By Jonathan Ford.
Previously owned by a Lebanese billionaire politician, a Saudi Prince and most recently the property typhoon Hui Ka Yan, Britain’s most expensive mansion is up for sale at an impressive £250 million asking price.
The saga surrounding 2-8a Rutland Gate — the 45-room Knightsbridge mansion that last sold for £210 million in 2020 and has been marketed at around £250 million — has become one of the most closely watched stories in London’s super-prime property market, and one that Black Brick’s Camilla Dell believes illustrates the challenges facing the capital’s top end, according to in-depth reporting in The Telegraph.
The property, once owned by Lebanese billionaire Rafic Hariri and later a Saudi crown prince, was purchased by the family of Chinese property tycoon Hui Ka Yan — founder of the now-collapsed Evergrande Group. Following Evergrande’s liquidation in 2024, a freezing injunction was placed on the mansion, halting its sale while liquidators pursue allegations that it was purchased with misappropriated funds. The property has since stood largely empty, its fabric reportedly deteriorating.
Camilla Dell offered a frank assessment of the mansion’s prospects. “It’s a compromised asset in a difficult market,” she told The Telegraph. “It’s on a busy road and shouldn’t even be residential. Most people at that level want privacy. It would probably be better as an office block or a boutique hotel.”
The piece frames Rutland Gate as a barometer of wider shifts in London’s super-prime market. Prices per square foot for prime London property have fallen around 16% from their 2014–15 peak, while the pool of ultra-wealthy international buyers has narrowed considerably. Russian buyers have largely disappeared from the market, Chinese overseas property spending faces increasing official scrutiny, and the abolition of non-dom tax status has prompted concerns about a potential overhang of high-value properties coming to market with insufficient demand to absorb them.
The article raises broader questions about London’s long-term appeal as a destination for global capital — and whether the next wave of super-wealthy buyers will choose the UK over lower-tax alternatives such as Dubai or Italy.
Read the article here.