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Inside the Beckhams' property empire

Jan. 9, 2023
Inside the Beckhams' property empire

David and Victoria Beckham are preparing to give up their dream Cotswolds home nine years after purchasing the property for £6 million.

Their countryside retreat had become a safe haven for them at weekends, away from the hustle and bustle of their £25 million West London mansion.

But recently, the home - now expected to be worth £12 million - has not been the tranquil setting they wanted.

According to the Mail On Sunday, the couple have been by traffic noise from the nearby Soho Farmhouse, an exclusive venue which plays host to celebrities. 

Although they bought the house when the celebrity haunt was already open, traffic has doubled in the last two years to the venue.

Guests have to go past their luxury barn conversion to reach the hangout. 

They are now searching for serenity again, looking for a new property or land near Great Tew after Soho Farmhouse expanded.

As they scout for somewhere new to retreat to, MailOnline takes a look at their £73m property portfolio...

1996-1999: FIRST HOME

LOCATION: MANCHESTER

PRICE: £150,000 

SALE PROFIT: £40,000  

David Beckham purchased his first home in 1996 for £150,000 at the age of 21.

He was living in Manchester and playing for Manchester United. The home was where he and model first girlfriend Krista Kemp would relax with a takeaway. 

She said at the time: 'He wasn’t at all what you’d expect in a famous footballer. His lifestyle was verging on the boring.'

David met Spice Girl Victoria Adams in 1997 and proposed to her in January 1998. Victoria spent her first pregnancy in this house, but she and David moved out before their 1999 wedding.

The house was sold for £190,000, outperforming the local market by almost double.

1998-2002: A SWANKY PENTHOUSE 

LOCATION: CHESHIRE

PRICE: £317,000 

SALE PROFIT: £283,000 

Next, the couple moved on to a period penthouse in posh Alderley Edge, Cheshire, which cost them £317,000 in August 1998. 

They did a series of photoshoots at the property, starting with an introduction to their baby Brooklyn in May 1999, five weeks after he was born.   

For the lavish home, the living room was decorated in zebra print and the bathroom in leopard print by Victoria.

Victoria said at the time: ‘I designed it all. I picked up bits and pieces from all over America and Europe. When we were on tour, my mum would come out to America with chunks of skirting board in her suitcase for me to look at.’

There was also a huge picture of the couple kissing in the hallway. 

Although they spent a massive £40,000 on a swanky Harrods kitchen, they often bought food from local Italian Est Est Est for dinner.

David would have a spaghetti bolognese and Victoria a salad. The flat was sold in August 2002 for £600,000.

2002-2004: BARN MANSION 

LOCATION: CHESHIRE

PRICE: £1.25 MILLION 

SALE PROFIT: £500,000 

After they moved out of the penthouse, the couple moved on again to a £1.25 million converted barn nearby. 

They were upsizing for their young family before the next football season began after Victoria found out that she was pregnant with Romeo, her second son.

The property boasted five bedrooms, a gym and indoor pool but was not in their hands for long.

They sold it two years later for £1.75 million after spending minimal time there.

A few months after buying it, they had also purchased a mansion in Hertfordshire, which was dubbed Beckingham Palace.

It served as a Northern base for David while he was doing his football training but Victoria stayed down south. 

However, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson made it clear he didn’t expect his star to be going out in London with his wife and then toiling up the motorway for training the next day. 

There was a notorious incident in 2003 when David needed stitches over one eye after a boot was thrown in the changing room.

1999-2015: BECKINGHAM PALACE 

LOCATION: SAWBRIDGEWORTH

PRICE: £2.5 MILLION 

SALE PROFIT: £9MILLION 

In 1999, the power couple snapped up Rowneybury House (nicknamed Beckingham Palace) in Sawbridgeworth.

The home, which was on the Hertfordshire/Essex border, cost £2.5 million and boasted 24 acres.

They spent a huge £3 million on fixing up the mansion, putting in a medieval maze and floodlit tennis court.

'Beckingham Palace' was owned by the local council in the past and was once a home for disabled boys. 

It was a hugely extravagant home, with a reported £20,000 splashed out on a fibre-optic light display in Brooklyn's bedroom.

David and Victoria also had their faces superimposed on a frieze of Cinderella and Prince Charming.

The lavish property also had three £10,000 gazebos, a garden pavilion with a marble floor and a £70,000 4ft-long barbecue.

Security ran to two lines of fences and many security cameras. A bespoke treehouse bought in 2004 cost £25,000.

They hung on to the house until 2015, but after David’s move to Los Angeles in 2007, the family preferred to stay in London hotels on their visits home.

An insurance tycoon bought it for £11.35 million. Property in the area rose by 87.7 per cent in that time, but taking into account the money spent on it, the Beckhams increased the house’s value only by 54.3 per cent — meaning that it under-performed.

2002 - PRESENT DAY: SUNNY ESCAPE

LOCATION: PALM JUMEIRAH

PRICE:  £1.3 MILLION 

The Beckhams made another big purchase in 2002, getting their hands on a villa in Palm Jumeirah.

While they got the villa for £1.3 million, the value is believed to have soared to £8million by 2008.

The property is still on their radar and they have access to it even though it was reported that the generous husband and wife gave it to Victoria's parents Tony and Jackie.

