Under our legal system, the Monarch (currently King Charles III), as head of state, owns the superior interest in all land in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The largest entity owning and managing land in the UK is the Forestry Commission (Forestry and Land Scotland, Forestry England and Natural Resources Wales) – with some 890,000 hectares under its control.
The government (together with its QUANGOs) is the biggest land owner by area, the Forestry Commission owning some 2,200,000 acres (890,000 ha), the MoD 1,101,851 acres (445,903 ha), the Crown Estate 678,420 acres (274,550 ha), DEFRA 116,309 acres (47,069 ha) and Homes England 19,349 acres (7,830 ha).
Our findings. The data shows that 181,701 titles across England & Wales are now registered to individuals with an overseas correspondence address, representing 0.7% of all registered titles. This number has more than doubled since 2010, when such individuals owned around 0.25% of all titles in England & Wales.
Which nationality owns the most property in the UK?
1. Main facts and figures
in the 2 years to March 2023, an average of 65% of households in England owned their own homes.
70% of White British households owned their own homes – the highest percentage out of all ethnic groups, followed by households in the Indian ethnic group (68%)
In sharp contrast, home-ownership is most common for people who identify as Indian (71%) and for those in the white UK group (68%), with similarly high figures for the white Irish (67%), Pakistani (65%) and Chinese (64%) groups.
White Americans, by comparison, own more than 98 percent of U.S. land amounting to 856 million acres with a total worth of over $1 trillion. CNN founder Ted Turner alone owns over 2 million acres of land according to Forbes magazine.
The aristocracy and landed gentry still own around 30% of England, whilst the country's homeowners own just 5% of the land. The public sector owns around 8% of England; the country's 24 non-Royal Dukes own a million acres of Britain.
As of the year ending June 2022, there were an estimated 10,388,000 people in England and Wales who were not born in the UK. This accounts for approximately 14.8% of the total UK population.
How much of the world has the British Empire owned?
By the end of the 19th century, the British Empire comprised nearly one-quarter of the world's land surface and more than one-quarter of its total population. The idea of limited self-government for some of Britain's colonies was first recommended for Canada by Lord Durham in 1839.
The United Kingdom has a highly efficient and strong social security system, which comprises roughly 24.5% of GDP. The service sector dominates, contributing 82% of GDP; the financial services industry is particularly important, and London is the second-largest financial centre in the world.
The largest landowner in the world currently is King Charles III of England. How much land does the Royal Family own? He and the British Royal Family own more than 6,600,000,000 acres of land around the world. They technically own many territories around the globe, amounting to 1/6 of the surface of the planet.
His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The government is led by the prime minister (Keir Starmer since 5 July 2024) who selects all the other ministers.
Drawing a parallel with its colonial history, social media users said at least Indians did it “legally”. A recent report by a leading London property developer, Barratt London, revealed that Indians have become London's largest property owners, surpassing native British residents.
Land ownership in England and Wales is based on historical feudal principles. The Crown owns all land in England and Wales; people own estates in land either directly or indirectly from the Crown (for example, a freehold estate or a leasehold estate).
India, Poland, Pakistan, Romania, and Ireland were the most common countries of birth among UK migrants in 2021/22. Together, the top five countries of origin accounted for 32% of all those born abroad. Family was the most common reason for coming to the UK among the foreign-born population in 2022, followed by work.
Even as the nation's immigrant population has declined in recent months – a change that may be partly artificial due to a declining survey response rate among immigrants – the U.S. is home to more immigrants than any other country.
Because of strict transparency restrictions on Land Registry records, there is no public map of registered land. However, no such restrictions apply to the 5 million acres of unregistered land. Typically this land belongs to wealthy families, old institutions, the Church, or the Crown (learn more).
About 30% of homes are owned outright by their occupants, and a further 40% are owner-occupied on a mortgage. Around 18% are social housing of some kind, and the remaining 12% are privately rented.
With her 6.6 billion acres, Elizabeth II is far and away the world's largest landowner, with the closest runner-up (King Abdullah) holding control over a mere 547 million, or about 12% of the lands owned by Her Majesty, The Queen.
Nationwide, single women own 11.14 million homes, while single men own only 8.42 million. That means single women control 13.01% of owner-occupied homes, compared to 9.83% for single men. This gendered homeownership gap is also growing. In 2022, the difference stood at 2.71 million homes.
Which countries own the most land in the U.S.? China holds only about 1% of all foreign-owned land in the United States, while Canada owns nearly a third. Canada holds 31% of all foreign owned land, with the Netherlands and Italy following with 12 and 7% respectively.
