Reform’s UK treasurer Nick Candy has sold his mansion in London’s exclusive Chelsea district reportedly for more than £270m in what is believed could be the most expensive house sale in history.
The billionaire property developer, who lived in Providence House with actress and singer Holly Valance when they were married, has been Reform’s treasurer since defecting from the Tories in 2024.
Mr Candy is a major donor to the party, having given an estimated £1m last year, and a leading fundraiser for it.
When he joined Reform, he told The Independent he would raise more money for it than any political party in the UK had ever raised.
Together with his brother Christian, he developed One Hyde Park in London, where apartments sell for tens of millions of pounds.
The identity of the buyer of his Grade II-listed mansion remains a secret.
The property sits in two acres of grounds that once accommodated the residence of Britain’s first prime minister, Robert Walpole and now emulate a grand country estate, with a lake and a swimming pool.
Inside it features original Georgian details, social media posts by Candy’s design company show.
Sources said a string of offers were received, even though the property was never formally marketed.
Mr Candy declined to comment on the sale, which was first reported by Bloomberg.
Last month it was reported that he met internationally sanctioned individuals on a gold mining related visit to Nicaragua.
The purchase price for his mansion beats the £210m paid in 2020 for a 45-room mansion overlooking London’s Hyde Park that is ultimately owned by the family of Hui Ka Yan, founder of the China Evergrande Group.
It’s thought the world’s priciest property sale was that of a home in Hong Kong, which went for £245m in 2017. Billionaire Pan Sutong snapped up the property in a private enclave in a feng shui-approved position between the mountains and the sea.
The most expensive London home sold last year was a £41m mansion purchased by Charles Lorenceau, founder of private equity firm Ace & Co, while American fashion designer and film director Tom Ford bought a Chelsea mansion in 2024 for more than £80m.
Higher property taxes have helped to dampen demand for the capital’s priciest homes. Last year was only the second since 2011 in which no sales above £50m were recorded, data show, according to Bloomberg.
Last year, Mr Candy’s company was awarded more than £4.6m in damages after being lied to as an incentive to invest in a technology start-up.
Mr Candy’s interior design and development management business, Candy London, which designed the newly sold house, has undertaken projects in London, New York, Los Angeles and elsewhere. He is also involved in developments in the Middle East.
The billionaire and Holly Valance, who shot to fame starring in soap opera Neighbours, announced their divorce last year.
He said in 2024 he believed Reform UK would win the next general election.
