When quizzed on what his government would do to help young people become home owners if elected again, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in his ITV debate with Keir Starmer that, “I want everyone to feel what I felt when I got the keys to my first flat.”
That flat was purchased in South Kensington in 2001, and it remains in his property portfolio, which is now significantly expanded...
The portfolio
The MP for Richmond in Yorkshire, Rishi Sunak is worth an estimated £200 million. His personal wealth came under intense scrutiny earlier in 2022 after it emerged that his billionaire heiress wife Akshata Murty’s non-domiciled status meant she had not been required to pay UK taxes on her income derived from outside the UK.
Ms Murty later said she will pay UK tax on all her worldwide income as she does not want her non-dom status to be a “distraction” for her husband.
The couple, who married in 2009, own a string of luxury properties worth an estimated £15 million, from the Pacific Ocean-facing penthouse apartment in celebrity enclave Santa Monica, to the rambling Georgian manor house in North Yorkshire just targeted by anti-oil protestors.
The London pads
In London, they own two properties including a five-bedroom mews house in Kensington and pied-à-terre apartment in South Kensington’s Old Brompton Road.
Mr Sunak purchased his first property, the South Kensington pad in 2001 while working as an investment analyst for Goldman Sachs.
Rather than maximising his income by renting it out, the former chancellor keeps the flat for visiting family members to stay in.
The couple bought their primary London residence in 2010, a year after they married. They paid a reported £4.5 million for the five-bedroom mews house, which is now understood to be worth £7 million.
The mews house is where the family stayed after the controversy over Ms Murthy’s tax affairs hit the headlines in April last year. It boasts four bathrooms and two reception rooms spread across four storeys, as well as a private garden.
The Yorkshire manor house
Near Mr Sunak’s Yorkshire constituency is the couple’s country pile. They bought the 12 acre £2m Grade II-listed Georgian Manor house for £1.5 million in 2010 before Mr Sunak became MP for Richmond (Yorks) in 2015.
The sprawling home, which dates back to the 19th century and was once a vicarage, is nestled near North Yorkshire’s picturesque village Kirby Sigston and is currently undergoing a £400,000 makeover, which includes adding a leisure centre with a 40ft by 16ft swimming pool and a gym with a mirrored wall and ballet barre, plus an outdoor tennis court.
The Santa Monica penthouse
The Sunaks also have the option of travelling to their Santa Monica bolthole, a £5.5million penthouse apartment on Ocean Avenue.
It was snapped up by Ms Murty in 2014 directly from the developer. The penthouse has panoramic views of Santa Monica’s double jointed pier and the Pacific Ocean and has a reputation as being the best fishing spot in Santa Monica.
