Welcome to another episode of our serious SLG meetups by Super Luxury Group, where we connect with some of the most interesting players in the Luxury market. My name is Alvaro and today we'll be having with us our very special guest. Her name is Katia Senkovich and she's the partner at Nightfront Private Office in London. In this conversation we talked about the successful journey she has from Russia to London and becoming a reference in the Luxury Real Estate market.
We'll be also discussing some exciting new projects that are taking place in London, the newest trends and the impact that a strong network makes in this industry. Definitely great insights for those looking to learn more about how to disrupt the Luxury market and dominate the game. I hope you enjoy it. Katia, you're a machine superstar from Russia all the way to London.
You'll be feeling in the game of Luxury Real Estate. Of course, for you, things are going to be going well. You're a go-getter. So very excited to have you here today.
Thank you. As you mentioned, the market is quite busy for what it seemed to be at the beginning. So I just want to know first a little bit more about your story. How did you end up moving from Russia to London building such a legacy when it comes to Luxury Real Estate and you've become a reference for everybody in the space of Luxury Real Estate.
So tell us a little bit more about you. Well, thank you. That's a lot of compliments in one sentence. I came to the UK about 20 years ago.
I was actually trained in marketing and advertising. So I ended up here working for one of the big international advertising networks. But as my career progressed, I became a freelancer and it sort of opened up, I guess, the time for other opportunities. And growing up in Moscow, perhaps generationally and otherwise, I was one of the first people who ended up in the West.
So a lot of my friends and now very successful businessmen have sort of naturally gravitated towards me asking questions about purchasing the real estate, opening bank accounts abroad. It was the 90s. It was when Russia first got an opportunity to take the wealth abroad and naturally sort of I would open this mobile tea family office helping these people to bring their ideas and wishes to life. And that put me in touch with specifically some of the big real estate agencies like Night Frank.
They've been watching me and the times were changing. The sort of the times of brokers who just worked for commission do a deal and were born and kind of run out, I think. I was traditionally, even in marketing, taught that the main aspect of the best sort of service is quite a relationship. So Night Frank had this idea of creating a team of brokers or real estate agents that actually are holding the hands of our buyers.
Very important. Absolutely. And do everything for them beyond simple one-off transaction. So that's what I completely agree with the e-force and it was an actual step, I guess, for my sort of more or less small family office to join a large firm with, you know, I think we have one third of four billionaires in our books.
So you know, it's sort of it happened for me, if you wish. And you definitely have been doing amazing. So I'm very glad that you're going to be sharing with us what's going on in the market because I know there's a few properties that really are standing out very well demanded. So I'll be putting them up here in a moment.
But for now, you know, with everything that is going on, I got to say one thing, you know, my business partner is actually for Russia. So there's one thing that I know to say for sure. That I, always, always, always come on, especially now, you have to keep going. There is nothing like relaxing.
You need to push forward. And as you said, give the best advice, add value. And that's how you really going to move forward. A little bit like how do you see currently the market in London?
I mean, you mentioned a little bit about it, but what are the current threats that you see in London? Well, I think that the papers, sort of during the beginning of the pandemic, and perhaps when we first came out of lockdown in May, we're predicting quite a painfully sad picture in actual fact, as I understand it, not just in London, but New York has experienced the same bull. Of course, markets has been affected. And the limitations and travel have also affected the market.
We are predominantly 60% of the buyers that we're dealing with at the moment are British. But at the same time, I think these two, three months that people have spent in their properties have made them think and reevaluate. They are balanced for lifestyle and work, and also they are living conditions. And so unsurprisingly, a lot of my buyers who have spent lockdown in fancy super luxury apartments after the COVID lockdown have decided to buy a secondary property somewhere with a bigger garden, perhaps somewhere between the countryside.
And I think that sort of ability to have access to our doors is holding a huge premium at the moment. And that's why I think, unsurprisingly, the market has shifted from perhaps the penthouses to the houses, and also the country market is booming as well. That's what you just mentioned there, the visionaries. The ones that see now the opportunity to actually invest, as you know, real estate has been there forever.
It's still going to be there. It's a great investment when it comes to where to put or allocate your funds when it comes to your portfolio. And those that have those funds are looking towards the best because right now also the prices are very appealing. I'm going to be pulling up here a few of the properties because you were telling me about this one right here, the region's crescent, like that one is amazing.
I'm not going to just exterior just to give a visual. But the asking price is starting around seven, eight million pounds, right? That's correct. This is a really great example of traditional English architecture.
It is a national building. So it has a lot of carb appeal. It's also overlooking the region's park. As you can see in the communal gardens up front, there's a lot of private area, a door at private area that is available to the residents.
And beneath that green area is a five star luxury spa. And generally this complex kind of gives you the true sense of Britishness with the very twenty-first century sort of level of service and all of the attributes that most of our connect with buyers would like, including the valley parking, including the James' spot, cinema room. And it's also quite nice. That building, although is completely connected throughout the building, it also has its own front door.
