Seller knocks £3m off the asking price as estate fails to attract bids

SCOTLAND'S most expensive mansion has had £3 million knocked off the asking price – but will still set back the new owners a cool £12m.

After two years on the market, the 14-bedroom Yester Estate house has failed to attract a single bid.

The 500-acre estate in Gifford, East Lothian, was put up for sale after its owner, Italian-American composer Gian Carlo Menotti, died.

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Anna Thomas, the assistant director of the property's selling agent Savills, said that it has received a number of inquiries about the estate, although no-one has yet made an offer.

She said: "It is still available and we are open to offers. It is one of the great houses of Scotland and it is a very private property with great architectural significance."

Yester House was designed by James Smith and Alexander McGill and built between 1699 and 1728. It was modified in the 1970s and was later bought by then opera star Menotti.

But one property expert predicts that the multi-million pound estate could still be on the market in six months' time.

Estate agent Leslie Deans said the top end of the market was struggling nationwide.

He said: "While I wish the owners all the best, and admit the property must be very special to be priced as it is, the reality is that there are not many people in the marketplace who can pay 12m."

Mr Deans, a former chairman of Heart of Midlothian FC, said that although the property market had picked up considerably in the past six weeks, improvements were only being seen in those priced between 250,000 and 400,000.

He added of the Yester Estate: "I think there is only a tiny number of people based elsewhere looking at the top of the market in Scotland – and this is the very top.

"Again, I wish the owners all the best, but I would not be surprised if this property is not sold in six months' time."

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