Forty-one luxury properties priced above £15 million ($20 million) sold in London this year, in a merry-go-round of sales between the UK and the Middle East, according to a new wealth survey.
It found London’s super-prime market was driven by openings created by wealthy people leaving for lower-tax destinations such as the UAE, Italy and Monaco. The scrapping of the non-dom status in April fuelled a flurry of departures, which had already taken root when Labour came to power last year.
Who bought?
Those homeowners were replaced by an influx of 20 to 40-year-old Middle Eastern, Chinese and American buyers purchasing lavish “holiday mansions” at relatively knock-down prices, now standing below their 2014 values.
The Beauchamp Estates annual billionaire buyers’ survey found sellers were forced to accept less than they asked for. The percentage difference between the average asking price and the average achieved price was -7.6 per cent, compared to -7.12 per cent last year and -5.6 per cent in 2023.
Buyers from the Middle East accounted for 25 per cent of all super-prime sales, up from 20 per cent last year, driven by buyers originally from India, Pakistan, Yemen and Lebanon who are now resident in the UAE or Saudi Arabia and were buying second homes in London.
Seventy-five per cent of the super-prime deals were cash purchases, the same as last year.
Jeremy Gee, Managing Director of Beauchamp Estates, said: “In 2025 the London super-prime property market has been driven by an outflow of non-dom vendors leaving for Dubai and Abu Dhabi, replaced by an incoming wave of ‘bargain hunting’ Middle Eastern, Turkish, Chinese, American and domestic UK buyers purchasing large trophy houses and family apartments. London real estate is now viewed by global wealth as providing extremely good value for money.”
He said overseas buyers were increasingly buying properties as secondary homes or homes for investment. “This evolution risks increasing the proportion of properties in areas such as Belgravia, Knightsbridge and Ma
Continue Reading on The National UAE
This preview shows approximately 15% of the article. Read the full story on the publisher's website to support quality journalism.