Updown Court finally sells - Yahoo! UK & Ireland Finance
It was the ultimate statement of the UK property boom. A sprawling mansion of 103 rooms, with grounds larger than Buckingham Palace's and everything an oligarch or oil baron could desire.
But Updown Court — which developers spent at least £50 million on — just didn't sell. Not at the height of the housing boom and certainly not as the property market fell apart.
In fact, it's taken six-and-a-half years and a massive £35 million knocked off the asking price before anyone was prepared to part with cash for what was billed as "the first 21st century stately home in Britain".
...
In a symbol of how much the world had changed since the easy-credit days of the property boom, the people who ended up first owning Updown Court were the Irish taxpayers rather than a foreign billionaire.
Irish Nationwide had provided funding totalling as much as £63 million as part of the project, and when that lender went bust, it was nationalised by the Irish government and Updown Court became part of Nama (National Asset Management Agency) — the newly-created 'bad bank' designed to get as much money as it could from investments unwisely taken on by banks at the heyday of the credit boom.
Nama slashed the price from its initial £70 million to £35 million, and has now reportedly sold the property to an Indian businessman.
So this is where Bob lives?
Funny old world isn't it?
It was the ultimate statement of the UK property boom. A sprawling mansion of 103 rooms, with grounds larger than Buckingham Palace's and everything an oligarch or oil baron could desire.
But Updown Court — which developers spent at least £50 million on — just didn't sell. Not at the height of the housing boom and certainly not as the property market fell apart.
In fact, it's taken six-and-a-half years and a massive £35 million knocked off the asking price before anyone was prepared to part with cash for what was billed as "the first 21st century stately home in Britain".
...
In a symbol of how much the world had changed since the easy-credit days of the property boom, the people who ended up first owning Updown Court were the Irish taxpayers rather than a foreign billionaire.
Irish Nationwide had provided funding totalling as much as £63 million as part of the project, and when that lender went bust, it was nationalised by the Irish government and Updown Court became part of Nama (National Asset Management Agency) — the newly-created 'bad bank' designed to get as much money as it could from investments unwisely taken on by banks at the heyday of the credit boom.
Nama slashed the price from its initial £70 million to £35 million, and has now reportedly sold the property to an Indian businessman.
So this is where Bob lives?
Funny old world isn't it?
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