£40m mansion could smash price record

Maison de la Valette, in Trinity, sold for about £25 million in September 2016 but has returned to the market for £39.95 million.

If the price is met, it would eclipse the current record sale of £31 million for a St Brelade property set earlier this year.

Kevin Lemasney, head of high-value residency at Locate Jersey, which attracts wealthy individuals and businesses to the Island, said that the super-rich who were seeking to move to Jersey search for ‘something unique’ which had, in part, led to recent high prices.

Maison de la Valette sits in 18 acres of grounds and is approached by a long, tree-lined driveway. It is described by estate agents Wilsons Knight Frank as a ‘neo-classical-inspired property set in beautiful tranquil country surroundings’ and has four reception rooms, a wine store, a cinema room, a gym, a swimming pool, a large games room, an office suite and an orangery as well as nine bedrooms and 14 bathrooms.

There is also a separate building for staff, 4,000sq-ft stables, paddocks, ponds and private woodlands.

The asking price dwarfs that of Eden House in St Brelade, which currently holds the record for Jersey’s most expensive property. It sold for £31m – £6m more than the asking price – in April this year after two millionaires became embroiled in a bidding war.

And at £39.95 million, Maison de la Valette would be more than twice the £18.625 million that Daisy Hill House in Grouville sold for six years ago – which was then the highest price ever seen in the Island.

Mr Lemasney said: ‘If a property is worth £1 million it will sell for £1 million. If it is worth £20 million it will sell for £20 million.

‘It is not about price inflation. When you get into the £20 million mark you are paying for a property that is absolutely unique.’

He pointed out that additions by a new owner – such as the cinema room and gym installed in Maison de la Valette – were guaranteed to increase the asking price substantially.

And he said: ‘A house in St Brelade’s Bay may have beautiful views but Maison de la Valette has total privacy, with its long, tree-lined driveway.’

Locate Jersey has already exceeded its target of attracting 15 super-rich immigrants to Jersey every year. Earlier this year, it was revealed that a total of 17 applications by HNWIs had been approved, and they were expected to spend an unprecedented £100 million on property.

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