BY DAN O’DONOGHUE From Chronicle Live UK

Companies registered in tax havens like Panama and the Cayman Islands have bought properties in the city

More than half a billion pounds worth of property in Newcastle has been bought using offshore companies.

Exclusive Chronicle analysis has revealed that between 1999 and 2014, investors bought at least £613m worth of property in the city using offshore companies registered in tax havens such as the Cayman Islands, Panama and Jersey.

The real figure is likely to be higher as some of the records don’t have prices in them, and some of them include and exclude VAT and weren’t included in the total.

Using data from the Land Registry we can reveal that 405 Newcastle addresses have been bought offshore – for prices ranging from a few thousand to the tens of millions.

One of the largest on the list was a £111m deal for a company in Cyprus to buy land and buildings at Hawick Crescent in Walkergate in 2008.

Other large purchases include a £28m deal for a company in Jersey to buy Jury’s Inn at St James Gate in 2013, a company in the British Virgin Islands bought Downing Plaza on Herbert Street in 2012 for £22m and a number of properties were purchased in Mardale Road, Denton for £15m in 2012.

There is nothing to stop anyone from buying property through a company based outside the UK – but many of these companies are in tax havens such as Bermuda.

A lack of publicly available data in some of these places means it’s often very difficult to know who is behind these companies.

That means working out ultimately who owns British property held offshore is often practically an impossible task.

What little can be ascertained however is down to the records kept in the Land Registry – which until recently was under threat.

Last Easter the Government mooted the plan to privatise the registry however in his Autumn Statement Chancellor Phillip Hammond rowed back on the idea.

He said: “Following consultation the government has decided that HM Land Registry should focus on becoming a more digital data-driven registration business, and to do this will remain in the public sector.”

Below is the full list of countries which have served as a base for companies buying property in Newcastle:

• Denmark
• British Virgin Islands
• Jersey
• Isle of Man
• Mauritius
• Germany
• Bermuda
• Guernsey
• Bahamas
• Ireland
• Panama
• United Arab Emirates
• Gibraltar
• Cayman Islands
• Cyprus
• Singapore
• Barbados
• Luxembourg
• Hong Kong
• Belize

For more on this story go to: http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/property-news/half-billion-pounds-newcastle-property-12375097