UK Land Ownership: Who Really Owns the UK?

Exploring UK land ownership, revealing who holds the land - from charities and royalty to the military and business moguls - and highlighting the significant disparity and its implications.

Introduction

They say an Englishman's home is his castle, and that holds true for any homeowner across the UK. Owning a piece of land or estate is a great achievement, from sprawling estates to charming cottages, our isles are blessed with some of the most sought after property in the world and each property has its own unique story to tell.

However, the types of landownership in the UK is vast, and the disparity is growing between those who have modest gardens, to those who have hundreds of thousands of acres. So who really owns the UK? We look at what property and land ownership really looks like.

Did You Know?

Half of England is owned by less than 1% of the population | The Guardian

How Much Land is in the UK?

The UK spans approximately 60 million acres. If we divided that equally between the UK population, which MacroTrends calculates to be around 68 million people in 2024, then everyone would have a share of 0.9 acres per person - that’s around half the size of a football field, which you could (if you wanted to) fit around 127 car parking spaces. Or another way to look at it, the average garden size in the UK is around 0.15 acres, so that would be around 6 times the size of the average garden per person in the UK.

But that is not a realistic scenario, understanding land distribution underscores the significance of property ownership. So, given that we know everyone including ourselves and everyone we know doesn’t have an acre of land each - who does own the land in the UK?

Who Really Owns the UK?

According to research, the top 50 landowners in the UK own a whopping 7.3 million acres. For the mathematicians out there, that's over 12% of the total land in the UK. Let’s see who the top landowners in the UK are, as well as understand what their land is made up from:

$A scenic view of a lush, green landscape in the UK, featuring rolling hills and dense forests under a partly cloudy sky. The scene conveys the natural beauty and expansive greenery of the countryside.\$

1. Charities & Organisations

Total Area: 3,238,057 acres.

This group makes up the largest portion of landowners in the UK. This includes the RSPB, English Heritage and DEFRA (the government’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs).

However the Forestry Commission is leading the way when it comes to land ownership, with over 2,000,0000 acres of land, around four times the size of the Lake District.

While the National Trust owns well over 600,000 acres, that’s larger than West Sussex!

These organisations combined equate to around 5.5% of the UK's land area.

2. Royalty and Statesmen

Total Area: 1,591,251 acres.

The most obvious landowner that comes to mind here is the Crown Estate, which owns well over 630,000 acres - that’s more than the area of Luxembourg!

Between all of the royals, statesmen, nobles and the like, they make up for around 3% of the UKs land.

3. Military Organisations

Total Area: 1,116,060 acres.

The MOD has a huge footprint across the UK, which may seem surprising at first, but given the number of Army, RAF and Navy bases dotted all around the isles, it’s no surprise.

The largest military base in terms of personnel is Catterick Garrison, located in North Yorkshire with a military population of over 13,000. But in terms of area, the Salisbury Plain Training Area (SPTA) is by far the largest area owned by the military, with over 94,000 acres to its name. That’s approximately 150 square miles!

With all considered, military land makes up around 2% of the UK.

4. Business Owners

Total Area: 751,259 acres.

Business moguls such as Britain's wealthiest man Sir Jim Ratcliffe, technology innovator James Dyson and Danish fashion retail tycoon Anders Holch Povlsen all have large estates across the country. Povlsen has a particularly impressive portfolio of land, and is the largest single foreign UK landowner. He owns over 220,000 acres spread across 13 estates in Scotland alone - that’s 10 times the size of his native capital Copenhagen. That gives him the rather impressive title of Scotland's largest landowner!

5. Utility Companies

Total Area: 459,876 acres.

To start with, Utilities companies have huge amounts of land across the UK, particularly amongst the water sector. Collectively, the nine major water companies in England and Wales alone own approximately 423,952 acres of land. That accounts for over 1% of the land surface area across these two nations.

Whilst the largest of all the utility companies is United Utilities, who have significant holdings across the Lake District and the Forest of Bowland, with its total holdings amounting to 141,000 acres.

Did You Know?

As of July 2023, 50% of UK adults own their own home. That’s down from 63% in 2016 to 2018 | Avant Homes

Why Do We Care?

Whether you have a flat, a typical family home or you’re the biggest landowner in Scotland, we all take pride in our homes and their appearance. From door numbers for flats, bespoke house signs for driveway entrances and matching signs for property developers, we help you make a lasting impression with high-quality, personalised slate and granite signs.