Inside London’s most expensive property, 2-8 Rutland Gate – up for sale, again: owned by billionaires from Saudi Arabia’s late crown prince to Hui Ka-yan, it’s now in a state of disrepair
- London’s 2-8 Rutland Gate is a stone’s throw from Prince William and Kate Middleton’s official royal residence – it’s now on the market again for US$221 million
- Once decorated with 24k gold tissue boxes and bejewelled chandeliers, the American football pitch-sized home needs some serious – and costly – refurbishments
Say hello to 2-8 Rutland Gate – the most expensive property in London. The building went on sale in October for US$221 million according to The Guardian, and was constructed between 1985 and 1987, according to the property’s official website.
It was initially designed as five flats, which included a flat for the property’s caretaker, and was then converted into a single-family home in 1998.
In 2020, Chinese billionaire Cheung Chung-kiu bought the property for a record US$232 million, Bloomberg first reported. According to an October report by the Financial Times, the beleaguered founder of Chinese property developer The Evergrande Group, Hui Ka-yan, is the actual owner of the property.
The official website of 2-8 Rutland Gate does not reveal who currently owns it, but states they are “an overseas family”. It was previously owned by the late crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz, The Guardian reports.
While the property is the most expensive in the UK capital, its interior is in complete disrepair, according to its website. The Guardian reported that it has been in a poorly maintained state since the crown prince died in 2011.
Despite the dilapidated interior, it’s the property’s size that allows it to command such a high price tag, says Nikodem Szumilo, a professor of the built environment specialising in economics and finance at University College London.