Kate Middleton’s royal property trade-up
Despite her very comfortable upbringing, Kate Middleton is about to make a trade-up in the property stakes unlike any other bride-to-be, as revealed by research from leading property website Zoopla.co.uk.
Following their wedding, William and Kate will make Clarence House in central London their first official home. Spanning over 40,000 sq feet in SW1, the property is currently valued at over £47m according to Zoopla.co.uk, which provides free value estimates of every home in the country. And despite the young royals being the same age as the average first-time buyer (29 years old), their first marital digs will be worth 343 times the average newlywed starter-home (£137,000) in Britain.
Having the use of Windsor Castle, valued by Zoopla.co.uk at £171m, as a weekend country retreat is also beyond the wildest imagination of most young couples. With over 1,000 rooms and running to more than 484,000 sq feet, Windsor Castle is the world’s largest occupied castle and comes with its own park and chapel.
Whilst the success of Kate’s parents’ mail order business has afforded them a five bedroom home worth a good deal more than the UK average, Kate will be moving out of the family home in the village of Bucklebury and trading up substantially from a property perspective in the coming weeks. Average house prices on The Avenue, where her parents live, are currently £790,951 and range from cottages worth £470,000 to detached houses worth more than £1.5m, making it one of Bucklebury’s most expensive streets.
When the future King William and Queen Catherine finally take up permanent residence at Buckingham Palace in due course, they will occupy the world’s most valuable residential property, currently valued at over £982m by Zoopla.co.uk. With 600 rooms, including 19 state rooms, 52 bedrooms, a cinema, swimming pool, helipad and its own post office and police station, it is the planet’s ultimate pad and perfect for what many hope will be a growing family.
But, despite the jaw-dropping values of their property portfolio, the royal family has not been immune to the property market downturn and has seen the values of its various property assets fall over the past few years along with the rest of country. Buckingham Palace has fallen in value by £95m (8.8%) over the last 3 years, whilst Windsor Castle and Clarence House have each lost £27m and £4.5m in value respectively over the same period.
Nicholas Leeming, Business Development Director at Zoopla.co.uk, commented: “Kate is certainly the envy of many, not only landing her Prince but also getting a dream property portfolio at the same time. Luckily for the young royal couple, they will not need to secure a mortgage before moving into their new digs, as even they might find it a challenge in the current lending climate and on William’s RAF salary.”