London house prices: Qataris now own £1bn chunk of Mayfair property – and their favourite addresses are Park Lane, Green Street and Mount Street
Members of the Qatari royal family, other Qatari nationals and wealth funds now own a £1bn chunk of Mayfair real estate, a new report estimates.
Almost a quarter of Mayfair’s 279 acres and over 4,300 residential properties is now dominated by Qataris, prompting estate agent Rokstone to dub the area between Park Lane, Hyde Park and North Row "Qatari Quarter".
The most sought-after addresses are Park Lane, Green Street, Mount Street, Upper Grosvenor Street, Upper Brook Street and Reeves Mews.
Rokstone estimates that Qataris account for five per cent of all Mayfair buyers on an annual basis, and 60 per cent of all buyers for a properties worth £10m or more.
There is a "hierarchy of purchases", led by government-sponsored purchases of hotels, embassies and "trophy development sites" or commercial buildings, which are worth £50m upwards. Then come official residences typically valued at between £50m and £200m.
Next come houses or apartments for lesser royals and wealthy Qatari business people and families, typically valued from £3m to £15m.
Key properties include Dudley House on Park Lane, the London home of Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani, which was sold for an estimated £200m, the £40m former Brazilian Embassy, which is reported to have been purchased as the new London home of Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, the mother of the current Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
The family is also believed to own a £40m townhouse on Mount Street; a £13m house on Park Street; a £12m townhouse on Davies Street and the £180m Lombard House on Curzon Street.