On November 21st, an X account under the name “Ms. G” provoked controversy when she quoted another post by saying, “who’s colonised now BITCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Her post ended up getting more than 600K likes. The post that “Ms. G” quoted states, “Indians now own more property in London than native white Britons”. A remarkable statistic, but is it true?
The original post was made by “Pubity”, which markets itself as a page for “informative, entertaining and breaking news”. However, it did not provide any evidence for the claim that “Indians now own more property in London than native white Britons”.
When I searched for this statement on Google, all the links were to questionable news sites, many based in India. What’s more, at least one of the links was to an article from 2022, making the very same claim. Several of the articles I came across ‘quoted’ the property developer Barratt London:
Indians make up the largest group of property owners in london, represented by those who have lived in the U.K. for generations, NRIs, foreign investors, students and families who come to the U.K. for education. [The lower-case ‘l’ in London is in the original.]
However, when I searched for this exact statement on Google, I was unable to find any report or press release by Barratt London. Once again, all the links were to questionable news sites and social media pages.
Even if we use the broadest possible definition of ‘Indians’ to mean anyone of Indian background or nationality, it is highly implausible that “Indians now own more property in London than native white Britons”.
As of 2021, 36.8% of London’s population identifies as White British, compared to only 7.5% that identifies as Indian. While Indians in London have a higher home ownership rate than white Britons, the difference is relatively small – 66% versus 59%. Multiplying the population shares by the home ownership rates, the number of White British homeowners in London is more than four times larger than the number of Indian homeowners.
What about wealthy foreigners who own propert in London? Non-residents reportedly own less than 3% of homes in the capital – and that’s all non-residents, not just Indians. Even if we assume that all foreign homeowners are Indian, the number of white British homeowners would still be almost three times larger than the number of Indian homeowners.
Could the claim be correct if it referred to the total value of homes, rather than the total number? It’s extremely unlikely. Indians are concentrated in the western periphery of London, as well as in the boroughs of Newham and Redbridge. By contrast, the most expensive properties in London are found in the boroughs of Richmond, Fulham, Kensington, Chelsea, Westminster and the City. None of these boroughs has a large Indian population. For example, only 2.2% of people in Fulham and Kensington identify as Indian.
The single wealthiest landlord in London is the Duke of Westminster, a white British man, who owns around 300 acres of Belgravia and Mayfair, comprising some of the most expensive real estate in the world.
The claim that sparked the viral post by “Ms. G” is almost certainly false. The articles to which it can be traced are all on questionable news sites, and back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest it’s highly implausible.
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