Research has suggested foreign ownership of home in England and Wales is up 2.6% year on year, with Hong Kong, Singapore, United States, UAE and China making up the top five countries foreign owners reside.
A freedom of information request to HM Land Registry by lettings and estate agent Benham and Reeves has revealed 189,793 properties in England and Wales are owned by foreign buyers according to the number of titles registered with an overseas correspondence address in 2024. This number is up 2.6% on 2023.
Hong Kong nationals increased their share of the market to 25,972 homes; 13.7% of all homes owned by foreign buyers, up from 13.3% in 2023. Singapore accounted for the second largest proportion of the market, with 15,635 property titles; equating to 8.2% of all homes owned by a foreign nationals in 2024.
The United States accounted for 6.5% of all foreign owners with 12,405 homes owned across England and Wales in 2024 with UAE (5.8%) and China (5.2%) completing the top five. The 12.9% increase in titles registered to a Chinese correspondence address from 2023 to 2024 was significantly larger than any other country in the top 20; indicative of its continued investment in the UK.
Malaysia (5.2%), Ireland (4.9%), Australia (4.4%), Kuwait (4.1%), and France (3.6%) complete the top ten.
Marc von Grundherr, Director of Benham and Reeves, commented:
“When it comes to foreign buyer activity across the property market, Hong Kongers remain by far the most dominant nation and this has largely been the case since the launch of the British Nationals Overseas Visa in 2021. In fact, we’ve seen the overall proportion of market activity accounted for by Hong Kong nationals increase in the last year alone, which demonstrates that demand is not only strong, but it’s growing stronger by the year. Of course, there are other factors influencing foreign demand for London bricks and mortar, with more buyers from the United States entering the market following the re-election of Trump, whilst Israel has also entered the top 20 following the heightening of the conflict in Gaza.”
Foreign nationals present significant challenges for conveyancers when it comes to client due diligence. Anti-money laundering (AML) continues to be a focus for the Solicitors Regulations Authority (SRA) with one firm fined £26,000 in recent weeks for AML compliance failures
