It’s a fashionable buy — and a purchase so large, it’s making waves across the pond.
Bloomberg reports that the American billionaire fashion designer Tom Ford has shelled out $104 million for a mansion in London, marking the most expensive deal for a home in the United Kingdom this year.
Not much is known about the residence itself, save for the fact it’s located in the affluent Chelsea district — and that he bought it over the summer. It stands between Hyde Park and the north bank of the River Thames.
Ford, a native Texan, made the massive purchase during a slump in the London luxury property market. In part, that has been due to anticipated reforms impacting deep-pocketed UK residents who live abroad. The Labour government has also upped the stamp duty on purchases of second homes. It isn’t clear if Ford got a discount.
Meanwhile, Americans like Ford have felt the pull of buying in London, thanks in part to a strong US dollar. In the first six months of 2024, the share of American buying London homes rose to 6.1% from 3.3% in the last six months of 2023. That’s the largest increase in that half-on-half span of time seen in the last 12 years, according to Knight Frank.
Another reason for wealthy Americans heading to London and buying there: an escape from social and political problems in the US.
For his part, Ford reached billionaire status at the end of 2022, after Estée Lauder’s purchase of his eponymous brand at a $2.8 billion valuation. Before launching his own company, Ford was famously known as the creative director of Gucci.