Ireland’s ‘Ghost estates’ and London’s $221M fixer-upper

A three-story penthouse in London’s Knightsbridge neighborhood has been sold for about $221 million — and it’s a fixer-upper. The new owner bought the unit with bare walls and no amenities and is expected to spend up to $100 million to finish it, according to the Telegraph newspaper.

A government survey in Ireland estimates that more than 2,800 "ghost estates" haunted the country at the end of 2010.

The Sunday Business Post reports that "ghost estates" are developments that have been bought but not completed as a result of the nation’s enormous economic downturn. This amounts to 40,000 unoccupied properties in various stages of construction, with 58,000 more approved but not yet built.