Wealthy buyers from the United States and the Gulf are propping up London’s most expensive property bracket, filling a gap left by departing non-doms and reshaping the client base for the city’s top-end agents.
According to analysis by Beauchamp Estates reported in The Times, buyers from the US and the Gulf accounted for 55 per cent of all purchases of £15 million (AUD $29 million) or more in the first half of 2026, up from 50 per cent a year earlier.
The research, drawn from the LonRes property transaction database used by UK estate agents, found ultra-prime deals rose 26 per cent between January and June compared with the same period in 2025 – 34 completed sales against 27.
The total value of those sales jumped 79 per cent, from £694.1 million to £1.24 billion (roughly AUD $1.35 billion to $2.42 billion), although Beauchamp noted the figure was skewed by a handful of very large transactions.
Despite the rebound, activity remains far short of 2024, when 46 deals at £15 million-plus were recorded in the same six-month window.
Americans made up 30 per cent of buyers in this bracket, up from 20 per cent in 2025 – many of them tech-sector wealth, and according to Beauchamp, some motivated by unease over the Trump administration’s policies.
Middle Eastern buyers held steady at 25 per cent, but agents expect that share to climb to as much as 40 per cent by year’s end as a wave of in-progress deals settles.
Rosy Khalastchy, a director at Beauchamp Estates, said the trend reflects broader economic and geopolitical currents.
“The US economy and the booming AI and broader tech sector is generating significant wealth, and unease over Trump has helped to generate a 10 per cent rise in American buyers transferring some of their money offshore into London property purchases,” she said.
“Likewise, since early 2026, the US-Iran-Israel war in the Middle East has generated a 15 per cent rise in inquiries from the Gulf region for both luxury homes for purchase and to let.”
The shift follows the UK government’s abolition of non-dom status in April 2025, which previously let wealthy residents avoid tax on overseas earnings.
Around 68,000 people benefited from the arrangement, and roughly 2,000 are believed to have left Britain since it ended.
The Sunday Times Rich List, released in May, counted 157 billionaires in the UK – 20 per cent fewer than four years ago.
An earlier annual survey by Beauchamp, reported by The National, found the exodus had created openings for younger buyers – typically aged 20 to 40 – from the Middle East, China and the US, many picking up “holiday mansions” below 2014 price levels. Jeremy Gee, managing director of Beauchamp Estates, gave his view on the shift.
“London real estate is now viewed by global wealth as providing extremely good value for money,”
Jeremy said.
He also flagged a risk: a growing share of trophy homes in Belgravia, Knightsbridge and Mayfair sitting empty for parts of the year as investment or secondary residences rather than full-time homes.
Recent headline sales illustrate the trend. The Holme, a 29,000 sq ft mansion in Regent’s Park known as London’s White House, sold for £195 million (AUD $380 million) to Dubai developer Abbas Sajwani, son of Damac owner Hussain Sajwani.
Nick Candy’s Chelsea mansion changed hands for £275 million (AUD $536 million) – Britain’s most expensive residential sale ever – to British financier Suneil Setiya.
A Bayswater penthouse worth £57 million (AUD $111 million) was reported by The Times to have been bought by xAI co-founder Igor Babuschkin, a claim he has since denied.
The activity has revived some previously quiet postcodes. Belgravia recorded nine ultra-prime deals in the first half of 2026, up from two a year earlier, while St John’s Wood saw five, up from two. Luxury agency Aston Chase said much of that St John’s Wood activity centred on a single street, Hamilton Terrace, which has seen close to £100 million (AUD $195 million) in luxury sales over the past 12 months.
For agents here in Australia and New Zealand, London’s experience is a useful signal rather than a distant curiosity.
The same pools of US tech wealth and Gulf capital chasing “good value” trophy assets overseas are also active in our prestige markets, so building genuine relationships with buyers’ agents, private bankers and migration advisers who service these clients can be more valuable than broad international marketing spend.
This story draws on “US and Gulf buyers raise the roof of London luxury homes market“, The Times, and “Gulf buyers drive sales of ‘bargain’ luxury properties in London“, The National. Read the originals for full detail.