So it's a lovely combination of what looks like the townhouse kind of frontage with actually a completely new, I mean, it is inside. Perfect. Perfect niche is like a mix of everything, you know, history and what people are looking for the countryside. It gives that environment of niceness, you know.
I really love this one. But then there is another one that if we talk about super luxury, you know, the next level, it's my favorite one, the 20-growth-door square. I mean, those are asking starting 17 million pounds. So when I pull up here, the entrance.
So maybe we can walk through maybe this virtual kind of tour where you can kind of take us through it, because what is so unique about this building? A number of things. There aren't that many buildings in London that are hotel service departments. And this is only one of the three buildings that are currently available to anybody who wants to invest in London.
This is serviced by four seasons, and this has also been built by one of the best developers in town, Pinchartin. And it is sitting at the very heart of Mayfair. And Mayfair being probably the sort of the most prestigious address in London has not had that many developments in the recent years. And so suddenly this one came along and it's perhaps, you know, as known now, it will certainly become a kind of address that people are going to be talking about, because we've had one high park with the Mandarin services before, and for a very long time it was sort of number one, perhaps a luxury development.
This is probably all we'll overtake it, but certainly in terms of quality services, it's totally on par. And this one is smaller. It's only 24 apartments, and it's a real what I like to call a billion years club, because the smallest apartment in this development was a very generous two bedroom suite, but the starting price was £12 million. So as you can imagine, your neighbours and going to be strangers, and I think a lot of them are in the public eye.
So security is paramount. As I said, the quality of service is unique. The SPAR is luxurious. It has been developed in sort of a combination with consultancy of different private tutors and trainers and Olympian champions, and the swimming pool is the largest in Mayfair.
So I think these guys have set themselves up to be number one in everything, and very much achieved that ask. Right. And what's really interesting, they sort of realise that it's not just the address, it's also lifestyle. So if you were a buyer in that place, then you get a free membership to some of the very, very private London clubs like Annabelle's or Five-Haroford Street, where typically you wouldn't be able to join without a recommendation of existing members.
So it's a nice, you know, it's a big point for anyone who would like to walk into that residence and feel at home in London, even though they might not have had a previous exposure to it. I really like one thing you mentioned about the lifestyle, because, you know, every building now is focusing more on that term of giving the whole experience, you know, that lifestyle that high-end customer is looking for. And that's where the minute is falling to place the experience of the concierge services. And there is one thing that I always like to ask, and I want to know what you say about this.
What is really luxury to you? Oh, a lot of the time, luxury to me is time. And I think some of my clients would agree with me as well. I think days, I mean, I'm not saying that people have completely stopped building for themselves, but I think appreciation of time that we have, especially later in life, is such that a lot of my buyers look at the properties like this, which I turn key exactly because they value the opportunity to walk in with a toothbrush and put those two keys there a lot more than economies of developing their own property and perhaps having, you know, a bit more of an investment appreciation because time is everything.
And certainly my job, I would say, you know, that is a paramount thing, because to find the balance where you are like me enjoying your job, but giving 100% to your clients, and at the same having the balance of my personal life and family, sometimes a very difficult kind of conundrum to solve. Really, last London with the way it's presented, and you know, the properties that you focus on are spectacular. They're fantastic. And for those that are looking for higher investment and they're looking into London, what will be your recommendation?
I think London is a very interesting investment market, just because I think there is going to be less and less opportunities of this sort of ilk in the coming years. There's less developments happening overall. So when clients come to me with quite large requests, you know, sort of 5,000 square feet and more, I really sometimes struggle to find them flats, and especially a lot of people like the lateral spaces in Prime Central London. So I would say, you know, if you're definitely looking to invest in London at this sort of top-end level, today's a good time to do so.
Definitely. So if somebody is looking to invest, then obviously they need the help of the experts of Katja, you know, because you are the machine superstar in London. Where can they find you? Or how can they reach out to you?
I am on Instagram, so Katja Z is my short name. But also, you know, if they search private office at night, Frank, I think they will find it quite easily. We're a team of people, we don't just have a London, we've got the world, we're very much working on the model that, you know, where the relationships people, with the high net works and within night Frank, we've got fantastic teams that cover all aspects of sort of property markets. It's a limitless, really kind of resource at night, Frank.
And so whatever the requirement of the client is, I can always find within our structure somebody who will have a first-hand experience with that. So Katja, as always, pleasure to have you here today. I hope to see you soon, my honey. Absolutely.
I'm there. As long as the plane's applying, I will be there in December, January. Lovely. We'll like to see you soon.
Thank you so much. Thank you all for our take care. Thanks, everyone. Bye.
And thanks again for everybody tuning in today. We hope you enjoyed it. And remember, embrace its beautiful success in life. My name is Alvaro and I'll see you next time.