(The value of penthouse apartments currently on sale in London has exceeded £1bn ($1.5bn) on the back of recovery in the city’s prime residential market, research showed.
Real estate services firm CBRE found that the average price for a penthouse in prime areas of the British capital – a popular choice among Arab investors – is now £13.3m, or up to £4,000 per sq ft.
CBRE said that penthouses in districts such as Islington and Camden could be snapped up for between £1.5m and £3m, with prices for such apartments in Central London starting at around £4m.
Penthouse properties generally sell for a 60 percent premium over the rest of a development, CBRE said, and can account for 20 percent of the gross development value of the project involved.
“Penthouses of the quality on sale in London now cement our capital’s new status as a home-from-home for the super-rich as well as providing an invaluable store for their wealth,” commented Mark Collins, chairman of CBRE Residential.
“With the burgeoning volume of billionaires in the world and the increasingly international appeal of prime London real estate we anticipate that the penthouse market will continue to be a very exciting and elusive space going forward,” he added.
The report said that some of the features of penthouses that buyers requested included spectacular views over the city or its green spaces, state-of-the-art security, generous outdoor space, and high floor-to-ceiling heights with glass wrap-around.
