It emerged on Thursday that a four-bedroom penthouse flat in Knightsbridge, London, has been sold for a hefty £90 million, about N42.3 billion at an exchange rate of N470 to the British pound. It is now also on record to be the most expensive residential property transaction ever documented by the Land Registry in the UK.
Businessamlive gathered from various news agencies that the flat located specifically at 199 Knightsbridge was bought in April by the owner of a radio station, Capital FM, Ashley Tabor, who has plans to knock it through into a next door an apartment that is also owned by him, to create a huge 15,000 square feet “super flat”.
The price paid for flat has now been confirmed by analysis of Land Registry data carried out by London Central Portfolio (LCP) as setting a record for the most expensive transaction ever to cross its books, although it is also thought many transactions may have taken place under what is known as corporate envelopes, which the Land Registry would not have recorded.
By the nature of the transaction and the current rate, it is believed that stamp duty paid on the flat alone amounted to £13.5m, about N6.35 billion, believed to be enough to buy 60 homes priced at £223,257 based on the Land Registry’s average UK house price for June.
London Capital FM boss, Tabor, upon concluding the flat purchase transaction, lodged a planning application with Westminster City Council, showing plans for a massive 10-bedroom home, complete with two kitchens, a playroom, and even a cinema room. The home would be one of the largest and most valuable apartments in the country.
The analysis by LCP also suggested London’s luxury housing market has begun to show signs of recovery, after a slow start to the year.
Sales volumes in the capital’s most exclusive areas rose 4.8 per cent during the second quarter of the year, with average prices hitting £1.95 million, about N916.5 million.
In the top 10 per cent of the market, prices rose 20 per cent on average, to £8 million, about N3.76 billion, while the proportion of sales in the £5 million, about N2.35 billion, to £10 million, about N4.7 billion, the market rose 23 per cent from the first quarter.
However, LCP chief executive Naomi Heaton exercised caution: “The increase in average prices appears to reflect a greater proportion of high-value properties being sold, rather than any significant underlying growth.
“Not only have we seen some very large individual sales but transaction data shows the £5m – £10m bracket was the most active in Q2 with a 23 per cent increase over Q1. This can be attributed to international home buyers taking advantage of notable price discounts, alongside beneficial currency exchange rates.”
