Although it was reported last week that Britain’s wealthiest property investors have seen their combined fortune cut in half during the economic downturn, one person managing to escape the crunch would be the Queen.
The monarch’s estate has rebounded by £500 million and is now worth £6.5 billion, with her property manager, the Crown Estate, putting the 8.3% increase in values down to “the diversified nature of the portfolio”, which includes commercial property, agricultural land and marine estates.
According to the Guardian newspaper, the commercial property side of the Crown Estate’s portfolio is still declining slightly, but chief executive Roger Bright, maintained that the value of its prime properties has begun to stabilise.
This summer it was announced that the Queen’s overall portfolio had suffered its first drop in value for 15 years, falling 18% to £6 billion year-on-year.
However, the Crown Estate has said it is cautiously optimistic about the future, as farm land has jumped in value, as well as marine estates becoming more in demand for setting up offshore wind turbines.
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