Today is the Grand Opening of One Hyde Park, the most expensive residential development in the world. It is situated in London's Knightsbridge and consists of 4 main buildings connected to each other with total area of 65000sg.m. The development consists of 86 luxury apartments and three boutiques. In the late 2006 an old building on today's development site was demolished and the main construction work was carried in 2007- 2010. The One Hyde Park was designed by Rogers Stirk Harbor + Partners, an exclusive interior design was made by Candy & Candy, and Laing O'Rourke was the General contractor. The luxurious residential development is owned by Project Grande Guernsey Limited (PGGL), a joint venture between Candy&Candy - the company of the famous luxury home developer brothers Nick Candy and Christian Candy, and Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani - the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar. Project was financed via development loan from German Eurohypo AG bank. Maintenance of the development will carry the neighboring Mandarin Oriental hotel which is the first "residential experience" for the company in Europe. There are about 350 guests invited to the Opening for who cooked the celebrity chefs Heston Blumenthal and Daniel Boulud. Despite the continuing steady decline in the cost of housing in the UK, the price of apartments in One Hide Park starting at around £ 20 million, and late last summer one of its penthouses have been sold for a record sum for the country, at £ 140 million (approximately US$ 222m). The six-bedroom Penthouse stretches across two floors and has a wonderful panoramic view through bullet-proof windows to the main sight of Hyde Park- Serpentine Lake. Despite 24 hour protection from SAS-trained security guards, this apartment also equipped with so-called "safe room", where you can hide in the event of a break-in, home invasion, or other threat (as in the American thriller "Panic Room" by David Fincher). Name of the purchaser of this penthouse is kept in strict confidence, but some high-end realtors suggest a possible buyer from the Middle East or Nigeria.

In August this year, movie star Nicole Kidman and her husband Keith Urban purchased luxurious apartment with stunning views of the Hudson Bay in Manhattan Chelsea (New York). Starting price for penthouse apartment on the 12th floor with 302sq.m surface was 12.5 million dollars, but maybe the charm of Nicole helped pull down the price to $ 10mln. The apartment consists of 3 bedrooms, 2 terraces, library, double height Great Room , kitchen and a garage... Yes, the 32.5sq.m garage, which reside on the same floor with a kitchen. This innovation was first used in New York and looks like this: a special car elevator lift the car to the owner's floor and then you can enter garage with entrance to the kitchen. This feature is really very handy, especially after heavy shopping. It is also very much helpful when renovating and furnishing the apartment. Nicole and Keith live most of the year in Nashville, Tennessee, but also own homes in Australia and Los Angeles.

This high-rise 230 meter residential building contains 370 apartments located on 66 of its 69 floors. "The Met" - is a rare example of eco-luxury housing and due to open spaces "piercing" the building from the inside, it became possible to abandon the air-conditioning equipment, fully relying on natural ventilation. The project takes into account the tropical humid and hot climate of Bangkok and typical lack of open spaces and greenery in metropolises: the architects have provided all the apartments with landscaped terraces, in northern and southern fronts simultaneously, which also ensures additional coolness. Facades are decorated with ceramic tiles, wood and cloth - a tribute to traditional Thai architecture. A 50 000 Euros IHA (International Highrise Award) prize win the developer of The Met - Pebble Bay Company, who is planning to transfer this amount to Thai charity organization.

A new world record was set for the price of purchased apartments. Two-story, 1600 square meter penthouse in La Belle Epoque mansion( Monaco) was sold by $ 306.5 million. Buyer's name was not disclosed. The previous record belonged to the London penthouse in Hyde Park that was purchased for $ 202 million. The last owners of both apartments were Candy brother-developers from Britain. Brothers Nick and Christian Candy began their property business in 1995, when they were 23 and 21 years old respectively. All had happened by chance when using £6,000 loan from their Grandma, the brothers renovated £122,000 one-bedroom apartment in London while living in it. Later they sold it for £172,000 and gained profit £44.000. Today, Candy&Candy successful luxury housing specializing company. But, if brothers would like to launch their business today, they hardly will think about. The property prices in London dropped down by 3.6% in September this year- the worst record for the last three decades!