Estate agent Becky Fatemi, one of London’s leading property consultants, has recently taken on a villa in Ibiza valued at 19.6 million euros. The Iranian-born British professional has also added a house in Mallorca worth 40.4 million euros to her property portfolio.
The English media The Times mentions that most of the properties sold by Fatemi are priced between 9.2 and 23.1 million euros (the cheapest it has for sale is €2.3 million). Most are located in the exclusive London neighborhoods of Chelsea, Belgravia, Mayfair and Primrose Hill. At the moment, Fatemi is dealing with three mansions in the British capital valued at more than 259.5 million euros and, in the period between 1999 and 2022, handled transactions worth 101,487.9 million euros.
“Buy lifestyles”
“We don’t deal in bricks and mortar. People come to us to buy lifestyles. I have clients with a lot of artwork who say, ‘Becky, do you know someone who maybe wants to buy my Picasso?’ And I connect them,” Fatemi explains. Although she can’t name clients because of non-disclosure agreements and “the need for absolute discretion,” she details that she has been approached by almost every type of buyer: “I’ve had a lot of people come to me,” she saysA prime minister, a king, a pop star, a star of YouTube and a Grammy Award winner“. About the renowned YouTube content creator, he describes “that wasn’t even 22 years old and spent £11 million [12,7 millones de euros]“.
Some of the buyers who contact her, she notes, will pay anything to find a house in a particular area or even the exact street. One family, she recalls, was paying €115,326 a week to rent a home in Westminster. “But that was nine people, with employees, security and their entourage.” Others are willing to wait to find a house with a garden in Notting Hill. “Y if there’s nothing for sale, I approach the owners to see if they’ll sell“, explains Fatemi.
London Emigration
In recent years, he comments, many of his clients have started to move from London to places like Dubai. Not only because London is a difficult city to get permission to renovate, as “it’s an area with listed buildings, so you can’t add a penthouse,” he argues, but also because of other issues such as crime and climate: “In Dubai there’s no garbage on the streets. And there is sunshine.
When they migrate, many leave their homes empty instead of renting because it’s “a hassle,” he opines. “I wouldn’t buy an apartment for my son. You earn more by leaving the money in the bank“she says. The exodus from London began, she says, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As an agent, “you have to keep an eye on the list of politically exposed persons. You have to be very, very serious when it comes to meeting“, he explains.
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