It has been a rollercoaster of a decade for the property industry. From the heights of excess in 2007, when the combined wealth of the top 250 Estates Gazette Rich List was £98bn to a drop to £69bn in 2009, and now a climb back up to £100.8bn, the UK’s property market has been through it all.
And so has Dr Philip Beresford, the compiler of the EG Rich List since its inception in 2003 (and also compiler of the Sunday Times Rich List).
“In the boom years, I was wondering how could anyone really sustain those property values,” he says.
“Everything was going up so quickly. Even I thought, ‘can this last?’ And of course it didn’t.”
This made compiling the Rich List difficult. Beresford says: “I became extraordinarily cautious. From being sceptical about the boom, that scepticism carried over even more so to the point where I was saying ‘we can’t believe anything here; how many of these people will go bust?’”
And despite the entrants on this year’s Rich List breaking through the £100bn mark for the first time, Beresford is not convinced the UK is over the worst of the economic woes. “I think we are still going through it at the moment.”
This changing climate has resulted in further refinement of the Rich List. Beresford adds: “We have really got the list down to the very best.”
And the majority of those “very best” are self-made (187 entrants), as opposed to inherited money (63).
“We are seeing the rise of more property entrepreneurs rather than old money that has been in property for a long time,” says Beresford.
“The old money is still there, but the property entrepreneurs who wheel and deal come in and see they can add value and make a turn on it when they sell it.”
He says there are also more people on the list who made their fortune outside property. “They have huge disposable income and wealth and come into property because they think it’s the best way to make even more money or protect their fortune.
“They are almost the most active players because there are no worries about getting bank finance and they don’t have to consult anybody.”
As well as that, Beresford says those who are self-made get deals brought to them by people “who know they have the cash and can give a quick yes or no answer”.
Along with the self-made rich, there is a spread of overseas wealth coming into London to buy residential property as a bolt-hole, says Beresford.
“They have bought that property and are thinking, well, we are here and we have a fantastic network of advisers, we have got our money and the market is buzzing, so why don’t we join in?
“They merely fuel the boom as prices rise in certain sectors around London where they like to stay and so more join in because they say the returns will be very good.”
Beresford believes London’s popularity is the reason why the Duke of Westminster, who has topped the list for the past 10 years, will not be knocked off the top despite the growing wealth of Swiss-Italian pharmaceutical billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli, who this year came second with £7.4bn, against the Duke’s £7.5bn.
Beresford says: “While London has that caché, the Duke of Westminster, provided he doesn’t sell out – and I don’t think he will as he doesn’t need to – will always be number one until his son takes over.”
Overall, Beresford says property is still one of the best ways to make a fortune, and to make it on to the Estates Gazette Rich List.
Using a witty analogy to the people on his Sunday Times Rich List, Beresford says: “If you’ve got a good head for figures, you can either choose the property world or become a hedge fund manager.
“If you can play football, you can become a Premiership footballer, but you will not be rich in real terms.
“You will have 10 years of earning £5m a year, but will blow half of it on your lifestyle and come out of it at the end – when you are thrown out of the Premier League because you are too ancient – as moderately rich.
“A hedge fund manager, on the other hand, can coin it in for 20 years until he is exhausted. And a property person can buy assets, hold and develop them.
“Possibly the best way of protecting wealth once you have made enough is to put it into property, keep an active interest in it and develop it.”
Rich List by numbers
Total wealth of top 250: £100.8bn
63 inherited their fortunes; 187 are self-made
Duke of Westminster’s fortune: in 2003, £5bn; in 2012, £7.5bn
Youngest on the list: 21
Oldest on the list: 91
Richest by decade born
Amount Born in
11 1920s
65 1930s
74 1940s
62 1950s
50 1960s
3 1970s
2 1980s
• Note: Figures based on available birth dates
Breakdown of geographic areas of the richest 250
SOUTH EAST 124
IRELAND 20
WEST MIDLANDS 18
NORTH WEST 14
EAST MIDLANDS 14
SOUTH WEST 13
YORKSHIRE 12
SCOTLAND 8
CI/OVERSEAS 9
NORTH EAST 7
EAST ENGLAND 6
WALES 5
Star signs
(Note: With more than one person in some entries, this adds up to over 250)
GEMINI 36
CAPRICORN 27
CANCER 26
LEO 25
TAURUS 25
LIBRA 23
ARIES 22
AQUARIUS 21
SAGITTARIUS 20
PISCES 19
VIRGO 19
SCORPIO 18
