London is Luxury
Why the world’s wealthiest still choose London as their European anchor
London remains the gravitational center of global wealth, a city where capital, culture, and centuries-old stability collide. While some markets chase headlines, London quietly holds its position as the preferred “anchor home” for the world’s ultra-rich. With more than 227,000 millionaires, nearly 5,000 UHNWIs, and a depth of prime property found nowhere else in Europe, the city continues to outperform in the only metric that truly matters at the top: it is where the wealthiest feel safest parking serious capital. Even through temporary pricing dips, UHNW demand hasn’t just held, it has sharpened. The result is a luxury ecosystem with resilience baked in, and a long runway for renewed growth as rates ease and global mobility accelerates.
Who’s actually there?
London has around 227,000 millionaires, 4,750 UHNWIs and 36 billionaires as of 2025, with wealth up ~3.8% year-on-year.
Among the world’s UHNW cities, London is by far the most popular second-home location outside the US. In Altrata’s 2025 Residential Real Estate report, London ranks just behind Miami for the share of UHNW residents who own it as a secondary home.
Translation: for global money, London is the “default European address.” If a UHNWI has New York or Miami, London is often the next chess piece.
Prime London pricing & performance
Across the UK, Knight Frank now expects cumulative price growth of ~22.8% over five years, with Greater London forecast around 18.2% on improving interest-rate conditions.
In Prime Central London (PCL) specifically, prices were slightly negative in 2024 (around -1.4% year-on-year at one point), but that was the narrowest decline in over a year and is widely framed as late-cycle discounting rather than structural weakness.
At the top end, the £10m+ segment actually saw activity increase: one report cited a 45% rise in offers on PCL homes versus 2023, as buyers moved in on softer pricing.
So on paper: short-term price wobble, long-term demand intact, and the ultra-rich using that window to upgrade.
Why UHNWIs still love London
Capital + culture + time-zone trifecta
London is the main European financial hub, with deep banking, legal, and wealth-management infrastructure that UHNW families need for cross-border lives.
Time-zone positioning (between US and Asia) makes it ideal as a base for global business.
Thick cultural ecosystem: schools, universities, arts, sport, dining, heritage. That matters when clients are choosing where their kids, staff, and advisors will actually live.
Second-home “anchor”
Altrata emphasizes that London stands out as a second-home city more than a primary base for many UHNWIs, especially non-UK citizens.
Think of it as the “European safe-deposit box with lifestyle attached”:
Rule of law
Relatively transparent property rights
Long history of foreign ownership in Mayfair, Belgravia, Kensington, Knightsbridge, St John’s Wood, etc.
Depth and variety of luxury stock
Everything from historic stucco townhouses around the garden squares to new-build branded residences and trophy penthouses with skyline views. Prime-stock diversity is a big reason London competes with New York. Savills’ PCL reports talk about the “enduring appeal” of these micro-markets despite short-term fluctuations.
Global luxury ecosystem
The same forces driving Bond Street to become the world’s most expensive retail street (rents up 22%, ahead of Milan and NYC) are the ones propping up high-end residential: luxury brands demand proximity to their buyers and vice versa.
Current market mood
Macro: UK interest-rate expectations have improved, and forecasted national and London-wide price growth has been revised upward for 2025–2029.
Luxury segment: Global prime prices rose about 3.6% in 2024 across tracked markets; London is in the middle of the pack, not the rocket ship, but benefitting from the broader
Final Sip
London isn’t the shiny new toy in the luxury market sandbox. It’s the sleek vintage Aston Martin that just keeps smoking the newcomers every single decade. The ultra-rich don’t flock there because it’s trendy. They flock there because it’s stable, prestigious, absurdly well-connected, and quietly unmatched in how it protects and grows serious money. When a UHNWI wants a global base that signals permanence rather than impulse, London is the move. And in a world where geopolitical stability is getting harder to find, that makes Prime Central London less of an optional flex and more of a necessary anchor. The smart money knows it. The ultra-rich live it. And anyone paying attention should probably be taking notes
