House prices vary widely in the United Kingdom (UK), but housing in certain cities and counties is substantially pricier than in others. Surrey, for example, concentrated four of the most expensive towns to buy a home, including Virginia Water, Cobham, and Esher. With an average house price of over one million British pounds as of June 2024, housing in these towns cost roughly four times the national average. How did house prices change since the COVID-19 pandemic? Since the start of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, demand for housing has been especially high, causing house prices to soar. Among major UK cities, the house price increase was most prominent in Belfast, where it rose by 5.5 percent in 2024. According to the UK House Price Index, the average annual house price increase on a national level was even higher. How long does it take to sell a house? With the demand for housing going strong and inventory running low, aspiring homeowners need to act faster than ever when making an offer on a home. The average number of days on market has continued shortening since the start of 2021 and was a little over a month as of October 2021. Surprisingly, selling a property took the longest in the UK’s most competitive market - London.

The gross domestic product per capita of London was 57,338 British pounds in 2022, far larger than that of other major cities in England, such as Manchester which had a GDP per capita of 31,178 pounds.

This GLA Intelligence Update takes a brief look at evidence around the wealth gap in London and examines how this has changed in recent years.

Key Findings

• There is a significant gap between the rich and poor in London, both in terms of their wealth and their income.
• A higher proportion of the wealthiest households are in the South East of England than in London.
• Pension wealth accounts for more than half the wealth of the richest ten per cent of the population.
• In London, the tenth of the population with the highest income have weekly income after housing costs of over £1,000 while people in the lowest tenth have under £94 per week.
• The gap between rich and poor is growing, with the difference between the average income for the second highest tenth and second lowest tenth growing around 14 per cent more than inflation since 2003.

Click on the report below to read

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The data included in the report is available to download here

In 2022, London had a gross domestic product of over 508 billion British pounds, by far the most of any region of the United Kingdom. The region of South East England which surrounds London had the second-highest GDP in this year, at over 341 billion pounds. North West England, which includes the major cities of Manchester and Liverpool, had the third-largest GDP among UK regions, at approximately 223.5 billion pounds. Levelling Up the UK London’s economic dominance of the UK can clearly be seen when compared to the other regions of the country. In terms of GDP per capita, the gap between London and the rest of the country is striking, standing at 57,338 pounds per person in the UK capital, compared with just over 33,593 pounds in the rest of the country. To address the economic imbalance, successive UK governments have tried to implement "levelling-up policies", which aim to boost investment and productivity in neglected areas of the country. The success of these programs going forward may depend on their scale, as it will likely take high levels of investment to reverse economic neglect regions have faced in the recent past. Overall UK GDP The gross domestic product for the whole of the United Kingdom amounted to 2.56 trillion British pounds in 2024. During this year, GDP grew by 0.9 percent, following a growth rate of 0.4 percent in 2023. Due to the overall population of the UK growing faster than the economy, however, GDP per capita in the UK fell in both 2023 and 2024. Nevertheless, the UK remains one of the world’s biggest economies, with just five countries (the United States, China, Japan, Germany, and India) having larger economies. It is it likely that several other countries will overtake the UK economy in the coming years, with Indonesia, Brazil, Russia, and Mexico all expected to have larger economies than Britain by 2050.

Humbie and Gullane in East Lothian, were two of the most expensive towns for residential property in Scotland as of February 2022. The average house price in both towns was estimated at over 500,000 British pounds. In comparison, the average house price in Scotland was almost three times lower.

Which are the most expensive streets to live in Scotland? With the average house price valued at approximately 3.6 million British pounds, Whitehouse terrace, Edinburgh EH9 was the most expensive street for residential real estate in Scotland in 2022. This was almost twice higher than in the second priciest street, Caledonian crescent Auchterarder PH3.

Compared to other regions in the UK, Scotland is affordable Though 3.6 million British pounds is an impressive figure, not all housing in Scotland falls in this price bracket. In fact, with an average house price of about 170,000 British pounds, Scotland is the third most affordable region for first-time home buyers. Furthermore, it has the second lowest rent to income ratio in the UK.

FOCUSON**LONDON**2011:**POVERTY**:THE**HIDDEN**CITY

One of the defining features of London is that it is a city of contrasts. Although it is considered one of the richest cities in the world, over a million Londoners are living in relative poverty, even before the additional costs of living in the capital are considered.

