London’s empty mega-mansions are hiding a secret

Billionaire’s Row is a haven for mice, not men. [Bloomberg]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a perceived golden era of prosperity and stability for Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - Havens for the [super rich](. - India needs [a better pitch](. - [Nvidia’s rise]( is no glitch. - California’s [EV switch](. Mega-Mansions Source: Warner Bros. Pictures It sounds like an urban sequel to Saltburn: A cabal of ultra-high-net-worth foreigners are snatching up mansions in London. Served by an army of oily “[money butlers]( who are paid handsomely to make all their silver-spoon problems melt away, they treat the private clubs of Mayfair like amusement parks and turn the streets of Kensington into “[war zones]( to build luxury bunkers. And when they get bored of it all 48 hours after they arrive, they just jet off to the Mediterranean or Dubai — wherever their yacht is currently parked — and don’t return for months. Yet Adrian Wooldridge’s description of London’s [high-flying, tax-evading property buyers]( is not some fictitious plotline for Barry Keoghan to salivate over. It’s real life. And the foreign invasion is getting worse by the year, he says: It’d be one thing if rich people were moving to London and actually living there. They’d spend their money and help churn the economic butter and all that. But [the superrich]( are notoriously [flighty]( and many of the [dusty]( mega-mansions on [Billionaire’s Row]( — an ultra-exclusive enclave in North London — are [havens for mice]( not men. To make matters worse, the UK doesn’t have enough housing stock for normal people to buy their first homes, never mind providing second, third or 15th homes for the rich. The country’s housing deficit — 4.3 million houses and counting — is so bad that it would need [another London]( to fix it. As Matthew Brooker [says]( it could take years to make a dent in the numbers. New economic research illustrates the dilemma, Adrian says: It estimates that “almost $240 billion worth of UK properties were held from abroad in 2018, 60% by corporations rather than private individuals. This amounts to about 4% of the total housing stock in England and Wales but is heavily concentrated in London, particularly central and northwest parts of the city. … More than three-quarters of these properties were owned through tax havens — primarily Jersey and the British Virgin Islands.” Hedge-fund types hailing from [America,]( the [Middle East]( [Africa]( and [India]( are primarily responsible. Nigerians own more than £250 million worth of homes and apartments in London through 166 offshore companies, according to this [analysis]( by Finance Uncovered. Earlier this year, Qatar’s prime minister [sold]( his £39 million Mayfair mansion to a family member. And the world’s most-expensive home for sale — [The Holme]( in Regent’s Park, previously owned by members of the Saudi royal family — is on the market again after [a loan expired](. If I were a betting gal, I’d say the odds of an actual Londoner shelling out £210 million for a 45-room Regency mansion located in a royal park are rather low. It [could]( happen! But wealthy foreigners drooling over the palatial property aren’t gonna back down from a bidding war. The Holme. Photographer: Bloomberg Regardless of whether a tax-avoidant tycoon snags the residence, it’s clear that London has a problem. “Britain’s new chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves, who claims that Britain’s fiscal black hole is even bigger than her worst estimates suggested, should focus on all the global wealth that is being hidden in London real estate,” Adrian writes. It’s a no brainer, considering her other option for getting out of the black hole involves imposing more taxes on London-bound commuters — who are already paying a tax, in time and peace of mind, because they can no longer afford to live in London. Bonus UK Trouble Reading: Solving [the NHS crisis]( will be critical not only for [Labour’s fortunes]( but also for the UK economy. — Matthew Brooker Family Lore They say to never to mix business with family, which is probably why I’m writing this newsletter and not [selling you a Corvette]( right now. (Hi, Dad!) But politicians in Southeast Asia don’t necessarily heed that advice, because Karishma Vaswani says power in the region “is at risk of being concentrated in the hands of an exclusive club of entrenched clans.” Although there are political dynasties everywhere — see [Kennedy]( family comma, America’s [unending]( [obsession]( with — there are some particularly disturbing Nepo babies in Asia. “Take the Philippines, where clans have controlled money and wielded influence dating [back]( to colonial times,” she writes. “The current president, Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr., is the son of the former [autocrat]( [Ferdinand Marcos](. During a reporting trip to Manila for the 2022 election, I was struck by the number of ordinary Filipinos who had conveniently forgotten the [corruption]( and avarice of his