Celebs & Politicians: Property Investment Insights

As a landlord, however modest your property investment, you’re rubbing shoulders with some of the country’s best-known politicians and celebrities.

A trawl of MPs' interests revealed that 108 of them had an interest in renting property during a debate about the progress of the controversial Renters (Reform) Bill.

Ministers blamed a clique of these MPs for slowing the Bill’s progress at Westminster and ultimately watering down or delaying some of its proposed buy-to-let law changes.

But politicians aren’t the only ones with a penchant for property.

Some of the nation’s best-known faces in entertainment and sport have invested their earnings in property, along with 2.5 million other landlords, who own 4.4 million properties worth trillions of pounds.

Singer and soccer star landlords

International superstar singer and strummer Ed Sheeran tops most people’s property investor lists. His management company, Maverick Properties, holds many of his 25 property investments.

The latest accounts posted in September 2023 show the company owns property worth £35.9 million - up from £34.4 million a year earlier.

Despite his local boy fame, Sheeran has been fighting with his neighbours to extend and refurbish his homes.

Football stars David Beckham and Robbie Fowler have scored with their property investments.

Former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder Beckham and his wife, Victoria, own just two high-end properties worth around £37 million. One is a fancy Cotswold country estate, and the other is a posh pad in London.

Fowler is on the other end of the market, owning a reputed 150 buy-to-let homes valued at an estimated £36 million, mainly around his home city of Liverpool and the North-West.

Ageing rocker Mick Jagger is another high-end investor who is gaining satisfaction from property. He owns two UK properties with an estimated value of £37 million, plus homes in Los Angeles, France and the Caribbean hideaway island of Mustique.

Millionaire superstars

Harry Potter wizard Daniel Radcliffe has built up a decent portfolio of rental homes, with £10 million or so invested in well-to-do London neighbourhoods like Fulham. His influence has also spread overseas, with property in New York.

Take That and solo singer Robbie Williams splashed out on a £7 million 46-bedroom monster of a property in one of London’s plushest neighbourhoods, Holland Park. The property was rented for an astonishing £40,000 a week.

The singer has had rows with his Led Zeppelin guitarist neighbour Jimmy Page over plans to extend the property.

Other celebrities with property investments include singer Adele, who owns five properties worth £31.2 million; movie actor and singer Harry Styles, who holds a property worth £29.3 million; and musician Elton John, who has a portfolio worth almost £7 million.

Other notable investors are Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who owns properties worth £7.8 million; model Kate Moss, who has investments worth £11.9 million; and comedian Ricky Gervais, who has a £18.8 million.

UK’s biggest private landlords

As a comparison, the UK’s biggest private landlord is Grainger plc. The company owns 9,100 rental properties and plans to develop another 8,850 build-to-rent homes.

Lloyds Bank is also laying the foundations for becoming a significant housing provider. Over the next decade, the bank wants to buy 50,000 homes under the Citra Living brand. Another big player in build-to-rent is department store John Lewis, which plans to build 10,000 new homes during the next ten years.