Yours for £18m: flat with a view of Grosvenor square

 
Record price: the Grosvenor Square building housing the £18million apartment
13 March 2014

The Mayfair square dominated by the unsightly “concrete carbuncle” of the American Embassy is set to become the most expensive in London as the diplomats leave, agents have predicted.

In what is being hailed as a sign of Grosvenor Square’s changing reputation, an apartment at number 18, finished in gold leaf and marble, is for sale priced at a record £18million.

The four-bedroom flat is valued at more than £5,100 per square foot — a new high for Mayfair.

Property prices in Grosvenor Square have lagged behind rival locations, such as Belgravia’s Eaton Square and Cadogan Square in Knightsbridge, in part because of the modernist Fifties US Embassy building.

Lap of luxury: inside the four-bed flat

But it is being abandoned by the US Government in 2017 in favour of a purpose-built embassy in Nine Elms.

The square has also been home to the European headquarters of the US Navy and the Canadian High Commission — now both being converted into luxury homes. Peter Wetherell, managing director of Mayfair agents Wetherell, which is handling the £18million sale, said the upheavals in the area meant buyers were reassessing the square.

Grand hall: the hallway of the £18m flat

He said: “For Grosvenor Square, the next decade will be the most significant in its history. ”

Mr Wetherell has forecast that Mayfair prices could hit £10,000 per sq ft within a decade, surpassing Knightsbridge to become the most expensive neighbourhood in London.

Master bedroom: a peek inside the luxury pad

The 18 Grosvenor Square apartment is believed to be owned by an Indian businessman. The stamp duty bill alone for the sale will come to £1,260,000 — more than three times the cost of an average London home.

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