The flat, which has 12 bedrooms and 12 bathrooms, once housed Winston Churchill and Ian Fleming when he created James Bond – although less fashionably it hosted ex-deputy prime minister John Prescott’s affair with his then-secretary Tracey Temple.
The UK’s first £150m flat is being marketed in Central London’s historic Admiralty Arch.
The flat, which has 12 bedrooms and 12 bathrooms, once housed Winston Churchill and Ian Fleming when he created James Bond – although less fashionably it hosted ex-deputy prime minister John Prescott’s affair with his then-secretary Tracey Temple.
Nigel Bedford, senior partner at largeloans.com, a brokerage catering for high net worth individuals, reckoned the apartment is likely to be sold to Middle Eastern royalty, especially with the pound’s weakness against dollar-linked currencies.
He said: “The buyer is likely to be somebody from overseas because they’ve got the money and the way exchange rates have moved – somebody would have this as a trophy property.
“I would suggest Middle Eastern royalty due to the price, location and the kudos that would go with owning such a property.
“If they sold the whole top floor as a unit that would be £150m but they could subdivide the apartment so it may well transpire that it won’t be a £150m plus unit.”
If the property is sold for £150m it would surpass the £140m sale of a penthouse at One Hyde Park in 2014.
A 250-year lease on the Grade 1-listed building was bought by Spanish developer Rafael Serrano for a reported £60m in 2012 and he reportedly plans to either sell the apartment in one or split it into up to four flats.
The bulk of the Admiralty Arch site is being turned into a 100 bedroom luxury hotel, with the top floor being maintained as residence.
There have been reports of overseas buyers flooding the market due to the weakness of the pound since the Brexit vote, with specialist brokerage deVere Mortgages reporting a 50% increase in foreign enquiries this morning.
But Bedford has found activity to be steady. He said: “The market has been flat since the Brexit vote – we haven’t seen a huge influx of new buyers.
“Stamp duty changes were bad for the high net worth market but the weakness of the pound has now offset that.”
