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A Tale of Two Londons
Who really lives at One Hyde Park, called the world’s most expensive residential building? Its mostly absentee owners, hiding behind offshore corporations based in tax havens, provide a portrait of the new global super-wealthy.
New York City:
740 Park [Avenue in NYC] houses the greatest concentration of billionaires in the country
Once home to John D. Rockefeller Jr. and a young Jacqueline Bouvier, the 31-unit building now shelters, among others, Koch Industries cofounder David Koch; the final Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain; Blackstone Group CEO Stephen A. Schwarzman; and hedge fund manager J. Ezra Merkin.
A Tale of Two Londons
Who really lives at One Hyde Park, called the world’s most expensive residential building? Its mostly absentee owners, hiding behind offshore corporations based in tax havens, provide a portrait of the new global super-wealthy.
New York City:
740 Park [Avenue in NYC] houses the greatest concentration of billionaires in the country
Once home to John D. Rockefeller Jr. and a young Jacqueline Bouvier, the 31-unit building now shelters, among others, Koch Industries cofounder David Koch; the final Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain; Blackstone Group CEO Stephen A. Schwarzman; and hedge fund manager J. Ezra Merkin.
The Saudi Royal Family bought up half of Bishops Avenue (which borders North Hamstead and East Finchley rather than being in London's West End) during the first Gulf War, as insurance. The property the Saudi Royal bought was indeed left to rot at the time but the Saudi's are now selling up and property is being snapped up on the Bishops Avenue once again.
As for One Hyde Park it's made up of Apartments which are perfect for those that want a London pad with hotel service from the adjoining Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park rather than too permanently reside. This also further demonstrates that London is seen as a secure investment by the very wealthy in an often insecure world.
As for billionaires in London, they mainly reside in the so-called 'platinum triangle' which comprise the upmarket districts of Mayfair, Knightsbridge and Belgravia with there beautiful regency town houses. Leafy St John's Woods and Regent's Park are also favourites, as well as areas such as Hampstead and Highgate to the North, whilst to the South, the area around Richmond is also well sought after. There are also many very wealthy individuals who live in the numerous private estates in the Home Counties, just outside of London.
Latest figures show 67 Billionaires currently reside in London.
Originally Posted by The Independent - 31st March 2014
London has been named the billionaire capital of western Europe, boasting a higher number of “ultra-high net worth individuals” than Paris and tax haven Geneva combined.
No self-respecting billionaire would buy a house in the capital for anything under £10 million – unless it is for a servant – and each typically has three other luxury homes around the world.
Concerns have been raised in recent years that the super-rich are buying up London properties just to let them sit as unoccupied investments – but new research suggests Billionaires usually make the UK their first home.
According to Beauchamp Estates and the market intelligence group Dataloft, billionaires favour large family homes, are mostly married and have an average 2.1 children.
The last figures I have NYC showed it had 70 Billionaires, so there's really not that much in it, although the same study also showed that London topped the list of having the most multi-millionaires — those with a net worth of $30 million or more — living within its boundaries.
Land Valuation Tax will sort all this out. LVT is due on the land not the building on their land and land without buildings. The rate is set by the value of the land set annually. So if the plot is empty you pay full rate. If the place is empty you full rate. LVT cares noting about if a building is on the land or empty or not. Harrsiburg in the USA implemented LVT and cleared 98% of vacant plots and dilapidated buildings. It forces people to use the land productively. In Feudal time you could not hold land. You were given land to use productively. Once you ceased to use the land productively it went back to the manor. They had a better way of dealing with land in those days.
Billionaires have ruined large parts of London that were previously very interesting places. Foreign billionaires used to concentrate their property investments in Knightsbridge and Belgravia, but have since spread to Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill used to be a visibly shabby area but has now gentrified beyond all recognition. I preferred it before.
I was recently talking to a woman in her 30s from the RBKC - she proclaimed that the London she once knew has all but disappeared, and it isn't as interesting as it was before. I would be inclined to agree.
Belgravia? No. That is owned by the Duke of Westminster. A landowner who is the richest man in the UK. He rich in his sleep by doing nothing productive or engaging in enterprise. Notting Hill is far better than it was. Notting Hill was a very upmarket area then went shabby and regained its dignity. Many rich foreign people put their money in St.John's Wood and Hampstead. St.John's Wood is full of Russians.
But Land Value Tax will sort it all out. The economic rent that accumulates in the land will go back to the people who created it, not siphoned off to off shore tax havens or countries far away.
A multi-millionaire isn't much these days. Think about it: $3 mil qualifies as a "multi-millionaire". But if s/he's working, all of it's in a retirement fund. Retirement and old age especially, burn through money. And you have to allow for stock mkt downturns shrinking your 3 mil. If the person doesn't work, they can live off the earnings generated by 1 mil, and have 2 mil left for growing the retirement/old age fund.
Today's One Percenters are billionaires, not millionaires. Inflation--it catches up with all of us sooner or later.
Agreed that a few million is barely enough to retire on if you live 30 or 40 years after retiring, but the top 1% by income (not assets) in the U.S. starts around $400,000 a year - hardly a tycoon's salary.
There are about a thousand billionaires in the world, so 1 in 7,000,000 people is a billionaire.
P.S. I think the moderately rich live better in the U.S. but the very rich live better in Europe.
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