This edition of Focus on London, authored by Rachel Leeser, presents a detailed analysis of poverty in London that reveals the scale and distribution of poverty in the capital.

REPORT:

Read the full report as a PDF.

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PRESENTATION:

What do we mean by living in poverty, and how does the model affect different types of families? This interactive presentation provides some clarity on a complex concept.

CHARTS:

The motion chart shows the relationship between child poverty and worklessness at borough level, and shows how these two measures have changed since 2006. It reveals a significant reduction in workless households in Hackney (down 12 per cent), and to a lesser extent in Brent (down 7 per cent).

The bar chart shows child poverty rates and the change in child poverty since 2006. It reveals that while Tower Hamlets has the highest rate of child poverty, it also has one of the fastest falling rates (down 12 per cent), though Haringey had the biggest fall (15 per cent).

Charts

DATA:

All the data contained within the Poverty: The Hidden City report as well as the data used to create the charts and maps can be accessed in this spreadsheet.

FACTS:

Some interesting facts from the data…

● Highest proportion of children in workless households, by borough, 2010

1. Westminster – 35.6%
2. Barking and Dagenham – 33.6%
3. Lewisham – 33.1%
4. Newham – 31.4%
5. Islington – 30.6%

-31. Barnet – 9.1%

-32. Richmond upon Thames – 7.0%

● Changes in proportions of workless households, 2006-09, by borough

1. Hackney – down 12.3%
2. Brent – down 7.3%
3. Tower Hamlets – down 4.8%
4. Lambeth – down 4.2%
5. Hillingdon – down 4.1%

-31. Enfield – up 5.8%

-32. Bexley – up 7.3%

● Highest reduction in rates of child poverty 2006-09, by borough:

1. Haringey – down 15.0%
2. Newham – down 12.9%
3. Hackney – down 12.8%
4. Tower Hamlets – down 12.1%
5. Southwark – down 11.5%

-31. Bexley – up 6.0%

-32. Havering – up 10.3%

In the 3 years to March 2021, black households were most likely out of all ethnic groups to have a weekly income of under £600.

This data collection consists of 18 interview transcripts meant to explore the rationales and methods by which investors in Hong Kong buy properties in the UK. The life and impact of the residential choices of the 'super rich' has been a major strand in research by the research team. This work advanced the proposition that the upper-tier of income groups living in cities tend to exploit particular forms of service provision (such as education, cultural life and personal services), are largely distanced from the mundane flow of social life in urban areas and tend to be withdrawn from the civic life of cities more generally. Some of this work is underpinned by the literature on, for example, gated communities, but it has surprisingly been under-used as the guiding framework for close empirical work in affluent neighbourhoods, perhaps largely as a result of the perceived difficulty of working with such individuals. This project will allow us to generate insights into how super-rich neighbourhoods operate, how people come to live there and the social and economic tensions and trade-offs that exist as such processes are allowed to run. As many people question the role and value of wealth and identify inequality as a growing social problem this research will feed into public conversations and policymaker concerns about how socially vital cities can be maintained when capital investment may undermine such objectives on one level (the creation of neighbourhoods that are both exclusive and often 'abandoned' for large parts of the year), while potentially fulfilling broader ambitions at others (over tax receipts for example).Social research has tended not to focus on the super-rich, largely because they are hard to locate, and even harder to collaborate with in research. In this project we seek to address these concerns by focusing extensive research effort on the question of where and how the super-rich live and invest in the property markets of the cities of Hong Kong and London. We see these cities as exemplary in assisting in the construction of further insights and knowledge in how the super-rich seek residential investment opportunities, how they live there when they are 'at home' in such residences and how these patterns of investment shape the social, political and economic life of these cities more broadly. Given that the super-rich make such decisions on the basis of tax incentives and the attraction of major cultural infrastructure (such as galleries and theatre) we have proposed a program of research capable of offering an inside account of the practices that go to make-up these investment patterns including processes of searching for suitable property, its financing, the kinds of property deemed to be suitable and an analysis of how estate agents and city authorities seek to capitalise and retain the potentially highly mobile investment by the super-rich. In economic terms the life and functioning of rich neighbourhood spaces appears intuitively important. For example, attractive and safe spaces for captains of industry, senior figures in political and non-government organizations are often regarded as major markers of urban vitality and the foundation of social networks that may make-up the broader glue of civic and political society. Yet we know very little about how such neighbourhoods operate, who they attract and how they are linked to other cities and their neighbourhoods globally. Our aim in this research is to grapple with what might be described as the 'problem' of these super-rich neighbourhoods - sometime called the 'alpha territory' - and undertake research that will help us to understand more about the advantages and disadvantages of these kinds of property investment. The research was carried out using semi-structured interviews and participant observation at property fairs and development sites in Hong Kong and different cities in the UK. Moreover, semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore the rationales and methods by which investors in Hong Kong buy properties in the UK. Participants were recruited using searches for relevant key actors as well as accessing personal and professional networks that enabled snowballing techniques to elicit further contacts. Interviews were conducted with individual investors, local government officials, planning officers, inward investment agencies, city government officials and estate agents. Interviews were conducted in both English and Cantonese.

