Foreign ownership of homes in England and Wales has tripled in the past decade.

According to the Centre for Public Data, close to 250,000 residential properties are registered to individuals based overseas, amounting to roughly 1% of total housing stock. In 2010, the figure was less 88,000 homes.

Two-thirds of overseas purchases come from buyers based in just a dozen countries. Hong Kong is the single largest source of buyers, with 23,524 homes owned by residents of the city – a more than tenfold increase from the 2,170 homes in 2010. Singaporean and Malaysian buyers also feature prominently on the list.

Crown dependencies and tax havens, including Jersey, Guernsey, Isle of Man and the British Virgin Islands, are other significant origins of buyers. Residents of those four territories alone own close to 50,000 homes in England and Wales.

London remains the main target of investors from abroad. In the City of Westminster alone, more than 12,000 residential properties are in overseas ownership. Less-affluent boroughs such as Tower Hamlets, Newham and Lambeth have also had steep rises.