Shakira and Piqué buy €5m mansion in Barcelona

COLOMBIAN-BORN pop-rocker Shakira and her partner, Barça FC midfielder Gerard Piqué have just bought a €5-million mansion in the Pedralbes area of Barcelona – coincidentally, the very same upmarket district where the Infanta Cristina and Iñaki Urdangarín have just sold their own to pay court bail bonds.

Ears pricked up across Spain when it was revealed that the country's celebrity Catalunya-based couple had just got the keys to their 1,500-square-metre villa surrounded by acres of private gardens in the same month that King Felipe VI's younger sister and her husband, formerly the Duke and Duchess of Palma, had found a buyer for their own Pedralbes mansion.

But the two sale-and-purchase operations are completely separate and are, indeed, coincidence: élite estate agency Coldwell Banker Prestige Barcelona says Shakira and Piqué had shown interest in their new house 'years ago'.

And Coldwell also handled the sale of the Infanta's house, which is within close walking distance of the Piqué-Mebarak pad on the Avenida Pearson.

According to the estate agency, Shakira's and Gerard's new home has three storeys, seven bedrooms, two kitchens, a gym, and a swimming pool with a waterfall.

It is very private, given that it is surrounded by gardens and dense trees, but from the first and second floor affords stunning panoramic views of Barcelona city.

Said to be 'one of the best homes' in the city, the couple managed to get it for less than the asking price because they were ready to make a quick purchase.