Literally a stone’s throw from Buckingham Palace is Buckingham Gate — a vast, Grade II listed, Georgian townhouse behind a white stucco facade. The fully renovated nine-bedroom Belgravia mansion has been on the market since October 2023, with a price tag of £45 million. It is the most viewed London property on Rightmove this year, beating homes worth double that to the top spot.
Spread over 15,845 sq ft, with a lift to all floors, a 24-hour concierge service and direct views of Buckingham Palace, it has a cinema, a gym and indoor pool, a massage and treatment room, two terraces and an internal courtyard.
It is the ultimate trophy home for the billionaire Londonphile and royalist and is bound to attract more day dreamers between Boxing Day and New Year. This is Rightmove’s busiest time, with voyeuristic window shoppers finding solace away from the extended family by scrolling through homes on property portals.
The Buckingham Gate house is on sale with Knightsbridge Prime Property, a little-known estate agent which has declined to comment.
“We usually see dream homes top the charts for the most viewed — it is people fantasising about places to live outside their budget most of the time,” said a spokesperson for Rightmove.
Traffic to this particular property is also driven by news stories listing London’s most expensive streets. Buckingham Gate has an average house price of £9,633,333.
Join us on a whistlestop tour of the top five most viewed properties on Rightmove in 2024 — dominated by townhouses, penthouses and mansions within the central London stamping ground of the elite.
A Knightsbridge party pad
Almost double the price of the Buckingham Gate townhouse is the most expensive property listed on Rightmove this year. High above the Knightsbridge streets — full of shoppers by day and the playground of the supercar boy racers by night — is the ultimate party pad.
The penthouse, in the Knightsbridge Apartments, is on sale for £80 million, covers 9,437 sq ft and has five bedrooms and as many bathrooms. The kitchen and living area open onto a fabulous terrace, decked out with chairs and long tables for dining al fresco, and a swimming pool.
The building is opposite Hyde Park and the terrace has panoramic views of London. The property is on sale through Park Lord estate agents.
The sci-fi mansion
Nestled in the leafy residential roads beneath Hampstead Heath is a stark white, five-bedroom property sitting in two acres, clad in limestone and marble. Although it was built by a Russian-born businessman in 2002, Heathfield House belongs to other eras and screams James Bond meets Art Deco.
The dome on top, which opens onto the roof terrace, gives it the look of a space observatory. With five bedrooms, a spa, a huge indoor swimming pool and a billiards room, it featured on Channel 4’s show Britain’s Most Expensive Homes in 2021 and has regularly topped Rightmove’s most viewed charts nationally. The property has been on the market for five years and been reduced from £40 million to £32 million via Robert Irving Burns estate agents.
The film director’s favourite
No 33 Portland Place, a palatial Grade II listed townhouse in Marylebone, was built by the neoclassical architect Robert Adam in 1775.
Since then, it’s been home to various aristocrats and used to shoot films including The King’s Speech as well as the music video for Amy Winehouse’s song Rehab. In the late Nineties it was home to convicted fraudster and socialite Edward Davenport.
The story goes, he once filled the swimming pool with 1,000 bottles of cognac. West Ham owner David Sullivan bought the “rundown and tired” mansion in 2015 and has spent seven years and £50 million restoring it. The 10-bedroom, 20,000 sq ft home is on sale for £65 million through Knight Frank.
Is it a home or a hotel?
It is no surprise that one of the apartments in One Hyde Park completes the top five most viewed homes in London. This building, developed by the real estate brothers Christian and Nick Candy in 2009, was the start of the collaboration between luxe homes and high-end hotels.
The Mandarin Oriental services this collection of 86 apartments and duplexes overlooking Hyde Park. This five-bedroom unit is on sale with the marketing business Global 1 for £60 million.
Nick Candy’s own penthouse, a five-bedroom apartment across the building’s 10th and 11th floors, is also for sale for £175 million.
