The biggest residential sales of 2014 have been predicted in a study by Spear’s and wealth consultancy WealthInsight.

London and New York will lead the way with the most expensive sales next year, according to the research, with six of the biggest predicted deals set to take place in these cities.

Nine of the ten properties in the list of the highest potential sales are in the US and UK property markets.

An exclusive Grade I listed mansion in St James’s, London, tops the table with an asking price of $380 million (£250 million), followed by Saudi Prince Abdul Aziz bin Fahd’s home in Kensington Palace Gardens, which is on the market for $163 million (£100 million).

A Grade II listed mansion in the capital, formerly the London residence for William Lyle of the Tate Lyle family, is also in the top ten, listed at $106.7 million (£65 million).

New York matches London with three properties making the list; the Residence at the River House, priced at $130 million, the Penthouse at Pierre Hotel, offered at $115 million, and SAC Capital Advisors founder Steven Cohen’s One Beacon Court Duplex in Manhattan, listed for $115 million.

A further three properties listed in the US are included in the top ten, including American businessman John Rudey’s 50-acre waterfront estate in Connecticut, offered for $140 million.

Spear’s editor Josh Spero said: “No-one is surprised that London and New York have the most entries in the top ten as they are the two cities which best marry economic might with outstanding housing stock: you only need to think of Canary Wharf and Kensington Palace Gardens or Wall Street and Fifth Avenue.

“But the other entries are revealing: wealth in America is much less concentrated than in England, so we see other centres like Los Angeles (film industry money), Dallas (oil) and Connecticut (hedge funds and finance).”

A 150-year-old mansion in palace in Istanbul, Turkey – listed for $115 million – also made it onto the list, which Spero says is “most interesting of all”.

“Turkey has a growing number of the super-wealthy, partly thanks to its position between Europe and Asia, soon to be the wealthiest continent,” he added.

“It makes sense that its newly-rich entrepreneurs would want a house to reflect, cement and even increase their new status.”

Spero said the properties are likely to encounter huge demand internationally, despite their high asking prices. “It may sound staggering but in some cases these properties could even enter a bidding war, so flush are so many,” he added.

WealthInsight analyst Oliver Williams said that nearly all of the properties included in the research are noteworthy because of their prized location, or historic or architectural significance.

“This goes to show that buyers will pay hefty premiums for unique houses that might be coming on the market for the first time in their history,” he said.

The research also shows some of the most expensive property sales in 2013, which include the Malibu oceanfront villa sold by billionaire Howard Marks for $75 million to an unnamed Russian couple.

Singer Cher’s Malibu home, which she reportedly sold to Beyoncé for $45 million, was also a top property transaction in 2013, along with baseball player Alex Rodriguez’s Miami mansion, which fetched $30 million.

Pop star Robbie Williams recently purchased a $28.6 million (£17.5 million) mansion in London, formally owned by the late film director Michael Winner.

“Following some high hitting property prices in 2013, next year promises to see some even bigger transactions, with prices not only surpassing pre-recession levels, but breaking all time records,” Williams added.

“Proof, if it were needed, that there is always going to be demand at the top for fine homes.”

The top ten property sales of 2014 predicted by Spear’s and WealthInsight:

18 Carlton House Terrace, London – $380 million (£250 million)
Kensington Palace Gardens, London – $163 million (£100 million)
The Owlwood Estate, Los Angeles – $150 million
Copper Beech Farm, Connecticut – $140 million
Crespi/Hicks Estate, Dallas – $135 million
The Residence at the River House, New York – $130 million
The Penthouse at the Pierre Hotel, New York – $125 million
Zeki Pasa Waterside Mansion, Istanbul – $115 million
One Beacon Court Duplex, New York – $115 million
Bishops Avenue, London – $106.8 million (£65 million)

Methodology:

In this study WealthInsight has monitored over 70,000 millionaires (or high net worth individuals) globally for the past year to find the biggest buyers and sellers of residential property. Where details of neither vendor nor buyer are available, WealthInsight has gone through the listings of hundreds of estate agencies to find the most expensive properties that are currently on the market. This study does not include private transactions.

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