Analysis of the Land Registry’s database of foreign property ownership in England and Wales shows that 99,344 properties in the UK are owned by companies registered abroad and 44,022 of those, or 44%, are in London.
Within the capital, Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea have the highest numbers of overseas-owned properties, 13,139 and 6,741 respectively, while regionally Manchester and Leeds have 1,510 and 1,507 respectively.
By postcode, it is the central areas of boroughs and cities that have the highest concentration of overseas-owned assets. In Lambeth and Southwark, more than 40% of overseas assets are in the SE1 – riverside – postcode. In Tower Hamlets, 47% are in E14, near Canary Wharf.
Outside London, concentrations dip, but 16% of Manchester’s overseas owned properties are in the south-central M15 postcode and 24% of Bristol’s are in BS1.
But foreign ownership is by no means a byword for actual ‘international’ ownership. The countries with the largest number of assets are tax havens: 22,814 properties are owned by companies in the British Virgin Islands, 20,777 by Jersey-based companies and 11,759 by Guernsey-based companies.
The largest independent countries, or sovereign states, by ownership – which also have tax-efficient legislation – are Mauritius and Luxembourg, with 2,595 and 2,465 registered to each.
