Americans are snapping up homes in this big European capital — thanks to bargain mansion prices
US buyers are heading across the pond and scooping up discounted London mansions at an increasing clip. New tax policies in the UK capital drove away international buyers last year, the Wall Street Journal reported, but its transatlantic neighbors came out in force.
Americans made up London's largest cohort of buyers from abroad last year, making up 25% of high-end home purchases, according to the luxury real estate agency Beauchamp Estates. The pronounced increase, up from 18% in 2023, is supporting the city through a market dip.
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5 Americans who buy high-end properties in London are enjoying a supply surplus.
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5 Idyllic neighborhoods like Notting Hill have long attracted wealth, but some foreign buyers are bowing out.
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The recent flight of international buyers from London can be linked to the rollback of a centuries-old tax loophole, the Journal reported. Under the so-called 'non-dom' rule, ultra-rich foreigners only paid taxes on domestic earnings. The UK government eliminated the loophole in April.
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Data published by Knight Frank, cited by the Journal, documented a 37% sales drop among properties worth more than $10 million in the first quarter of the year.
The recent report from Beauchamp Estates indicated that rather than pay up, the jet-setting class traded in their UK digs for properties in Dubai, Milan and Miami.
High-end home sellers in London subsequently slashed prices as inventory piled up. The surplus supply and lower prices did not go unnoticed stateside.
London agents told the Journal they are receiving an unprecedented number of inquiries from US-based clients. Americans, used to large property taxes, still find that their money goes far in the historic city.
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5 Agents say rich Americans gravitate towards the London neighborhoods they see in movies, like Kensington.
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5 Favorable exchange rates with the UK continue to buoy the purchasing power of Americans.
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5 While luxury listings in the city still go fast, there are more to choose from.
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Americans on the house hunt in London tend to gravitate towards posh, idyllic neighborhoods beloved by Hollywood — think Kensington, Chelsea and Notting Hill. Luxury homes in historic buildings also attract an outsized number of Americans.
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Local agents told the Journal that American buyers cite rising crime, cost of living considerations and political concerns in the US among their reasons for putting down UK roots.
High-earning expats will also find a little more elbow room in London. A budget of $1 million will buy you more square footage in London today than it could a decade ago, the Journal reported, and home prices are relatively cheap compared to other posh global cities like Geneva and Singapore. Favorable exchange rates between the dollar and the pound further sweeten the pot for Americans.
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