In 2022, the gross domestic product per capita in London was 57,338 British pounds, compared with 33,593 pounds per capita for the United Kingdom as a whole. Apart from London, the only other region of the UK that had a greater GDP per capita than the UK average was South East England, at 36,425 pounds per capita. By contrast, North East England had the lowest GDP per capita among UK regions, at 24,172 pounds. Regional imbalance in the UK economy? London's overall GDP in 2022 was over 508 billion British pounds, which accounted for almost a quarter of the overall GDP of the United Kingdom. South East England had the second-largest regional economy in the country, with a GDP of almost 341.7 billion British pounds. Furthermore, these two regions were the only ones that had higher levels of productivity (as measured by output per hour worked) than the UK average. While recent governments have recognized regional inequality as a major challenge facing the country, it may take several years for any initiatives to bear fruit. The creation of regional metro mayors across England is one of the earliest attempts at giving regions and cities in particular more power over spending in their regions than they currently have. UK economy growth slow in late 2024 After ending 2023 with two quarters of negative growth, the UK economy grew at the reasonable rate of 0.8 percent and 0.4 percent in the first and second quarters of the year. This was, however, followed by zero growth in the third quarter, and by just 0.1 percent in the last quarter of the year. Other economic indicators, such as the inflation rate, fell within the expected range in 2024, but have started to rise again, with a rate of three percent recorded in January 2025. While unemployment has witnessed a slight uptick since 2022, it is still at quite low levels compared with previous years.

United Kingdom UK: Bank Account Ownership at a Financial Institution or with a Mobile-Money-Service Provider, Richest 60%: % of Population Aged 15+ data was reported at 97.620 % in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 99.490 % for 2014. United Kingdom UK: Bank Account Ownership at a Financial Institution or with a Mobile-Money-Service Provider, Richest 60%: % of Population Aged 15+ data is updated yearly, averaging 97.620 % from Dec 2011 (Median) to 2017, with 3 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 99.490 % in 2014 and a record low of 97.599 % in 2011. United Kingdom UK: Bank Account Ownership at a Financial Institution or with a Mobile-Money-Service Provider, Richest 60%: % of Population Aged 15+ data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United Kingdom – Table UK.World Bank.WDI: Bank Account Ownership. Account denotes the percentage of respondents who report having an account (by themselves or together with someone else) at a bank or another type of financial institution or report personally using a mobile money service in the past 12 months (richest 60%, share of population ages 15+).; ; Demirguc-Kunt et al., 2018, Global Financial Inclusion Database, World Bank.; Weighted average; Each economy is classified based on the classification of World Bank Group's fiscal year 2018 (July 1, 2017-June 30, 2018).

At the turn of the twentieth century, the wealthiest one percent of people in the United Kingdom controlled 71 percent of net personal wealth, while the top ten percent controlled 93 percent. The share of wealth controlled by the rich in the United Kingdom fell throughout the twentieth century, and by 1990 the richest one percent controlled 16 percent of wealth, and the richest ten percent just over half of it.

As of 2024, the GDP per capita or gross domestic product per person was almost 52,420 U.S. dollars per person. The GDP per capita is derived from the country's total GDP divided by the population. The average or mean wealth per person in the United Kingdom (UK) was higher than the median or middle value of wealth per person living in the UK.

