There have been some well-reported departures from the UK recently.
Billionaires who had happily paid hundreds of millions in tax are upping sticks due to tax policies that are poorly considered and executed in a clumsy fashion.
It appears London’s exodus is accelerating. But is it?
It reminds me of the bets being placed before Brexit. The reporting was all about a few massive wagers on the UK voting to remain in the EU. This was taken as proof that the Brexiteers would fail.
However, what the commentators failed to consider was that a few individuals making massive punts was far less relevant than the millions of tiny wagers being made that the Leave campaign would win.
The headlines screaming big numbers and catastrophising may grab people’s attention and bend their reality, but the mundane figures are far more important. For example:
“The number of UK residential properties sold by overseas individuals fell by almost 9% during the latest tax year, according to HMRC figures obtained by Bowmore Wealth Group.
Non-resident individuals sold 16,520 homes in the year to 5 April 2026, down from 18,100 during the previous 12 months.
Activity also declined at the top end of the market, with 70 non-residents selling properties worth more than £5m compared with 80 a year earlier.” (Property industry Eye)
Of course, the fall will partly be due to fewer sales in general. However, if the story of internationals fleeing the lawless & unpleasant fields of England were true then you would expect the figures to be higher as they would be more motivated to sell than the locals.
In short, the exodus is nowhere near as bad as portrayed – although by no means good either – and most owners have no pressing need to sell.
I had this message from a client over the weekend. I had just sent them my weekly update on new opportunities which basically said that nothing I had inspected was worth seeing. In fact, I have only recommended 5 apartments over the last couple of months.
Their response was: “This is very strange! I thought the news coming out of London is very negative about apartments for sale. Most of the rich business people are migrating to Spain, Portugal etc to avoid all the taxes”.
This type of message is not uncommon.
But a large part of my role is to protect them from anything that is not a Best in Breed property. So, they don’t realise quite how many properties I physically inspect (let alone the one’s whose details I have studied and rejected for multiple reasons without viewing them). For the record, over the years I have physically inspected over 25,000 properties and seen the details of over 100,000 more.
Unfortunately, my clients can’t avoid hearing information in the press and what they hear from friends – friends who sound well informed but also get their information from the same newspaper articles. This has the undesirable effect of making the press stories seem more believable because they are repeated by so many sources.
So, this was my response to my clients:
“Thank you for your message.
Unfortunately, the press always exaggerates. It is true that transaction levels are down and a lot of apartments aren’t selling.
However, that is because most of them are decidedly average and also overpriced.
The good opportunities like xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, for example, are still selling but there aren’t many of them (many people leaving London are keeping their homes).
You also need an apartment with a view of a park or garden square which reduces the options significantly, especially as you don’t want XXXXXXXXXXXXX.
By definition, this narrows down the choices.
I expect it is very frustrating that I am sending you so few apartments but I don’t want to waste your time with poor suggestions when I know we can do better. It’s important to remain selective as all you need is one really good apartment.”
There are no guarantees in life but there are probabilities. So, to find the best property your money can buy and acquire it at a favourable price, you need to employ tested and proven techniques that stack the odds in your favour.
If you are planning to acquire a property in London and would like to know the strategies and tactics you need, email jeremy@mercuryhomesearch.com.
