Will rich New Yorkers flee to London to escape Mayor Mamdani?
In a rare reversal of the slow march of UK wealth towards the US – from entrepreneurs upping sticks to companies switching listings – New York City’s incoming hard-left mayor looks set to nudge some of the city’s richest towards London.
American arrivals into the UK could soon be made up of an unlikely coalition of students and wealthy New Yorkers, themselves swimming against the tide of Britain’s own unfolding wealth exodus.
Zohran Mandani’s election victory comes amid new data which shows the UK is by some distance the top global destination for US expats, with 56,000 moving to the UK in 2025 and 244,000 currently living in the UK.
Fresh data from digital entertainment platform JB puts the UK ahead of Mexico, with which the US shares a nearly-2,000 mile border.
As it stands, the majority of emigration comes from students and the average annual net income for Americans in the UK is just £28,975.
But according to a report in The Times, phones are “already ringing” at top London estate agents as the Big Apple’s richest eye up an escape from a much mooted wealth tax.
A stark leftwards shift for New York politics
Zohran Mamdani swept to power last week after a campaign focusing on taxes on the city’s millionaires to fund a sweeping public spending programme.
Under Mamdani’s plans, everything from free childcare and buses to municipally funded grocery stores hinge on tax revenue from New York’s highest earners.
The proposed two per cent levy on incomes over $1m has caused jitters among high earners, with Becky Fatemi, an executive partner at Sotheby’s International Realty telling The Times that enquiries in top-end London property are up 28 per cent.
While a substantial cohort of rich Londoners look towards the UAE, the specialist realtor says “American clients don’t want to live in the Middle East – they want to live in Notting Hill and South Kensington”.
The example of New York City does not seem to be a one-off. Morning Wire reported in October that London’s reputation as a high-end global divorce capital is enticing Americans.
Stephen Foster, head of divorce and family at Stewarts, said: “England has been a magnet for some time. It’s the best city in the world to be a divorce lawyer, because you get all these international cases.”
From one wealth tax to another?
There have been reports of various motivations driving up American emigration into the UK, from quality of life concerns to political objections to the Trump administration.
In the aftermath of Trump’s election victory last year there was a trend of celebrities such as Ellen DeGeneres and Tom Ford relocating to the UK, as a reaction to the pendulum swing of American politics back towards the right.
DeGeneres bought – and swiftly sold, for a cool £22.5m – a house in the Cotswolds, whilst Ford went for an £80m property in Chelsea.
However, those Americans fleeing Mamdani’s tax hikes could find themselves stung by various levies on wealth in the UK.
With the (late) Autumn Budget just two weeks away, a mansion tax is one of the levers at Rachel Reeves’ disposal. The Labour government has also not yet ruled out a more comprehensive wealth tax of its own.