According to ee24.com, the royal family of Qatar has acquired a six-story mansion in the center of London for £40 million. This transaction can be decisive in the creation of so-called "Qatari enclave" in the heart of the British capital in Mayfair.
Al-Thani family purchase of six-storey Victorian mansion in the most exclusive area of London has become one of the most expensive deals in London this year - a stamp duty payment to the Treasury amounted to more than £4.7 million.
The brick house built between 1892 and 1894 years and served as the London residence of Lord Lilford, aristocrat of Northamptonshire. In 2008 the restoration was carried out , the upper floors of the house were used as living quarters, lower - as offices. In the lower floor there is a swimming pool.
The so-called "Little Doha", the part of which became this mansion, gradually created around the largest residence of the Qatar royal family in London - Dudley House costing more than £ 200 million, which brings together three big mansion (the total area is 33,000 square feet). At the residence of Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al-Thani there are 17 bedrooms and 81-foot art gallery with works by Van Dyck and Gainsborough.
Queen Elizabeth, visiting the new "British palace", said that Buckingham Palace "looks pretty dull" in comparising with this building.
Other real estate objects owned by the Al Thani family in London which is dubbed Qataropolis - are a former building of the Brazilian embassy in the Green Street, a house on Park Street for £ 13 million and a house on Davies street for £ 12 million. In addition, the Al-Thani family owns London's "The Shard", the tallest skyscraper in Europe, the Olympic village and the Harrods store.
Thus, the sheikh could expect to surpass the largest owners of real estate of the West End - the Duke of Westminster and Viscount Portman.
The demand for luxury properties in central London has increased significantly since the victory of the ruling Conservative Party in the recent parliamentary elections in the UK. The thing is that the Labor Party planned to introduce an additional tax on luxuty real estate. Now, when the owners of luxurious mansions fears were not confirmed, the market has liven up again. Market experts predict that by the end of the year prices will rise to 15-20%.
Recall that in the ranking of the 20 most expensive homes in the world by Forbes, owned by billionaires, 4 out of 5 European are located in London.
According to the materials and the Evening Standard Dailymail.co.uk
Photocredit and Dailymail.co.uk royal.gov.uk, telegraph.co.uk