regime, toppled amid street protests in [1986]( after [two decades]( in power. Instead, they chose to believe in a social media narrative that the younger Marcos would bring back a perceived golden era of prosperity and stability.” In Thailand, meanwhile, the 38-year-old daughter of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra — who [lost]( in a coup in 2006! — was just appointed to his old job. In Cambodia, strongman [Hun Sen]( gave his son a turn after spending four decades in the ring. And in Indonesia, the outgoing president’s son is scheming his way to the top, albeit with [little success]( so far. “In the past, kings and queens would fight wars to ensure their children would inherit the throne. But they were not elected leaders, and their subjects had no choice but to put up with them. That is not the case in democracies today,” Karishma says. Speaking of democracy: Mihir Sharma [says]( India is struggling with a more muted kind of favoritism: “The Indian Administrative Service, the elite bureaucrats who are constitutionally required to make every decision of consequence in the country, number only about 5,000 officers,” he writes. And they’re rather bad at their jobs, it seems: “Officers spend their careers shuttling between ministries and postings. Education policy for hundreds of millions of people might well be made by someone who had just spent three years negotiating agricultural exports to the West.” “In a very real way, Indians still live under the Raj. The current system is essentially unchanged since it was designed by the British to bring control, rather than governance, to an unruly and diverse subcontinent,” he says. And who, in pray tell, led the British back then? That would be [King George V]( Queen Elizabeth II’s great, great grandfather. Telltale Charts I know this is the official [unofficial]( Last Week of Summer, with many of my colleagues on vacation, but John Authers is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for Wednesday afternoon’s Nvidia earnings. His [latest deep dive]( into the chipmaker will cause your jaw to hit the floor more than once. “The biggest issue confronting Nvidia is how long it can maintain monopoly status,” he writes. “The history of technological innovation suggests that monopolists tend not to stay that way forever; either someone undercuts them on price, or the technology leaps ahead of them.” California often takes a “[ban-first-ask-questions-later]( approach to environmental regulation. In 2014, for instance, it outlawed single-use plastic bags, only to see [reusable bags]( pile up in the garbage. A similar phenomenon seems to be happening with the state’s EV efforts: “In proposing that oil companies there [hold a minimum stockpile]( of fuels, the state is also, and less obviously, seeking insurance against the complications of its own energy policies,” Liam Denning [writes](. Those two goals — kill off gasoline demand and keep gasoline suppliers engaged — are at odds with each other! “As our established energy system’s economics get eroded, we need mechanisms, ranging from auctions to outright subsidies, to ensure it continues functioning,” he argues. Further Reading I still think accounting is cool. But [nobody else]( seems to agree. — Matt Levine A [gym chain]( favored by Hong Kong bankers has an asset-liability problem. — Shuli Ren If Europe’s [gas stockpiles]( are growing and demand is dropping, why are prices so high? — Javier Blas Let’s answer one of the most [important questions]( in US economic history: What happened in 1971? — Tyler Cowen Suing Shari Redstone over [the Paramount mess]( just got a whole lot harder. — Chris Hughes ICYMI Mariah Carey’s mom and sister [died]( on the same day. Jack Smith filed [a superseding indictment]( in the Jan. 6 case. Trump’s team is [running TV ads]( at Mar-a-Lago to please him. This Los Angeles jail could be [a deathtrap]( in an earthquake. Kickers [A bookworm burglar]( got caught. [A group chat]( to end all group chats. [This cheeseburger]( fueled the Manhattan Project. [Aubrey Plaza]( eye-rolled her way to Hollywood fame. Notes: Please send green chile cheeseburgers and feedback to Jessica Karl at jkarl9@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Threads]( [TikTok]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( and [Facebook](. Follow Us Stay updated by saving our new email address Our email address is changing, which means you’ll be receiving this newsletter from noreply@news.bloomberg.com. Here’s how to update your contacts to ensure you continue receiving it: - Gmail: Open an email from Bloomberg, click the three dots in the top right corner, select “Mark as important.” - Outlook: Right-click on Bloomberg’s email address and select “Add to Outlook Contacts.” - Apple Mail: Open the email, click on Bloomberg’s email address, and select “Add to Contacts” or “Add to VIPs.” - Yahoo Mail: Open an email from Bloomberg, hover over the email address, click “Add to Contacts.” Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. 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