Members of the Qatari Royal family, other Qatari nationals and Qatari investment/wealth funds are the own a £1 bn chunk of London's Mayfair real estate, new research from West End estate agent Rokstone has revealed.
Most of this investment is concentrated in an emerging ‘Qatari Quarter’, a large district on the North-West side of Mayfair, bordering Park Lane/Hyde Park and covering almost a quarter of Mayfair’s 279 acres.
This is where the Qatari Royal family are understood to own a cluster of mansions and other properties, and in the neighbouring properties and streets around them luxury homes have been purchased or rented by Qatari nationals, making the Gulf state the largest buyer and tenant group for luxury property in this part of Mayfair.
The enclave is centred around the £200 mln Dudley House on Park Lane, the London home of Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani. Virtually next door on Green Street is the £40 mln 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 ruling family are also believed to own a £40 mln townhouse on Mount Street; a £13 mln house on Park Street; a £12 mln townhouse on Davies Street and the £180 mln Lombard House on Curzon Street
Qatari Diar, part of the Qatari Investment Authority, owns the £500 mln American Embassy in Grosvenor Square, with plans to convert it into a luxury hotel and serviced residences when the Embassy relocates to Nine Elms in 2017.
The Qatari Investment Authority (QIA) has a £1 bn-plus controlling stake in the ownership of the Connaught Hotel on Mount Street/Carlos Place and Claridges Hotel on Brook Street. QIA also owns the £400 mln Park Lane Interncontinental Hotel. In the centre of this network of properties the Qatari government have based their Embassy at No.1 South Audley Street.
Rokstone calculates that each year, around £150 mln worth of Mayfair sales are to buyers from the Middle East, dominated by purchasers from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE.
Mayfair´s Qatari residents fall into two categories: the first are people who visit London two or three times a year and stay for anything from two to six weeks at a time. The second type are Qataris who choose to make London their main home. This latter category is growing, with almost 50% of Middle East Mayfair residents now recording that they have lived in London as their main home for over a decade.
'The ‘Oil Royals’ and wealthy families from the Middle East view Mayfair as a luxury village and their favourite place in London, alongside Knightsbridge, for luxury shopping, dining out and leisure,' said Becky Fatemi, managing director of Rokstone.