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This statistic illustrates the number of millionaire (HNWI, UHNWI) and billionaire individuals in the United Kingdom (UK) in selected years from 2013 to 2018 and a forecast for 2023, by wealth bracket. The high, ultra-high and billionaire's population grew steadily throughout time, with projection to increase approximately 19 percent, 21 percent and 24 percent respectively by 2023 in comparison to 2018.

According to the Hurun Global Rich List 2024, China housed the highest number of billionaires worldwide in 2024. In detail, there were 814 billionaires living in China as of January that year. By comparison, 800 billionaires resided in the United States. India, the United Kingdom, and Germany were also the homes of a significant number of billionaires that year. United States lost its first place As the founder and exporter of consumer capitalism, it is no surprise that the United States is home to a large number of billionaires. However, the United States has lost their place as the country with the most billionaires in the world to China. This rise of billionaires in China has coincided with the liberalization of its economy and successive high growth rates. However, North America still leads the way in terms of the highest number of ultra high net worth individuals – those with a net worth of more than fifty million U.S. dollars. The prominence of Europe and North America is a reflection of the higher degree of economic development in those states. However, this may also change as China and other emerging economies continue developing. Female billionaires Moreover, the small proportion of female billionaires does little to counter critics claiming the global economy is dominated by an elite comprised mainly of men. On the list of the 20 richest people in the world, only one was a woman. Moreover, recent political discourse has put a great amount of attention on the wealth held by the super-rich with the wealth distribution of the global population being heavily unequal.

In 2023, there were estimated to be approximately 3,061 dollar millionaires among the adult population of the United Kingdom (UK), compared to 2,556 in the previous year.

As of 2022, from the almost 70 million people living in the United Kingdom (UK), 2,556 people were considered to be U.S. dollar millionaires. 2,227 UK citizens were thought to be in the top one percent of global wealth holders.

The city of Paris in France had an estimated gross domestic product of 757.6 billion Euros in 2021, the most of any European city. Paris was followed by the spanish capital, Madrid, which had a GDP of 237.5 billion Euros, and the Irish capital, Dublin at 230 billion Euros. Milan, in the prosperous north of Italy, had a GDP of 228.4 billion Euros, 65 billion euros larger than the Italian capital Rome, and was the largest non-capital city in terms of GDP in Europe. The engine of Europe Among European countries, Germany had by far the largest economy, with a gross domestic product of over 4.18 trillion Euros. The United Kingdom or France have been Europe's second largest economy since the 1980s, depending on the year, with forecasts suggesting France will overtake the UK going into the 2020s. Germany however, has been the biggest European economy for some time, with five cities (Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, Stuttgart and Frankfurt) among the 15 largest European cities by GDP. Europe's largest cities In 2023, Moscow was the largest european city, with a population of nearly 12.7 million. Paris was the largest city in western Europe, with a population of over 11 million, while London was Europe's third-largest city at 9.6 million inhabitants.

Dieter Schwarz, according to Forbes, was the wealthiest person in Germany as of 2025, with assets amounting to around 38.5 billion U.S. dollars. Dieter Schwarz is the owner of the Schwarz Gruppe, which owns both the supermarket chains Kaufland and Lidl. Klaus-Michael Kühne follows in second place. Among other things, he is the majority owner of the logistics company Kühne + Nagel International AG. Who are the richest people in Germany? Dieter Schwarz is the owner of the Schwarz Gruppe, which owns both the supermarket chains Kaufland and Lidl. In 2023, the Schwarz Gruppe recorded around 56.55 million euros in revenue. Karl Albrecht Jr. is the owner of the popular discount grocery store chain Aldi Süd. As of 2023, there were over 2,000 Aldi Süd stores in Germany. This, of course, does not include all the stores in other countries such as Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Australia, just to name a few. German salaries Germany currently has the highest GDP in Europe. However, this does not mean that everyone in Germany is a billionaire. The average salary is, in fact, around 48,380 euros. Although the trend is that German salaries have been on the rise since 2000, there has been a dip since 2019. This is probably due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the inflation of 2022.

This statistic shows the highest valued towns in Wales as of June 2021, by average property value in British pounds. The town of Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan has the highest average property value of any town in Wales with an average house price of approximately 452,000 British pounds.