ViktorPinchuk

Ukranian Billionaire Was Big Hirst Buyer

Ukranian billionaire Viktor Pinchuk has revealed he was a major buyer at Damien Hirst's record-breaking $200 million Sotheby's sale last month, but has declined to say exactly what he purchased. Pinchuk, who's worth an estimated $5 billion, has his own museum in Kiev, the first private institution of its kind in the former Soviet Union, which already houses works by Hirst, Jeff Koons and Vuitton collaborator Takashi Murakami. He says he plans to display his new Hirst acquisitions at the Pinchuk Center in the spring.

"Victor Pinchuk is having a great impact on the [art] market," Simon de Pury, chairman of auction house Phillips de Pury & Co., who credits him with starting the oligarch art collecting trend, tells Bloomberg. "The contemporary art market in both Ukraine and Russia has really taken off in the past two years, and I expect this growth to continue." Earlier this year Pinchuk paid a record $150 million for a house in London, the world's most expensive at the time.

Tags: Damien Hirst, DamienHirst, Jeff Koons, JeffKoons, Kiev, Pinchuk Center, PinchukCenter, Russian billionaires, RussianBillionaires, Simon de Pury, SimonDePury, Ukraine, Viktor Pinchuk, ViktorPinchuk

London Luxury Real Estate Down for 1st Time in 5 Yrs.

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Luxury residential real estate prices in central London, the world's most expensive city, have had their first annual decline since 2003 due to worsening economic conditions. The average price of houses and apartments in London's nine most expensive neighborhoods fell 1.6 percent in August from a year earlier, according to an index of properties valued at $2 million or more, Bloomberg reports.

While it's no secret that London prices have been dropping - my colleague Deidre Woollard reported on the trend in July - this is the first time the full scope of the decline has been assessed. Total prime residential sales in London are down an astounding 46 percent from last year; the downturn is being blamed on "pessimism in the financial services sector."

Some mega-rich moguls, such as Ukrainian billionaire Viktor Pinchuk, who paid over $150 million for a five-story London townhouse earlier this year, are doing their share to prop up the market.

Tags: Billionaires, London, Luxury real estate, LuxuryRealEstate, Viktor Pinchuk, ViktorPinchuk