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Luxembourg-based wealth company that advises the super-rich. A source told the Times the ultimate beneficial owner is ‘an American billionaire with tech money. It will be his London home and HQ base’. Tom Ford bought the most expensive
property sold in the UK last year. The £80 million deal to buy the white stucco Chelsea mansion was signed on the day of the US election. Other über-wealthy Americans buying in London include former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt, who bought a £42 million house in Holland Park in April; and Lee Broughton and Christine Broad- hurst Taylor (heiress to the late Jack Taylor, the founder of car rental company Enter- prise), who bought a penthouse flat over- looking Hyde Park in 2023 for £68 million. It is unclear if these types of buyers are
planning on becoming UK residents, as the UK does not have investor visa route to citi- zenship, unlike Italy or Portugal. Entrepre- neurs or those who inherited wealth and do not work (in the traditional sense) for a liv- ing are unable to apply for indefinite leave to remain, which can lead to citizenship.
I
n total, American buyers bought a quar- ter of all of London’s £20 million-plus properties last year, according to Beau-
champ Estates’ annual Billionaire Buyers report. Beauchamp director Paul Finch says Americans are mostly looking for ‘large family houses or family apartments, ideally new-build or newly refurbished, in Notting Hill, which they know from the movie, St John’s Wood, close to the American school, and Chelsea. The American billionaires tend to choose mansions, lavish pied-à- terres or penthouses in Belgravia, Mayfair, St James’s or Regent’s Park.’ Tara MacBain, owner of Notting Hill res-
taurant Julie’s, has noticed ‘way more Amer- ican accents’ at the French brasserie recent- ly. ‘We’ve always had a large American clientele but it’s definitely increased in the past year,’ she says. ‘They’re fleeing US poli- tics, and enjoying the culture that London offers and the easy access to Europe.’ Another recent US émigrée, a 29-year-old
events planner who asks not to be identified, tells me she chose to live in Notting Hill as a lot of American friends had already moved there, but also because it’s ‘posh and gritty’. ‘That’s perfect for me as I can be really posh, and also rock ’n’ roll and a bit gritty,’ she says. ‘Here [in Notting Hill] you have a
council estate right next to £5 million apart- ments. I like that contrast.’ Every month she notices she has even
more American neighbours. ‘There’s been a huge influx. I call it the “reverse colonisa- tion”. A lot of people are coming to get away from Trump, to come to Europe, where pol- itics is less volatile. America is great if you want to make loads of money, but that’s not everything.’ She says tax bills are much low- er in London than in New York ‘because of higher state and city taxes there’. Property consultant Richard Rogerson
says of the increase in American buyers in London: ‘It’s Trump, of course, but the thing we hear most oſten is the fear of US gun crime and that their kids have to take part in “active shooter drills”.’ The most popular ar- eas for Americans, he says, are Notting Hill and Holland Park, ‘but a lot are looking in St John’s Wood, to be near the American School in London (ASL), and we have a lot looking in Chelsea right now’. Grace Moody-Stuart, director of the Good
Schools Guide, says so many American fam- ilies have moved to London that it can be hard to secure a place at ASL, which costs £46,428 a year for high school students. ‘ASL is the most in-demand, but it is oſten a chal- lenge getting a place, although they have rolling admission that helps,’ she says. ‘ASL teaches the American curriculum and has a very American vibe, which isn’t for every- one. There is also the Dwight School Lon- don, which offers the full International Bac- calaureate curriculum, and there are all the UK’s public schools.’ Jo Eccles, founder and managing director
of property search firm Eccord, says Ameri- cans now account for a third of all her cli- ents. ‘They’re very demanding, and expect a lot, and the time difference doesn’t help,’ she says. ‘But they’re great to deal with and are serious buyers.’ She had two instructions on the day of
Trump’s re-election. Currently she is search- ing for a £20 million pound home in Kens- ington for ‘a businessman who previously split his time between the US and the UK but now wants to be here permanently’, and has a £30 million budget to find a Notting Hill home for ‘an early-forties American hedge fund manager who wants to move his team from New York to here as he sees more growth opportunities in London’. Eccles says the biggest increase in enquiries is from members of the LGBTQ+ community,
‘who are actively leaving America because of Trump and his anti-minorities policies’. Sacha Wooldridge, a partner and immi-
gration specialist at law firm Birketts, has also noticed a big increase in enquiries from gay and lesbian people, and more still from families with transgender children. ‘The number one thing motivating people to move is Trump,’ she says. ‘It is mentioned by everyone, but particularly those directly af- fected, like same sex couples and people with transgender family members.’ Wooldridge says most clients are being
driven to leave America than being pulled in by the UK. ‘But we’re the number one choice,’ she says. ‘It has to be English-speak- ing, so it is usually either here or Canada, with good education, culture, stability and rule of law.’ She says Americans had feared a Labour government under Jeremy Corbyn, ‘but given Sir Keir Starmer is so middle ground – to middle-right on some issues – US Democrats are very comfortable with his government’. ‘It takes quite a lot for Americans to not
want to live in America, but I think – for many – Trump has achieved in driving them away.’
THE THING WE
HEAR MOST OFTEN IS THE FEAR OF US GUN CRIME AND THAT THEIR
KIDS HAVE TO TAKE PART IN ‘ACTIVE SHOOTER DRILLS’
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