From Tony Blair’s son to the founder of the ‘Amazon of the East’, here are the buyers of the ten priciest properties in England this year.
Combining data from the Land Registry, registers of companies and open-source databases, as well as insider knowledge from buying and selling agents, the revealed people behind the top property deals of 2022 can be revealed. The purchases, comprising more than 50 transactions of £15 million and above, total some £1.5 billion. They shine a light on the enormous amount of foreign wealth invested in property in England in the past year.
Knightsbridge Prime Property is a luxury property agency specialising in Prime Central London’s most exclusive residences. Our boutique office in Mayfair is home to our multi-award-winning expert team, possessing unparalleled market knowledge.
Targeting a highly bespoke market with a personalised approach, we have assembled a network of ultra-high-net-worth families & individuals. Our priority is privacy and discretion for all of our clients, offering a proactive and tailored service. The principal locations we specialise in are Knightsbridge, Belgravia, Mayfair, St James’s, Kensington, Chelsea and Marylebone.
Sales in the exclusive central London market were up 30% this year, according to the Billionaire Buyers Survey conducted by the real estate firm Beauchamp Estates. The agency recorded 52 sales over £15 million — up from 40 sales completed in 2021 and significantly higher than the 17 super-prime deals concluded in 2020.
The figure goes up if we include properties sold at or above £10 million, with the estate agency Knight Frank recording 152 sales in the year to October.
“It was probably the second strongest, if not the strongest, year ever,” says Rupert des Forges, partner and head of prime central London development at Knight Frank. He adds that the super-prime market was “the Cinderella to the ball” and “was really the last sector to open up” after the pandemic, in the autumn of 2021. “That was when it eased up and the pent-up demand fed the market the whole year,” Des Forges says. “This time US buyers really moved the market, especially at the top end.”
Almost half of this year’s transactions, according to Gary Hersham, founding director of Beauchamp, were made by Americans who took advantage of the strong US dollar against sterling.
“[This] has given them an enormous price discount and paid for stamp duty and moving-in fees,” Hersham says. “During 2022 there has effectively been one billionaire buyer property deal a week in central London.”
Top estate agents in London including Knightsbridge Prime Property concur that the pandemic, the conflict in Ukraine, and the weak performance of other investment markets encouraged the wealthy to reinvest in residential real estate in London.
“Transactions have got quicker this year,” says Guy Bradshaw, managing director at Sotheby’s International Realty in London. “Because of the shortage of stock, buyers have had the fear of running out of time or being gazumped by another offer. And there’s definitely been an increase in the number of houses sold as opposed to apartments.”
With a few notable exceptions most of the properties on our list are large detached houses in London’s most expensive neighbourhoods.
Other deals that are not included are a number of properties purchased by companies registered in offshore jurisdictions such as the British Virgin Islands and Jersey, for which it is impossible to know the ultimate owners. Among them is a £90 million house in Belgrave Square, which has just completed and has not been recorded by the Land Registry yet, a £45 million house in Notting Hill and a £40 million house in the Boltons, Kensington.
The Top Ten
1. Buyer: Ernesto Bertarelli, Swiss billionaire
Price: £92 million
Where: Belgravia, Central London
The Italian-born biopharma magnate, who has a £9.7 billion fortune (according to the 2019 Sunday Times Rich List), was revealed to have bought an 80-room mansion in Belgravia in June.
2. Buyer: Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone co-founder and CEO
Price: £80 million
Where: Wiltshire
Conholt Park is an estate spanning 2,500 acres around a grade II listed mansion and stables, about 75 miles west of London. Schwarzman, an American billionaire, bought it for about £80 million in September.
3. Buyer: Subaskaran Allirajah, Lycamobile founder
Price: £38.5 million
Where: Hyde Park, Central London
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The British-Sri Lankan Tamil entrepreneur Allirajah, founder and chairman of the telecom company Lycamobile, snapped up a ten-bedroom Georgian house near Hyde Park in February.
4. Buyer: Hanzade Dogan Boyner, Turkish businesswoman
Price: £27 million
Where: Knightsbridge, Central London
Hanzade Dogan Boyner is an e-commerce pioneer from Turkey who founded Hepsiburada, sometimes called “the Amazon of the East”, in 2000 and is considered one of the most successful female tech entrepreneurs. She purchased a six-bedroom Victorian mansion in Knightsbridge in the summer.
5. Buyer: Sir David Harding, British financier
Price: £23 million
Where: Holland Park, West London
Sir David Harding is a Cambridge-educated physicist turned businessman who has made billions through his investment management company, the Winton Group. He bought a seven-bedroom house near Holland Park in July.
6. Buyer: Euan Blair, tech entrepreneur
Price: £22 million
Where: Kensington, West London
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The former prime minister’s son owns a successful tech business and in January splurged some of his dividends on a five-storey eight-bedroom house in Kensington.
7. Buyer: Alexander Gerko, Russian-born billionaire
Price: £22 million
Where: Primrose Hill, North London
According to the 2022 Sunday Times Rich List, Gerko, the founder of the trading firm XTX Markets and a Kremlin sceptic, is worth an estimated £2 billion. He moved to Primrose Hill in January after spending £22 million on a seven-bedroom Victorian home.
8. Buyer: Clelia Haji-Ioannou
Price: £20 million
Where: Hyde Park, Central London
Monaco-based Clelia Haji-Ioannou is the daughter of Loucas Haji-Ioannou, the late Greek-Cypriot shipping magnate, and the sister of easyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou. She owns a large stake in the airline. In March she bought a three-bedroom flat at the One Hyde Park complex in London — her other brother Polys also owns a multimillion-pound pad there.
9. Buyer: J Russell DeLeon, online gambling billionaire
Price: £20 million
Where: Notting Hill, West London
Russ DeLeon, an American businessman, became the first online gambling billionaire in 2005 when his company PartyGaming was listed on the London Stock Exchange. He purchased a four-story, seven-bedroom home close to Notting Hill in July.
10. Buyer: Bassim Haidar, African businessman
Price: £20 million
Where: Sloane Square, Central London
One of Africa's most prosperous businessmen is Haidar, a Lebanese national who was born in Nigeria and has investments in technology, financial services, and logistics. In May, he acquired a five-bedroom Chelsea condominium behind Sloane Square.