Howard de Walden Estates, the aristocratic London landowner, has reported record rental income driven by surging demand at its Harley Street private health district.
The estate grew its total rental income by 9.3 per cent to £179.4m in the year to March, marking a significant financial milestone for the centuries-old property dynasty.
Howard de Walden Estates owns both the Harley Street health district and the residential Marylebone Village, together forming one of central London’s most valuable property portfolios.
The sprawling estate, covering Victorian and Georgian townhouses in the heart of London, has been controlled by the Howard de Walden family since 1879 and is today led by Peter Czerin, the dynasty’s 11th Baron.
Mark Kildea, chief executive of the landowner, described the health district as the jewel in the crown of this billion-pound estate.
The health district is evolving into a comprehensive destination for private clients, with Kildea describing its offer as a “cradle-to-grave” service covering everything from GP appointments to intensive care.
Kildea told City AM: “You can go and get a GP appointment here, you can have day surgery, you can be an overnight patient, you can be imaged on the estate and you can have intensive care treatment.”
He added: “So everything between being born on the estate at The Portland Hospital to, in theory, you could die on the estate at an intensive care facility, which is obviously not what we want to plan for everybody. But we’re just explaining the everything-in-between [service].”
Kildea argued that without the health-tech innovation of Harley Street’s tenants, the country would be facing what he calls “healthcare bankruptcy,” a stark warning about the pressures facing public health provision.
Harley Street accounts for 40 per cent of London’s private healthcare market and 11 per cent of the UK-wide sector, making it the only estate of this size globally operating without government backing.
The estate is seeing particularly strong demand for specialist services that are “poorly provided” by the NHS, including mental health and women’s health, even as overall NHS waiting lists show signs of easing.
Howard de Walden’s property empire was valued at £4.5bn in March, up 3.2 per cent year on year, with the group posting a £97m pre-tax profit, representing a 27.5 per cent annual improvement.
The family paid itself a £49m dividend during the period, just below the previous year’s £50m, with chairman Sir William Proby noting the estate delivered “considerable progress” against a “challenging economic environment.”
Alongside Harley Street, Howard de Walden commands a £1.2bn residential property empire rented to some of London’s wealthiest tenants, though that market is showing signs of strain.
House prices in Westminster fell by more than a quarter in June, while values in Kensington and Chelsea slipped by nearly 15 per cent, reflecting broader pressure on London’s prime property market.
Finance chief Andrew Griffith acknowledged that rental growth in Marylebone has “slowed,” though he stressed it has “not dropped off, so to speak,” with residential rental income rising six per cent to nearly £41m in the year to March.
Griffith said: “I don’t think it’s the growth that’s been seen over the last few years, so we have seen a slowdown, and that in some ways means it’s probably getting to the point where it’s the right affordability for the people who want to live in the area.”
He added: “I think that’s a key thing for us. That’s positive because we’re seeing people stay longer, and that’s only a positive in terms of creating a village feel.”
Kildea attributed the estate’s enduring appeal to its character as a “soft neighbourhood,” contrasting it with developments like Canary Wharf, which he described as a “very urban, boxy environment.”
He said the estate “feels much more like a neighbourhood, where you’re more likely to bump into people that you will see regularly,” a quality he considers rare and valuable in the heart of one of the world’s busiest cities.