THE record for the most expensive property to be sold on Sandbanks has been broken.

Harbour Gate, a waterfront mansion formerly owned by Harry and Sandra Redknapp, has sold for a whopping £10m.

The eight figure sum is almost £2m more than the previous record price of £8.09m that was paid for the mansion next door to it in 2018.

The seller of the six bedroom house is entrepreneur Barry Bester.

The Topps Tiles founder has wiped the floor with the property market having bought Harbour Gate off of the Redknapps for £6.9m in 2015.

Since then he has lavished £2m on refurbishing the mock-Tudor mansion, including having a £40,000 golf simulator built on the grounds.

The £10m figure dwarfs the £400,000 price once paid for the same property in 1995. The Redknapp's bought it in 2001 for £3m.

Harbour Gate sits on arguably the best plot on the Sandbanks peninsula, backing on to the entrance to Poole Harbour which is usually teeming with passing boats.

It has a kitchen and breakfast room, dining room, lounge, cinema room, library, indoor swimming pool, gym with sauna and an office.

The master bedroom has a large en suite bathroom, even bigger dressing room and a balcony that looks out onto the water.

Outside there are two sun terraces and a private jetty that has 'parking' for two jet skis which are hoisted into the water by way of a hydraulic lift.

The property also comes with a three bedroom detached gatehouse which by itself would probably be worth £1m.

There is also a double garage which has a professional dog grooming bathtub and driveway parking for 10 cars.

Steve Isaacs, of local estate agents Luxury and Prestige, who handled the sale, said: "We can confirm that the house has sold and it is quite a landmark sale as it is the most valuable house on Sandbanks to have sold.

"We have a delighted buyer and seller for this beautiful home but as a matter of policy we never disclose details of our clients.

"The house occupies arguably the best position on Sandbanks. It sits on a double-sized plot and comes with a lodge house on the grounds that would be quite a valuable house on its own merits.

"It has had a lot of money lavished on it by the seller and every aspect of it is exceptional.

"We have got unprecedented demand for high-end waterside homes at the moment, principally from buyers based in London and beyond.

"There are now more buyers than there are sellers.

"This has been fuelled by wealthy individuals relocating from London and other parts of the country as well as those looking for additional homes.

"We have clients who have been able to run their businesses away from offices in town during the pandemic and want homes by the sea where they can work."

The house that held the previous record for the most expensive property was The Moorings, next door to Harbour Gate.

Its former owners, entrepreneur Chris Thomas and wife Sue, built the palatial home that has 13,000sq ft before selling it in 2018.

The Moorings has five en suite bedrooms, three reception rooms, an office, cinema room, indoor swimming pool, sauna and steam room, gym, changing rooms, garden room and a wine room.

There is also a guest suite that has its own en suite bedroom, kitchenette and living room.

Outside, there is a gate house, a boat house, terraces and balconies make the most of the harbour views and the sunken garden leads to a private jetty.