Desperate rich Brits seeking homes abroad in record numbers, say estate agents

Super-rich Brits are looking at properties in popular expat destinations in record numbers, several leading estate agents have told City AM, as they prepare to flee “in desperation” from any punitive measures introduced at next week’s Budget.

Enquiries to luxury property specialist Christies International Real Estate Dubai have trebled in recent months, one agent said, while Portuguese estate agents Cerro Novo and DDM both claimed interest from rich Brits was at levels not seen since the pandemic.

“The new government is a factor that’s coming up a lot,” said Jackie Johns, managing director of Christie’s international premier estates Dubai. “People don’t know the direction it’s going to take, and that’s making them uneasy. They would rather say, ‘let me go somewhere where I know that my hard-earned money is going to be staying with me.’

“Those initial conversations with us, where they’re sussing everything out, have trebled in volume.”

Dubai has become a popular destination for UK emigres in recent years because it has no personal income tax or capital gains levy. Until recently it had largely attracted young expats looking to build a career.

But Johns said that not only are the numbers of enquiries and purchases rising, but the type of buyer that is enquiring about them has also changed.

“A lot of the clients that I’m seeing just now are investment bankers and people in the health sector that have been running hospitals,” she said, adding safety was a particular priority on top of the favourable tax conditions.

Where are rich Brits fleeing to?

Johns’s comments, which reflect recent studies showing the UK is expected to lose the highest number of millionaires in the world in the next four years, were echoed by real estate bosses based in Portugal.

Speaking at a Moving to Portugal event put on by the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce for the UK (PCCUK), Gerry Fagan, chairman at Algarve estate agent DDM, told City AM: “People are coming up to us today, almost in desperation, saying, ‘We’re not expecting good news from the Budget, our wealth is in danger, and we want to consider moving to Portugal. Portugal seems to be a very obvious place to move where you can protect your wealth.'”

Organisers said the event, which has been running twice yearly since 2018 and helps put potential expats in touch with professionals who can facilitate a move, was the busiest it’s ever been.

The event was held as speculation around the measures that Rachel Reeves will introduce at her first Budget on 30 October reaches fever pitch. Financial advisors have warned families to prepare for a ‘devastating’ raid on inheritance tax, while it has been widely rumoured that the new Chancellor is weighing up big rises to capital gains tax and is reviewing the way the government taxes pensions.

Rises are widely expected to target businesses and wealth, after Labour pledged not to raise taxes for “working people”.

Robert Edwards, a partner at a separate Algarve real estate firm Cerro Novo, said the number of expats that had already moved from the UK was so high that the private schools in the area were full.

Portugal has become a popular destination for wealthy immigrants in recent years, thanks to several schemes introduced to attract wealthy and high-earning residents from abroad. Its Digital Nomad scheme, which allows Brits who earn above roughly £3,000 a month to move to Portugal for up to five years paying tax to the UK exchequer, has also been popular among young workers.

Meanwhile its Non-Habitual Residents Scheme enables high net worth individuals to enjoy lower tax rates on Portuguese income and allows exemptions on foreign income.

But when asked whether the pull factors of generous schemes outweighed the push factors from the UK, Edwards told City AM: “The push factors are very important – people want to have control over their finances.”