This was revealed in 2020, when Victoria shared a happy sun-soaked family snap by the pool.

2003-2016: THE FRENCH FOLLY 

LOCATION: ST TROPEZ

PRICE: £1.5MILLION 

SALE PROFIT: £500,000 

In 2003, when David left Manchester United, he and Victoria spent £1.5 million on a holiday home near St Tropez. 

The property had 34 rooms, a heated pool and its own vineyard along with a private chapel.

Again, they put in a large amount of money for renovations, adding a black marble kitchen, Moroccan-style pool house and chintzy living room.  

In the early years, before David went to play for LA Galaxy, the family used to spend their holidays there.

It was put up for sale in 2015 for £2.5 million and was re-listed for £2.4 million in 2016, after the couple realised that they never used the house yet were still paying for its staff and upkeep.

2005-2015:  CASA DEL CALAMITY 

LOCATION: MADRID 

PRICE: £3.6 MILLION

SALE PROFIT: £600,000 

Amid the Rebecca Loos scandal in 2004 and as a part of a tricky process of settling in, the Beckhams bought a home in Madrid in 2005.

Their purchase allowed their children to visit their father as Victoria never moved to Spain with the children.   

The couple bought the five-bedroom property in La Moraleja for £3.6 million.

Their property, which was just outside Madrid, lay empty until 2015 when it was sold for £4.2 million after David moved to America.  

2007 - 2018: MEDITTERANEAN LIFE

LOCATION: LOS ANGELES 

PRICE: £11 MILLION 

SALE PROFIT: £22.1 MILLION 

Their home in Los Angeles was chosen by Victoria on her own. The palatial mansion had all the family moved in before David started with LA Galaxy. 

The swanky home had six bedrooms and nine bathrooms and they splashed out £11 million on it in 2007.   

David and Victoria spent a huge amount of money on refurbishment, with their 

They then spent lavishly on refurbishment, with interior designer and friend Kelly Hoppen in charge.

When David returned to London in 2012, they were advised the house was worth only £7 million. However, it seems to have soared in value since.

Local property expert Jan Knapik of The Source Realty Group said: ‘The market has come back. I would say it is worth up to £24 million.’

They proved the price had soared, selling the home in 2018 for $33.1m.

2009-PRESENT DAY: DUBAI CHIC 

LOCATION: DOWNTOWN DUBAI

PRICE: $5 MILLION (£4 MILLION) 

Another purchase on the Beckham property ladder is a home inside the Burj Khalifa.

It is understood that David snapped up the swanky property in 2009 for $5million (£4 million) and own it now.

Although the Beckhams often share images inside their other abodes, there are few from inside the Dubai property.

2013 - PRESENT DAY: FAMILY HOME

LOCATION: HOLLAND PARK

PRICE: £21.4 MILLION 

PROFIT: £3,852,000 

The couple bought their swanky mansion in 2013 for £21.4 million at the height of the London market, nestled in posh Holland Park. 

They had spent months looking for an ideal family home after David retired from football and the Beckhams were looking to make the UK their base again.

David and Victoria spent around £8 million renovating the property but despite this, it was revealed last year that the home needed urgent structural repairs to stop the raised roof terrace from collapsing. 

The 9,000 sq ft house has eight bedrooms and seven bathrooms and features a playroom, gym and spa.

2016 - 2023 : COUNTRY RETREAT

LOCATION THE COTSWOLDS 

PRICE: £6.15 MILLION 

SALE PROFIT: NOT YET CONFIRMED

David and Victoria snapped up their country retreat in the Cotswolds for a reported £6.15 million in December 2016.

The farmhouse was their weekend getaway and was converted into a huge family home after extensive renovations. 

They even had the help of Marcus Barnett, a three-time Chelsea Flower Show winner, who transformed their garden into a beautiful fairytale oasis. 

The outdoor space had an pergola and an orchard and their luxurious home was also complete with a fireplace, plunge pool, tennis court, swimming pool and football pitch. 

And if the family wanted to unwind even further, there is an Estonian sauna and hot tub for them to enjoy too. 

It is not yet known if they will sell the property or rent it out after they find another countryside bolt hole.  

2020 - PRESENT DAY: HIGH-RISE LIFE 

LOCATION: MIAMI

PRICE: £20 MILLION 

Yet another swish property was added to the Beckham list in 2020. 

The breathtaking apartment in Miami was purchased for $24million (£20m) in the One Thousand Museum building. 

Late British-Iraqi Zaha Hadid designed the extravagant high-rise, which is 700ft tall.

Their five-bedroom property has free-standing baths, a huge kitchen, a pool and gym, spa and helipad.   

2021 - PRESENT DAY: HEIGHT OF LUXURY

LOCATION: MIAMI 

PRICE: £5 MILLION 

Goldenballs took a leap and branched out into the world of luxury yachts recently.

After a lavish holiday with Elton John and David Furnish on theirs, he decided to get one of his own. 

He splashed out £5 million on the large vessel, which he named Seven.

The name refers to the number he wore on his shirts when he played for Manchester United and England during his footballer career.

'Seven' played host to the family when they celebrated son Brooklyn's nuptials to Nicola Peltz in April last year.   

They will be able to use the boat as a base for sailing around Miami and the Florida Keys. 


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