A Kazakh government official has snapped up a luxurious, high-security flat in Paris for €65 million (US$75.8 million)—making it one of the priciest residential transactions in the city this year, Mansion Global has learned.
The multi-million-dollar apartment is located on the ultra-ritzyAvenue Montaigne in the Golden Triangle and is a minute’s walk to the Champs-Élysées. It traded hands in an off-market deal brokered by Ignace Meuwissen, a Belgian dealmaker whose Moscow-based real estate company represents sellers and buyers from Russia and the former Soviet states.
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The seller, the head of a Russian investment company, had combined a half-dozen apartments in the building, Mr. Meuwissen told Mansion Global. The combined apartment overlooks the historic Plaza Athénée, a celebrity-riddled hotel where rooms go for as much as $20,000 per night.
The seller started shopping the home around as a whisper listing only three months ago for €75 million (US$87.5 million), Mr. Meuwissen added.
The 1,200-square-meter (12,900-square-foot) home has five bedrooms, five bathrooms, a spa and separate wing for the staff. But its selling point for the Kazakh administrator was its high-security amenities, including a 55-square-meter panic room, bulletproof windows and separate quarters for security staff.
"It is a very unique apartment," Mr. Meuwissen said, adding that it’s unusual to find a French home with this level of protection.
The broker declined to name the seller and buyer, describing them only as a Kazakh government official and Russian investor. But he says the deal is the priciest residential transaction in the city so far this year, something Mansion Global could not independently verify.
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Prime real estate in the City of Lights has boomed over the past year. Luxury home prices have shot up 11.3% in the past 12 months, according to global real estate brokerage Knight Frank, which defines prime residential as the top 5% of the housing market.
Prime prices in the city now average about €18,000 (US$21,000) per square meter, according to Knight Frank. This latest deal went for three times that.