During the past 10 years, global house prices have been rising steadily, commercial real estate prices have reached record levels and transaction volumes worldwide have never been higher. Looking back over the 21st century's second decade, we reveal the most breathtaking highlights, from the priciest house and apartment sales to the most expensive commercial property and land deals.

Hong Kong is renowned for its eye-watering real estate prices, so it comes as no surprise that the most expensive house sold in history, never mind the past 10 years, is located in the land-starved, cash-rich autonomous region of China, specifically in the ultra-exclusive elevated neighborhood of The Peak.

Number 1 & 3 Pollock's Walk (which incidentally is the priciest street on the planet) was snapped up in January 2017 by Yeung Kin-man, the founder and CEO of a company that makes iPhone screens. Spanning just 51,000 square feet, the modern mansion set the billionaire tycoon back a heart-stopping $361 million (£281.6 million).

British property tycoons Nick and Christian Candy obliterated the record for the most expensive apartment sale back in 2010. The siblings snagged the grand three-bedroom, six-bathroom 'La Belle Epoque' penthouse in Monaco from billionaire heiress Lily Safra in 2006, paying between $16 million (£12.5m) and $20 million (£15.6m) for the property. 

They then splashed up to $50 million (£39.1m) revamping the duplex, adding only the most deluxe fixtures, fittings and furnishings such as rare Italian marble, hand-painted silk curtains, platinum-leafed ceilings and suede skirting boards. The refresh paid off very handsomely indeed. According to The Pinnacle List, the Candys sold the penthouse in 2010 to a member of the Dubai Royal Family for the princely sum of $323 million (£252.3m).

The most expensive land deal in history was finalised in May 2017 when Henderson Land Development beat eight rival bidders to acquire a 31,000-square-foot plot on Murray Road in the centre of Hong Kong. The plot, which was owned by the Hong Kong government, was home to a multistorey car park.

Henderson paid a staggering $3 billion (£2.3 billion) for the relatively compact parcel of land. Incredibly, that works out at $96,774 (£74.8k) per square foot. A landmark 35-floor eco office building, by Zaha Hadid Architects, is taking shape on the site and is due for completion by the middle of 2022. It will be the second project by the firm to be built in Hong Kong (the first, the Jockey Club Innovation Tower, is shown here).

Mukesh Ambani, the billionaire chairman of Reliance Industries, made real estate history in 2010 upon the completion of Antilia, his OTT 400,000-square-foot, 27-storey mansion in India's commercial capital Mumbai. The extravagant no-holds-barred building is the most expensive new build ever and something of a playground for the charismatic mogul.

Absolutely zero expense was spared on Ambani's spectacular residence, which wows with everything from numerous guest suites and a mega-temple to a cooling ice room complete with artificial snow and home cinema that seats 50 people. In fact, the home is estimated to have cost between $1 billion (£780.2 million) and $2 billion (£1.5 billion).

Securing a hefty discount is every real estate buyer's dream. Some properties command bigger price drops than others but one in particular puts them all to shame. A 157-acre plot of land in LA's Hollywood Hills dubbed 'The Mountain', which was formerly owned by the Shah of Iran's sister and TV host Merv Griffin, was listed for $1 billion last year (£780 million).

The land had been on and off the market for years and while it piqued the interest of A-listers like Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, the property was impossible to shift. Its price was slashed by $350 million (£273 million) but the parcel remained unsold. In the end, The Mountain went for the knockdown price of $100,000 (£78k), a discount of $999.9 million (£779 million), though the buyers, the heirs of Herbalife founder Mark Hughes, have taken on a debt of $200 million (£156 million).

The biggest residential mortgage of the past decade was secured last October from Credit Suisse by the aforementioned British developer Nick Candy. The mortgage was taken out on Candy's plush penthouse at One Hyde Park in London's Knightsbridge. Refinanced for $206.5 million (£160 million), the property is the UK's most expensive apartment.

Candy's mega-mortgage totals a massive $103.2 million (£80 million). The US record goes to the aforementioned hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin who took out a mortgage in 2016 amounting to $101.3 million (£78.5 million) and another that came in at $12.8 million (£9.9 million) for a plot of land in Palm Beach, Florida.

British-born heiress Petra Ecclestone paid $85 million (£66.3 million) in cash back in 2011 for the 14-bedroom, 27-bathroom LA mega-mansion that was built for Dynasty and 90210 producer Aaron Spelling. The deal smashed the record for an all-cash sale but it has since been surpassed, believe it or not, by the sale earlier this year of the exact same property.

In June, an anonymous buyer (rumoured to be Canadian billionaire Daryl Katz) stumped up $119.8 million (£92.8 million) in cash for the trophy Holmby Hills home, making it LA's most expensive residential sale. The final selling price, however, was considerably lower than the $200 million (£155 million) Ecclestone originally listed the property for.

The largest commercial real estate deal in history was struck in June between Singapore's GLP and US private equity giant Blackstone, which acquired the logistics titan's bulging portfolio of warehouses, which are dotted across America. Blackstone outbid logistics real estate firm ProLogis to secure the record-smashing deal.

Blackstone paid a whopping $18.7 billion (£14.8 billion) for GLP's US warehouses in what was, hands down, the commercial real estate deal of the century, cementing the American firm's position as the world's premier logistics real estate landlord. The industrial buildings number around 1,300 and have a total floor space of 179 million square feet.

Proving just how unreal the Hong Kong real estate market has become, a single parking space at the Ultima apartment complex in Kowloon sold in June of last year for the sort of price you'd expect to pay for a flash city-centre penthouse, mansion in the suburbs or sprawling country estate.

The tiny parking bay fetched a bewildering $760,000 (£592.9k). Measuring just 16.4 feet by 8.2 feet, the tiny tract of land cost $5,651 (£4.4k) per square foot. By way of comparison, the average price per square foot for prime residential property in Manhattan is $2,670 (£2.1k), while the best properties in London's Mayfair and Knightsbridge come in at not much over $2,579 (£2k) per square foot typically.

The founder and CEO of HomesUSA.com, Ben Caballero, is the real estate broker with the Midas touch. The envy of agents the world over, Caballero, who started out in the industry at the age of 21, holds the Guinness World Record for the most annual property sales, having closed more lucrative deals than any other agent globally.

Last year alone, the HomesUSA.com boss, who was the first agent in the world to offload $1 billion (£780 billion) worth of properties during a 12-month period, brokered the sale of 5,793 homes, an average of 111 per week. Together, the properties that Caballero sold in 2018 amount to an amazing $2.2 billion (£1.7 billion).

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