One of the UK’s most exclusive private estates risks turning into a ‘ghost town’ as super-rich families leave the country and people there are even selling off belongings, experts say.
The private gated St George’s Hill estate in Weybridge, Surrey, has been home to ex-Beatles John Lennon and Sir Ringo Starr, more rock’n’roll knights Sir Elton John and Sir Tom Jones and sporting aces such as Sue Barker and Jenson Button.
It has also increasingly been a preserve of Russian oligarchs, who have come under mounting pressure in recent years to shift assets amid the ongoing Ukraine war.
Leading pawnbroker James Constantinou has highlighted suspicions that as many as a quarter of homes on the estate 23km south-west of London now lie empty.
Meanwhile, his business has been swamped with the former residents selling their valuables before they flock abroad – with Russian oligarchs said to be among those rushing to move away from their homes on the estate and shift assets.
New pictures taken show a significant number of properties have been boarded up behind large but temporary wooden gates complete with padlocks.
Other houses that have been uncovered suggest significant decay with cracked facades, empty driveways and overgrown gardens.
On Rightmove, 30 individual properties have been listed by local estate agents, as millionaire property owners look to sell up.
Fears have been raised that private estate St George’s Hill in Weybridge, Surrey, risks becoming a ‘ghost town’ as ultra-wealthy homeowner sell up
Among more than 30 properties on the estate listed for sale is Park Hill, valued at £19.5million
Local agents have told the Daily Mail that there have been concerns among local homeowners and potential buyers, especially ahead of and after under-fire Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ much-criticised Budget last week.
They downplayed some concerns of a potential ‘ghost town’ in Weybridge – though acknowledged a potential exodus of wealthy Russians from the 964-acre, 250-property estate.
Ms Reeves revealed last Wednesday that people with homes valued at more than £2million could face an annual tax bill of up to £7,500.
At St George’s Hill, 10 of the most premium listings have been listed by multiple companies as rich owners attempt to sell their sprawling homes.
Mr Constantinou, CEO and founder of Posh Pawn Brokers said: ‘A lot of people are coming into us, who are packing up to leave, so they’re selling all their belongings.
‘Unfortunately, there’s not the buyers out there buying the belongings, so, they’re not making a fraction of what they thought they would make from a watch, a piece of art, some wine collection we’ve had in.
‘I’m local to Weybridge and St George’s Hill at the minute is probably one of the most prestigious estates in the country, but is 25 per cent empty.
‘So, if you calculate that across the whole of the UK and all these big mansions, I mean, there’s just people leaving, people are packing up.
Visitors have told of properties being boarded up or undergoing major construction works
Leading pawnbroker James Constantinou has highlighted suspicions that as many as a quarter of homes on the estate 23km south-west of London now lie empty
‘I’m getting calls from my agents offering me stuff that’s 30 per cent down on maybe three years ago.
‘I just looked at a plot in Burwood Park which is the next estate in Weybridge, and I was offered it for two million and I know for a fact it was on for 3.7, not that long ago.
‘So there’s people just stuck and leaving basically and the byproduct of that is the cleaners and gardeners.’
He told of a local gardener coming in with a Rolex gifted to him by his father, with Mr Constantinou adding: ‘He used to look after about four or five houses up from George’s Hill but he’s not working any more – they’re moving out of all their posh mansions and leaving gardeners and cleaners.
‘I speak to the agents, so they tell me that their clients are selling up and a lot of the houses on the market are people leaving the country due to tax implications, the tax on second homes and wealth tax.
‘It’s as bad as it can get. I would compare it to the Lehman Brothers crash [during the 2008 financial crisis], to be honest with you – it was just crazy times and I’m seeing that again now.
‘So I would say it’s as bad, maybe worse, because it’s affecting the very wealthy, the super wealthy, who are leaving and in turn that affects the average man on the street who no longer has those clients he can service for his trades, whether it’s a gardener, cleaner or whatever.
‘We’ve had a lot of art, number plates, things that people can’t take with them. Some of my clients paid 50 to 60 grand for these number plates – and they’re lucky to get sort of five or ten at the moment.’
The 964-acre St George’s Hill estate in Weybridge, Surrey, is among the UK’s most exclusive
Park Lane Developments have had properties for sale on the St George’s Hill estate including ones named The Tiled House sold for £4million and Caspian House currently valued at £11.955million and on the market.
Xander Allman-Varty, from the firm, told the Daily Mail: ‘The biggest concern lately has been, we’ve had all this uncertainty about the Budget.
‘We had a surge of viewings on the day after the Budget – it seems a lot of people were sitting on their hands waiting to see what would come from that. All the uncertainty was worse than the news itself.’
He insisted it was ‘quite a prosperous year in St George’s Hill’ with ‘some quite big sales’, adding: ‘When you’re talking about numbers like these prices, sales can be quite sporadic. Things can be quite quiet for a while – then all of a sudden you get three in a row.
‘With these numbers, people living here are quite unaffected by the cost of living and that kind of thing – the increase in council tax thresholds, because they’re already paying that on properties this expensive.
‘St George’s Hill – well, now the Budget’s out of the way, and Christmas is always a bit of a slow time.’
With more than 30 homes currently listed for sale on sites such as Rightmove, he added: ‘I can’t really speak on why some of those properties are on the market but I would suggest it’s more to do with the nationality of the people who own those homes.
‘Russia, yes – people wanting to get their money out of the country, rather than Labour tax rises.’
More than 450 properties are present on the estate, about 23km south-west of London
Mr Allman-Varty described ‘ghost town’ talk as ‘a big exaggeration’.
