The luxury London property market is back in the spotlight as the new Supreme Leader of Iran, Mojtaba Khamenei, is thought to own around £200 million worth of London property, including 11 mansions on Billionaires’ Row in Hampstead, and two apartments in Kensington.

But the headlines have sparked debate about who actually owns London, and whether foreign buyers are taking over the city.

The flats are reported to contain servants’ quarters and are situated next to heavily monitored, high-security areas and back onto the Israeli Embassy.

Speaking to property expert Liam Bailey, Head of Global Research at Knight Frank, it becomes clear there’s a bigger, more grounded story behind the headlines.

“London has been an unusually global market in terms of residential property,” said Bailey but he was quick to push back against the idea that foreign buyers dominate the market.

He explained the vast majority of London property is owned by British people, not overseas investors – in central London, he said, around 80 % of homes are purchased by UK nationals, and the main foreign buyers are from the US or China.

£200 million may sound like a lot, but central London is still largely shaped by historic estates rather than the global elite.

The 300-acre Grosvenor Estate, the 93-acre Cadogan Estate covering much of Chelsea, and the 110-acre Portman Estate in Marylebone cover vast areas of prime central London.

Bailey was keen to recentre the debate about foreign investment and stressed that much of it was driven by economic reasons, not secrecy or hidden influence.

London’s property market continues to flourish and so property here continues to be a good investment.

He says the lack of transparency around ownership seen in Dubai and the US for instance, is not such a concern in the UK, which has prioritises transparency and a more “mature ecosystem” of regulatory safeguards.

Bailey notes the only reason we can debate foreign ownership is because the UK has a system that provides access to this information.

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