£40m for Belgravia property

One of Belgravia's most imposing properties has been sold for an undisclosed sum believed to be about £40 million.

Forbes House, built 200 years ago and standing in its own spacious grounds, is highly likely to be converted back from offices into a private home, experts say.

For more than 50 years it has been the headquarters of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders but the organisation has sold the 47-year lease on the grand Georgian house to a mystery buyer. Screened from Halkin Street by a high wall and set apart from the road by lawns and a carriage drive, it is a stone's throw from Buckingham Palace.

Peter Rollings, managing director of agents Marsh & Parsons, said: "A property such as this is extraordinarily rare; it is very, very special and a most extraordinary place."

Notable residents of Forbes House have included the Earl of Oxford and Mortimer in the early to mid 19th century and, from 1860, Colonel Edward Douglas-Pennant, later to become Baron Penrhyn.