London has suffered a bigger exodus of the super-wealthy than any city in the world except for Moscow, new data shows.
An annual report on global wealth revealed the capital lost 11,300 dollar millionaires in just 12 months.
This includes 18 centimillionaires — an individual with a net worth of $100 million or more (£78 million) — and two billionaires.
The decline has been attributed to tax rises under the Conservative and Labour governments, failure to recover from the 2008 recession, economic uncertainty following Brexit and the fall in the value of the pound.
However, the research was conducted before the recent rout in the stock market following US President Donald Trump's trade tariff rollout.
Rachel Reeves’ crackdown on non-doms — people who live in the UK but have their permanent tax address registered abroad — has also sent millionaires packing.
The Chancellor’s reforms could cost the UK more than £10 billion a year in lost economic growth, totalling £111bn over the next decade, according to the Adam Smith Institute think-tank.
The study, which was conducted for migration consultancy Henley & Partners by intelligence firm New World Wealth, defines wealth as “liquid investable” assets, which includes cash, bonds and shares but excludes property.
London, which now has 215,700 millionaires, is one of only two cities in the top 50 — the other being Moscow — that has fewer rich individuals than a decade ago.
In total, the capital has lost 12 per cent of its wealthiest residents since 2014, while Moscow has lost 25 per cent.
Many millionaires have left the Russian capital due to the Western sanctions and political instability amid Vladimir Putin’s 2022 illegal invasion of Ukraine.
However, in absolute terms, London has lost more millionaires than anywhere else, with about 30,000 departing the city over the past ten years, compared with 10,000 fleeing Moscow.
Despite London losing so many elites, it still ranks as the fourth most expensive city to live in, with property prices per square metre higher than anywhere else other than Hong Kong, New York and Monaco.
From the 1950s to early 2000s, Britain, and London in particular, was one of the world’s top destinations for migrating millionaires and it has been popular among rich families from mainland Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
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London has lost more millionaires than anywhere else, with 30,000 departing the capital over the past ten years
But Andrew Amoils, Head of Research at New World Wealth, said high taxes in the UK relative to other countries had encouraged many wealthy investors to leave London for rival cities, such as Paris and Dubai.
“Capital gains tax and estate duty rates [IHT] in the UK are amongst the highest in the world, which deters wealthy business owners and retirees from living there,” Mr Amolis said.
“It’s worth noting that most of the companies on the FTSE 100 were started by centimillionaires, so the loss of these individuals has a massive impact on an economy.”
He added: “The growing dominance of America and Asia in the global hi-tech space has caused wealthy tech entrepreneurs in the UK to reconsider their base location.”
Mr Amolis also believes that the “dwindling importance” of the London Stock Exchange is another significant factor.
“The LSE was once the largest stock market in the world by market capitalisation but it now ranks 11th globally,” he said.
The continued ascendance of nearby financial hubs has eroded London’s status as Europe’s top financial centre
“The past two decades has been particularly poor, with a large number of companies de-listings and relatively few new IPOs (Initial public offerings).
“The continued ascendance of nearby financial hubs such as Dubai, Paris, Geneva, Frankfurt and Amsterdam has eroded London’s status as Europe’s top financial centre.”
Overall, New York is ranked as the richest city in the world with 384,500 millionaires, followed by San Francisco, home to Silicon Valley’s tech giants.
Manchester is the only other British city to make the top 50, in 46th place with 23,400 millionaires.
Commenting on the report, Henley & Partners’ chief executive Juerg Steffen said: “A clear pattern is emerging in 2025: cities that blend investment freedom with lifestyle dividends are winning the competition for mobile capital.
“These urban centres share common DNA — robust legal frameworks, sophisticated financial infrastructure and, perhaps most critically, investment migration programmes that welcome global talent and capital.”
Asked about the report on Wednesday, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy primarily blamed Brexit for high number of millionaires fleeing the UK.
She told Sky News: “The report points to a variety of factors that have led to that, most specifically Brexit, and one of the things that we're committed to doing as a government is making sure that we get a far better deal with the European Union that make sure that we can continue to support British business.”