He insisted: ‘St George’s Hill is a really nice place to live and it will always have a thriving community.
‘And we’ve had a little bit of a resurgence of domestic buyers on the estate.
‘One sold in May 2024 to a domestic couple. A lot of interest recently has been domestic.
‘Two other properties just outside the estate both went for £6.5million, to domestic couples.
‘There’s been an interest, since Covid, people wanting to come down the A3, out of south-west London.’
Among properties previously on sale on the estate was John Lennon’s sprawling former mansion named Kenwood, which he bought for £20,000 in 1964.
He wrote Beatles classics including I Am The Walrus in the attic and other songs are thought to have been penned there including Day Tripper, Ticket To Ride and In My Life.
He then sold the six-bedroom house for £40,000 in December 1968 – double what he paid for it.
It more recently went on sale for £8.95million in 2020, just two years after it was last sold.
Among the homes currently listed for sale are £19.5million Park Hill, described by estate agents online as ‘arguably one of the finest houses on St George’s Hill’.
Kenwood was the Weybridge home of John and Cynthia Lennon at the height of the Beatles’ career in the 1960s. Kenwood lies in 1.5 acres on the private St George’s Hill Estate
Cynthia and John are pictured with their son Julian at their home in Kenwood in 1964
Landscaped gardens and grounds at Kenwood have featured York stone, split level entertaining terraces, low box hedging, specimen plants and herbaceous borders
One description calls it ‘a magnificent eight bedroom estate set in about 2.6 acres of exquisitely landscaped, lily pond gardens on St George’s Hill’s premier road’ and ‘designed for both grand entertaining and effortless family living’.
Potential buyers are told: ‘Tucked away behind electric security gates, this exceptional property occupies a substantial plot of around 2.3 acres which is flat, private and enjoys stunning mature trees and landscaping.’
Valued still higher is a nearby property worth an estimated £23.5million, with a listing saying: ‘Ambassadorial proportions with elevated views across the golf course. Simply one of the best houses on St George’s Hill.’
Yet visitors to the gated estate have pointed out how many properties appear to be boarded up, empty or undergoing major reconstruction works.
One witness described one by saying: ‘The driveway and front gardens of the house were overgrown and unkempt. It looked more like an abandoned house.’
They added of another: ‘The green barrier board gates were open. Inside was temporary metal barrier fencing, a drilling device and a Toyota truck parked by the property.’
Signs advertising the names and numbers of estate agency firms are also standing outside a series of properties on the estate.
The St George’s Hill property Park Hill has been described in online estate agency listings as ‘arguably one of the finest houses on St George’s Hill
In recent years there have been protests by locals over Russian oligarchs living on the estate that has been dubbed the ‘Beverley Hills of Britain’.
More than a quarter of the 430 mansions inside St George’s Hill are thought to have been bought by Russian tycoons over the past two decades.
It has also been rumoured that Russian president Vladimir Putin’s eldest daughter Maria Faassen has been among those owning a home inside the village.
Billionaire former Labour donor Lakshmi Mittal is among the tycoons who have quit Britain this year, it was revealed last month.
The Indian-born steel tycoon will now reportedly spend much of the future in Dubai and is registered as a resident in Switzerland for tax.
Mr Mittal had become disillusioned with changes to inheritance tax, which means his assets overseas are now subject to the levy, according to an adviser familiar to the move.
The businessman has already splashed out £152.7million for a baroque mansion at Emirates Hill in Dubai, dubbed the ‘Beverly Hills of the Middle East’.
He becomes the latest to join the billionaire exodus of Britain alongside Revolut boss Nikolay Storonsky and Nassef Sawiris, the Egyptian co-owner of Aston Villa FC.
Rachel Reeves with Nikolay Storonsky at the opening of Revolut’s new London HQ last month, which she hailed as a ‘vote of confidence’ in the UK
Mr Mittal and his family are estimated to have a fortune of £14.9billion, which put him seventh on a UK rich list last year.
‘The issue was inheritance tax,’ one adviser familiar with the Mittals’ move told The Times.
‘Many wealthy people from overseas cannot understand why all of their assets, wherever they are in the world, should be subject to inheritance tax imposed by the UK Treasury.
‘People in this situation feel they have little choice but to leave and are either sad or angry to be doing so.’
And the boss of Revolut has also recently joined Britain’s billionaire exodus by changing his residency from the UK to the United Arab Emirates.
Nikolay Storonsky, who co-founded the fintech before growing it into the country’s biggest start-up worth £56bn, revealed the move in a filing for his family office.
And a leading tax and immigration advisor to the ultra-wealthy has now told the Daily Mail of the concerns because raised by his ultra-wealthy clients – with many tempted to quit Britain, with one saying: ‘London’s nice, but it’s not that nice.’
David Lesperance, of Lesperance and Associates, described how rich businesspeople based here were alarmed by potential rises to capital gains tax and inheritance tax as well as a potential ‘exit levy’ – put off for now, but feared ahead.
Nassef Sawiris, the Egyptian co-owner of Aston Villa FC, shifted his tax residency to Italy – according to legal documents revealed in April
He described what he called ‘life inertia’ for those who would appreciate the existing benefits of living in the UK, especially with families.
Yet he warned that many more of the biggest contributors to Britain’s tax revenues were increasingly tempted to depart.
Mr Lesperance said: ‘Some people might think, “Don’t let the door hit you on your way out”.
‘But it’s bad for everyone in the UK if you’re counting on their tax revenues.’
