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The Empty Palace: Britain's Most Expensive House When 2-8A Rutland Gate sold for £210m in 2020, it became Britain's most expensive house—a palace with 45 rooms, four lifts, an indoor pool, and 116 windows overlooking Hyde Park. Yet today, this grand property stands empty, with its only resident being Anders Fernstedt, a homeless man who has lived on its porch for three years. A Palace on the Porch The contrast is striking: inside the marble bathrooms once decorated with semi-precious stones, Fernstedt must urinate into a plastic bottle, joking about "Everest base camp problems." Outside, the porch is filled with his makeshift belongings—baskets, books, newspapers, pictures, teddy bears, games, bicycles, and flowers in vases. This is home for a man living in Britain's most expensive property, yet outside its grand doors. The Economics of Empty Mansions The property's value represents an extreme example of London's luxury housing market. Research shows that over the past decade, the value of offshore residential property in England and Wales has increased from £64bn to £80bn. London is the hub, with 47,000 overseas-owned residential properties—45% of the total and 81% by value. Half of this total value lies in just two local authorities: Westminster (34%) and Kensington and Chelsea (16%), where Rutland Gate is located. Global Wealth and Local Vacancy The story of 2-8A Rutland Gate reflects broader trends of wealth inequality and housing in global cities. Originally a row of terrace houses, they were combined by Lebanese billionaire Rafik Hariri in the early 1980s. After Hariri's assassination in 2005, it went to Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz. After his death in 2011, the contents—including jewel-encrusted bathrooms and gold bins—were auctioned off. In 2020, it was purchased through a British Virgin Islands company by Chinese billionaire Hui Ka Yan, whose Evergrande empire collapsed in 2024. Despite its £200m+ valuation, the property remains empty, caught in legal limbo as ownership disputes continue. The Future of Luxury Housing As global wealth continues to concentrate, properties like 2-8A Rutland Gate will likely remain symbols of extreme wealth rather than homes. The complex web of offshore ownership, legal structures, and changing fortunes means such properties may continue to sit empty while housing crises persist in the same cities. Until transparency laws address the opacity of high-value property ownership, the contrast between luxury empty homes and homelessness will remain a stark feature of urban landscapes like London.

Evergrande's billionaire boss, Hui Ka Yan, has pleaded guilty to fraud charges after the collapse of the world's most indebted property developer. Hui, a former steelworker who rose to become one of China's richest people, pleaded guilty to charges including fundraising fraud, misuse of funds, and illegally taking public deposits.The property group has defaulted on most of its $300bn liabilities since 2021, emblematic of China's property sector woes that have long dragged on economic growth. Evergrande's failure to repay billions of dollars of wealth management products unleashed frustration among the lower and middle classes, many of whom had investments wiped out, provoking protests and threatening social stability.Hui and the company also face charges of illegally extending loans, fraudulently issuing securities, and bribery by units, with verdicts to be handed down later. The maximum penalties for illegal fundraising include jail for life and confiscation of property, while bribery can also bring life terms.In 2024, China's securities regulator fined Hui $6.6m and barred him from the securities market for life, after finding Evergrande's leading business had inflated earnings and committed securities fraud. Hui's net worth was estimated at $45.3bn in 2017, but dropped to $3bn by 2023.