There is one common denominator
amongst the majority of those who dominate the latest Sunday Times Rich List,
regarded as the best research and therefore most definitive tally of wealth
amongst individuals in Britain - the ownership of expensive homes.
Some, like Len Blavatnik
(number one, an investment, music and media magnate worth £13.17 billion)
merely own expensive homes - in his case, a £41m Kensington Palace Gardens
property, part of a real estate portfolio which adds up to £440m.
Others make their money
directly from residential property, either by itself or more typically as part
of commercial and other property dealings.
Most entries in both of
those classifications have seen their personal wealth - including their
property ownership and dealings - boom in the past year.
Amongst the highest
ranking property-related names are:
- The Duke of
Westminster (number nine, worth £8.56 billion) who owns the Grosvenor family estate,
dating from 1677 and forming some of what we now call Mayfair;
- Earl Cadogan (number
18, with £4.8 billion) who owns, you guessed it, the Cadogan estate in London;
- Sir James Dyson
(number 22, £3.5 billion) who has now hoovered up 25,000 acres of land - more
than the Queen;
- Baroness Howard de
Walden (number 27, £3.23 billion) who owns 90 acres of central London, much of
it around Marylebone, including much of the residential property on it;
- Mark Pears and family
(number 35, £2.8 billion) who owns “thousands of London homes, flats and office
blocks” according to the Sunday Times;
- Viscount Portman
(number 55, £1.72 billion) who owns a London estate, plus 5,000 acres in the
Home Counties;
- Jon Hunt (number 88,
£1.186 billion) who is still best known as the former owner of Foxtons but now
has a Suffolk estate and substantial commercial property;
- David Wilson and
family (number 213, £515m) who have sold Wilson-Bowden housebuilders to Barratt
for £727m;
- Tony Pidgley (number
454, £212m) owns Berkeley Group and is one of the biggest names amongst British
housebuilders;
- Paul
Rooney (number 856, £110m) owner of Arun Estates residential agency
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