The Times
By Anne Spackman and Patrick Hoskins
The Blairs’ new London house is certainly no bargain
THE Blairs’ purchase of a £3.6 million house in London’s exclusive Connaught Square continues their poor timing in the property market.
Since Tony Blair came to power in 1997, he has managed to sell when the market is rising and to buy as the market falls.
The Blairs have told friends that they wanted to buy a large family home in preparation for the Prime Minister’s retirement after the next general election. They were also desperate to return to the London property market which has boomed since they sold their last home in the capital.
The sale is believed to have been handled by Chesterfield, a Central London estate agency, which has just completed the sale on the smartest house on the Bayswater square close to Hyde Park. The agency has let the 4,500 sq ft (418 sq m) property in the past for an estimated £150,000 a year.
Unusually the buyer remained anonymous throughout the negotiations, which ended in a sale close to its asking price — the highest ever achieved in the square.
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1289451,00.htmlWonder which convicted fraudster they used THIS time to help secure the purchase....