Unique Properties
‘Unprecedented’
Since our last issue, real estate records were set, broken and set again in a matter of weeks. By Jessica DecinaThe news broke in August: a six-bedroom, two-floor penthouse at London’s One Hyde Park sold for a record-breaking £140 million—roughly $220 million. And just when the buzz was beginning to calm, the record was shattered again five weeks later by La Belle Epoque in Monaco. The 17,500-square-foot Monte Carlo estate sold for £199 million, or about $311 million, earning it the title of the most expensive residential sale in the world.
The Daily Mail reported that “an unnamed Middle Eastern investor” purchased the penthouse in Monaco; similarly, the buyers of One Hyde Park are rumored to have ties to the Middle East or India, according to the Telegraph.
The stories are big, the homes even bigger. And the prices paid for such luxury are without a doubt tremendous. So what does it all mean?
For Trevor Abrahmsohn, managing director of Glentree Estates, one of the subagents of One Hyde Park, the sales are absolutely “unprecedented,” but they’re also a sign that “there is considerable wealth around.”
“They’re extraordinary properties,” Abrahmsohn says. “When you get to such rarity it becomes irreplaceable.” Both properties are rare finds indeed—the penthouse at One Hyde Park encompasses six bedrooms, two floors and enjoys 24-hour room service from the 5-star Mandarin Oriental Hotel next door. La Belle Epoque, sold by billionaire brothers Christian and Nick Candy (coincidentally the interior designers for One Hyde Park), features 3 bedroom suites, each with its own cinema, a kitchen and two baths, according to the Financial Times. A spokesperson for the Candy brothers declined to comment on either sale.
Despite the enormity of these properties, Abrahmsohn isn’t too surprised to see the ultra-high-end flourish, especially in London. Buyers in the city purchase a property in London “whether [they] need one or not.”
“If you were a banker you’d live in New York. If you were in the film, you’d live in Hollywood; if political you’d live in Washington,” he explains. “If you were in the car, film [or] political [industry], you’d live in London. You live in London, you work in London. That’s why people pay fortunes for places.”
While Abrahmsohn could not comment on the specific buyers of these homes, he sees “a consistency” in the profits coming from oil monarchs of the Middle East and India. “The first thing that the Middle Eastern sheikh does is buy something in London,” he says. Beyond that, a buyer might look to a location such as Monaco for a luxury vacation home, he adds.
“It’s no accident that prices remain very high,” he affirms. “People make a lot of money buying a property and sitting on it. It’ll still be there and worth a lot more.”
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