Like lots of others, recent reports that Britain now has over 300k property millionaires caught my eye.
So I thought I’d dig a little deeper.
I’m very interested to see that there was a 19% increase in number of property millionaires in 2012! That’s over 47,000. Wow, it just goes to show how many opportunities there are out there.
However, it’s also interesting to see that many of the UK’s property millionaires are based in London – and their wealth is built on London property – and the staggeringly huge prices.
So you’ll see that what is behind the headlines is simply an increase in property values:
The reports show that house price growth in London and the South East, fuelled by strong demand for prime residential property in areas such as Kensington, from equity-rich buyers, plus limited supply, helped push the value of a further 47,024 UK properties over £1 million during 2012.
So, the headine stats are simply based on nominal house values on the main homes, mainly among celebrities and the wealthy.
On this basis, almost two-thirds (64%) of Britain’s property millionaires live in London. Our capital is home to over 182,000 property millionaires, with over 36,000 more created in the last 12 months, equivalent to 100 new property millionaires being created every day in the capital throughout 2012.
Kensington, the W8 postcode, is top of the list for the most property millionaires in Britain with an average property value currently of over £2 million. An incredible 64% of all homes there are currently worth over £1 million – many of them flats. Owners include Chelsea boss Roman Abramovich and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
In fact the most expensive street in the whole of Britain is Kensington Palace Gardens. Known as ‘Billionaires Row’, the average home on this street is worth over £25 million. This is where you’ll find “home” for Lakshmi Mittal, the wealthiest man in the UK – worth around £9.8 billion.
Moving on, next is Westminster (including Mayfair and Park Row) and also Camden. This could be a surprise, some of it is quite run down – but it covers Primrose Hill, where you’ll find property millionaires Daniel Craig, Jamie Oliver and Ed Miliband.
Back To Reality
Well, that’s London for you. Here in Bristol we have some expensive property too, in areas such as Clifton, Redland, Stoke Bishop and on the Harbourside. Not quite on that scale though.
More to the point, these are mainly simply homes. As all you readers of Rich Dad, Poor Dad will know, all that equity isn’t generating much return for their owners. Many property millionaires on this basis can be quite “poor” in income terms.
I prefer to look at property wealth in terms of investment value and getting a great return. It’s not just about generating a huge personal income, it’s also about reinvesting – in property, in yourself and your education.
There are hundreds more “real” property millionaires – people like me – who have built up a valuable portfolio. Which gives a great return. Starting from scratch too.
Del Brown, Property Investment Expert and author of Making Money From Property – Bristol Fashion
