A land that has long housed royals and nobility, the UK is teeming with incredible mansions. It’s not just the historical buildings, either. With London becoming a global financial hub, there are more than enough mansions and penthouses to go around within range of the capital.
In recent months, it seems as though there’s been somewhat of a rush for these epic buildings. Multi-million deals have been all the rage, with some sellers possibly having an eye on the upcoming changes to the market. These are the glorious mansions that have been sold of late and how the UK housing market looks to fare in the coming months.
Mansions on the Market
For the sheer fame of its previous residents, one house sold towards the end of 2024 rightly stole some headlines. Belonging to Princess Diana and the Spencer family, the mansion on Farm Street in a prime London location was said to have been available for a mere week. At that point, it sold for close to £11 million.
Later, another massive mansion in the capital sold, but this time for a much, much larger fee. This was what happened when the Al Nahyan family swept into the market to buy a new family home. The rulers of Abu Dhabi snapped up the Chelsea mansion for a cool £65 million.
Among the rich and famous finding spots in the UK of late was the US talk show host Ellen DeGeneres. She and her wife, Portia de Rossi, are well-known for snapping up multi-million properties. They sold their Carpinteria home in California for $96 million. Soon after, they snapped up a new home in the Cotswolds, which would have, inevitably, set them back at least seven figures.
In January, a somewhat shocking sale went through. The Holme in Regent’s Park, which boasts 40 bedrooms, took a price cut of nearly half of what it was originally listed for. It belonged to Prince Khaled bin Sultan al-Saud of Saudi Arabia, who’d hoped to sell if for £250 million. In the end, it went for “just” £138.9 million.
Rush to Sell Houses
The UK housing market is expected to see a rush through to April, simmer down a bit afterward, but then potentially pick up steam again as the year progresses. This is down to the changing brackets for Stamp Duty in the spring, with a subsequent buoying effect of interest rates coming down – per predictions.
With the rush and stamp duty change, people are making the move to sell up and get to where they’ve wanted to go. Helping with this is the cash house buyer that gives fast offers. Here, sellers can get a fast and free cash offer and a guaranteed sale on any property should they choose to accept. From there, the seller gets to sell on their own terms. It removes the chain from their side while also letting them stay put until they’ve got the keys for their next place.
The chain is the most cumbersome sale of other property-selling avenues as, even if the seller is set and ready, those looking to move into their home can slip up or pull out when selling their place. While this kind of service will likely come in handy for people looking to sell by April, afterwards, the speed of the process could help to heat the market back up again.
As people across the property market look ahead to the stamp duty changes, it seems likely that even more of the country’s most lavish builds will hit the market. After those brackets move and rates change, it'll be interesting to see how quickly the luxury market gets back to business.
