted.

Leslie Corrin, Southport, England

insane! One hundred and twenty million! you can buy Equador for that.

JJ Peterson, Inside the m25, UK

One hundred and twenty million pounds? ridiculous, for sure its somebody that has created 'money' from a non productive enterprise, for that kind of money why not lease the "Palace" from the Queen?

Alan Chappell, Hamburg, Germany