Most Expensive Flat in the World: One Hyde Park Penthouse Sells For Record-Breaking £140m

Touted to be the most expensive flat in the world, a penthouse in one of London’s most opulent developments has sold for a record-breaking £140 million.

Aimed at Russian oligarchs, oil barons, Saudi sheiks, and A-list stars, the One Hyde Park Penthouse apartments feature bullet proof windows, purified air systems, a private wine-tasting facility, communal spas, and ‘panic rooms.’

Everyone in the complex will also have access to an underground passage leading to the nearby Mandarin Oriental hotel where residents can drop by for dinner at Heston Blumenthal’s new restaurant.

Costing more than £6,000 per square foot, the two-floor apartment in the Knightsbridge block has floor-to-ceiling windows, its own car park, and access to a host of spas and squash courts. The sell has amazed estate agents who were shown yet again that the market for ‘trophy homes’ is defying the property slump.

Managed by brothers Christian and Nick Candy’s development company, Candy & Candy, the development features 80 flats designed by architect Richard Rogers.

The majority third of buyers are Russians while a quarter are Middle Eastern, 20 per cent are British, and the remaining 22 per cent is split equally between the European and American markets.

Around 65 percent of all the properties in the block, due to open later this year, have already been sold at an average cost of £20 million.

The £140million price tag is seen as a sign that the top end of the property market has been untouched by the recession as the world’s financial elite continues to flock to London, taking advantage of the weakness of the pound.