Brian Souter ‘bought £8m London home’

BUS tycoon Sir Brian Souter splashed out almost £8 million on a posh English townhouse just days after the General Election, it has emerged.

Stagecoach boss and SNP donor Brian Souter, 61, paid cash for the Grade II listed London home in May. Picture: SWNS

Stagecoach boss and SNP donor Souter, 61, paid cash for the Grade II listed London home in May.

His new home, in ‘super-prime’ Belgravia, has five bedrooms, four bathrooms and four reception rooms.

It was originally put on the market for £9 million, but the savvy businessman capitalised on a struggling London market by knocking £1.1 million off the asking price.

Bus tycoon Sir Brian Souter splashed out almost £8 million on a posh English townhouse just days after the General Election. Picture: SWNS

The price is among the top paid for a home in the UK this year and around 45 times the cost of the average home.

Souter, who is worth £1 billion, didn’t need a mortgage for the house, instead paying for it in cash.

He completed the deal for the home on May 15, less than ten days after the election, with the price logged in June.

The bumper purchase was revealed by the Land Registry, which records house sales in England and Wales, in its latest data release.

And Souter, who donated £1 million to the SNP last year, showed he is a shrewd negotiator when it comes to buying property.

Despite prices in London being at a record high, there has been a downturn at the top-end of the English market this year.

It is likely the Scots businessman started negotiating on the home before the election, when sales plummeted due to fears a Labour government would bring in a Mansion Tax.

However, the SNP wiped Labour out, contributing to Ed Miliband suffering one of the most humiliating election campaigns in recent history.

But Souter was hit in the pocket by stamp duty - with a £7.9 million home resulting in a £861,000 tax bill on the sale.

Henry Pryor, a buying agent, said: “Like my clients, Souter sensibly used the uncertainty the Election provided to negotiate hard. Even with a 10 per cent-plus discount to the asking price the new Stamp Duty charge will have made any buyer wince.

“Souter’s purchase will have been one of the most canny of the first half of the year but he was not alone.

“Others used the uncertainty as a club to beat weakened, worried vendors. It looks easy with hindsight but at the time it required a Braveheart and balls.”