What the rich are buying this season

Well, how very last year. London is now the third city of choice for billionaires after Moscow and New York, and they’re bringing their taste for luxury with them. No expense is too great for this lot. Most of us were shocked earlier this year when it was revealed that the new One Hyde Park development was selling flats (un-built!) for £100 million. These residents’ closets are now worth more than three-bedroom homes in Scotland and the north of England.

So, what do you get for your money?

The details of the Lord Rogers-designed development are unconfirmed, but they reportedly feature private wine tasting, purified air and panic rooms. As for security, the flats reportedly have bullet proof windows, eye scanners in the lifts and a security system developed in consultation with the SAS. But such wealth is all part of a day’s work for Tom Tangney, partner at Knight Frank Kensington, and expert on what the rich and super-rich are doing to their homes.

“I’ve been an agent for 22 years, but I’m continually surprised when I visit these homes," he says. "I’ve learnt to never expect a normal house when I open the front door.”

Tangney says this season’s must-haves include fully integrated networks (to control your CCTV, lights and curtains from your desk in Dubai), crushed marble walls (a softer effect than standard marble, darling) and underground car lifts (so the Jags don’t get their wheels dirty).

Swimming pools

They're an old staple of stately homes, but nowadays swimming pools are anything but ordinary. The world’s third richest man, Indian steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, is said to have encrusted his London pool with gems. North London’s most exhilarating pool includes a custom-made chute - smothered in slippery paint – so the lucky owner can slide straight from his bedroom into the water below.

And whilst these residents are more likely to make reservations than food for dinner, the country’s classiest kitchens are also going high-tech. "With regard to appliances, two dishwashers is a new trend, along with wine coolers in the kitchen, chilled and boiling water on tap, and exotic cooking gadgets such as the Teppanyaki," says Martin Gill, Managing Director of luxury kitchen manufacturer Poggenpohl. The humble garden barbeque has been replaced by fully-equipped outdoor kitchens – perfect for lazy summer nights (perhaps more useful in L.A. than London).

It’s not all about bling

Tom has noticed an increasing shift towards environmentally-friendly features, including Geothermal Heating. He says, “You sink bore holes 30 metres down and lift the garden by a metre to put the pipes in, and then draw up natural heat from under the ground.” A system like this could heat an entire mansion without taking a whiff of gas from the national grid.

But such extreme measures aren’t necessarily done from the goodness of these folks' greenie hearts. “A lot of people might do environmentally friendly things so the council allows them to do the extension,” says Tangney.

For most of us, the lavish houses of Belgravia, Mayfair, Knightsbridge and Bayswater are far beyond our wildest (three-bedroom semi) dreams. But if you believe the hype, it’s likely the people behind those doors are building something more extraordinary than we can even imagine.

Can't afford a palatial mansion of your own? You can at least updated your pad with our catwalk trends, or up your cultural ante by starting an art or wine collection.