Mon, Feb 18, 2008 page10

• 'Billionaires Avenue' bucks market trend

  POSH PROPERTIES Only last month a villa on one of London's most exclusive streets sold for US$68 million, but there is a cloud looming over the real estate haven

  • AFP
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  Even as Britain's property market shows signs of struggling, one north London street is defying the gloom-mongers: houses on "billionaire's avenue" are still selling for record prices.

  Like an oasis of wealth in an increasingly parched real estate desert, The Bishops Avenue in Hampstead remains a property hotspot -- despite, for some, little in the way of elegance or discretion.

  "Among the wealthiest in the world, The Bishops Avenue is better know than Buckingham Palace," Trevor Abrahamson of estate agents Glentree International said with a hint of pride, having sold most of the 66 houses in the street.

  After a period of uncertainty when the Dotcom bubble burst around 2000 -- empty properties were occupied by squatters, and there were serious questions over the area's future -- the avenue has recently regained its luster.

  Early last month billionaire Russian-Israeli Lev Leviev bought a villa on The Bishops Avenue -- the definite article underlines its exclusiveness -- for a record-setting £35 million (US$68 million).

  Only a few weeks later, that record was shattered by a billionaire from Kazakhstan, Horelma Perama, who put up no less than £50 million to buy the "Toprak Mansion."

  With its pillared facade, the huge building sets a new standard of excess on the already gaudy street -- the mansion includes 2,600 square meters of living space, a 25m dining room, and a garage for 28 cars.

  It is generally felt that discretion and understatement did not feature high on the list of demands made by the previous owner, Turkish businessman Halis Toprak.

  No matter -- "it's a statement of wealth," Abrahamson said.

  Foreigners with deep pockets who constitute the majority of the buyers find the street especially attractive because of the advantages it offers.

  It is surrounded by two golf courses and 4 million sqaure meters of parkland, and is close to the center of the capital.

  In short, the area combines vast tracts of land with planning policies weak enough to allow for unbridled extravagance.

  That makes it perfect for "a person who wants to combine the townhouse and the country house," Abrahamson said.

  As a result, London's financial and business elite as well as royals from countries awash with money from record oil prices, target homes side on the avenue, even though many of them spend barely a few days a year in Britain.

  Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, who already owns a house on "billionaire's row" at Kensington Palace Gardens in central London, keeps a pied-a-terre there.

  The same goes for British press baron Richard Desmond and the Saudi royal family.

  But one cloud is looming over this real estate haven where the cheapest apartment costs £2 million.

  Avenue residents are watching closely to see what becomes of a controversial new proposal to revise the advantageous tax status of non-domiciled residents, or "non-doms."

  London, known as one of the world's financial hubs, is also a "tax haven" which attracts foreigners with fortunes made abroad, Abrahamson said.

  "If the government tries to tinker with the domicility rules, they could find the door flung very firmly in their face, because Geneva, Frankfurt, Dubai desperately want these people, big players with big bucks," he said.
• Most Popular

  • 1

    Taiwan in Time: The breakfast that sparked Taiwan’s semiconductor revolution

  • 2

    Criticism to motivate Yamal: Barca assistant

  • 3

    Takaichi vows ‘golden age’ of ties with the US

  • 4

    Xi, Trump differ on outcome of talks

  • 5

    Trump says he would bring up Taiwan in Xi talk