Credit: Boys in Bristol Photography from Pexels

The number of luxury, detached homes in England and Wales owned through offshore companies has fallen dramatically in the last decade, likely as a result of a government transparency drive, UCL researchers say.

In a new study published in Environment and Planning B , the researchers found that overseas ownership of single properties dropped by 17% between 2015 and 2025, from around 36,000 units to around 30,000. At the same time, investment in multi-property units increased by 8% from about 66,000 units to about 71,000 units. Overall, overseas ownership of residential properties in England and Wales has hovered between about 1.2% and 1.4% of total titles during this time.

In 2015, the U.K. government began regularly releasing the "Overseas Companies that Own Property in England and Wales Dataset," containing comprehensive information on offshore-owned property investments. However, the inconsistency of the data's format made it very difficult to use.…