A sprawling mansion regarded as one of London’s finest homes has been put up for sale for a £50 million – 300 times the average UK selling price.
The eight-bedroom mansion – which features a steam room, gym and palatial swimming pool room – was built in 1896 for the MP Russell Rea, a Victorian shipping magnate from Liverpool.
The home, in Hampstead, London, was made using terracotta detailing but has been comprehensively refurbished by craftsmen and fitted with every modern convenience, including a luxurious cinema room, with sofa bed style seating.
The result is an eight-bedroom home with seven bathrooms, a staggering vaulted reception room, four further living rooms and a galleried hallway.
The four-storey home, on Lyndhurst Road in Hampstead, London, also has large garden, outdoor swimming pool and separate staff flat.
It has been put on the market with Beauchamp Estates for £49 million – one of the highest asking prices for a home in the UK.
At this price, the owner would have to pay seven per cent in stamp duty – meaning £3.43 million would be going to the exchequer.
With 15,000sq/ft of living space it gives it a cost of £3,266 per sq/ft.
Gary Hersham, managing director of Beauchamp Estates, said: ‘The house is one of London’s finest private homes, offering period features, great entertaining space and a most luxurious indoor pool.’
The home is in the ‘super prime’ market and is twice the price of the average super prime home sold in the UK this year.
It is 300 times the average UK selling price of £165,000 and 196 times the average value of a home (£250,000) on the British isle.
And the price-tag is only the beginning with running costs on a home like this thought to be around a quarter-of-a-million pounds a year.
On average, homeowners in these sorts of properties pay £2,143 on council tax, £20,000 on utility bills, £50,000 on security, £20,000 on cleaning, £30,000 on a housekeeper, £67,250 on insurance and £6,000 on a gardener.
Its original owner, Russell Rea, founded a shipping business in Liverpool in 1890s which stretched across the country.
He was also a Liberal Party politician and was an MP for Gloucester and, later on, South Shields.