City estate agents got quite excited recently when American hip-hop artist Sean "P. Diddy" Combs checked out a £25 million (about $45.5 million) house in London's Holland Park area.

 

But P. Diddy isn't the center of a brand-new trend. U.S. celebrities have been swapping Los Angeles' 90210 and New York's 10013 for NW3 and other hip British postcodes for decades. For many it's just not a zealous embrace of strange accents, Barbour jackets and real ale--it's about status.

 

"U.S. celebrities get kudos in their social circles for owning a London property," says Tom Tangney, associate at property agent Knight Frank. Tangney has helped half-a-dozen American personalities find houses in the U.K. "They also like the U.K. and London for its centrality. It's a very easy position on the globe to travel to and from."

 

Marriages, movies and a hankering for anonymity have also motivated many A-listers to buy property across the pond. Gwyneth Paltrow and Gwen Stefani, having succumbed to the charms of British rockers, can quite happily walk dogs and babies out in full view in north London's leafy suburbs.

 

Not all American stars get left alone, though; the country's voracious paparazzi probably hounded Angelina Jolie out of the sleepy town of Fulmer, Buckinghamshire--she sold her English farmhouse there earlier this year. Still, Paltrow has no plans to leave, she says how much she likes the U.K. because the "English are so amusing at dinner parties."

 

They may be chuckling about the steadily increasing value of their houses--a perennial obsession in Britain. In the first half of this year, prices rose by 4.5%, according to the Halifax Building Society.

 

"You go to Paris for the food, Italy for the fashion and London to invest your money--especially in property," says Trevor Abrahamson, from Glentree Estates who helped Tom Cruise rent and look at houses for purchase when the superstar was in London for the Mission Impossible movies.

 

"It is still recognized that U.K. houses are a good investment, so there is a natural gravitation towards here," he says. "They also like the British lifestyle and being squire of the manor."

 

Madonna is a prime example, with her lordly £9 million ($17 million) Wiltshire shooting estate. Meanwhile, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones have constructed a mansion overlooking Swansea Bay in her home country, Wales.

 

But not everyone takes the price tags, some as long as telephone numbers, lying down. Madonna has openly complained about the inflated value of British property, and while U.K.-based model Caprice Bourret has a sizeable portfolio in her native America, she has no plans to go back trans-Atlantic.

 

"My God, the house prices in the U.K., particularly the southeast, are mad," Caprice told a British celebrity columnist. "I could never start a portfolio here. I mean, you pay out £1 million and all you get is a shack. It's lunacy."

 

High-profile entertainers, however, don't necessarily go for the big, established trophy houses that the capital has in abundance.

 

"There is a lot of soulless formality in many areas of London, yet Primrose and Notting Hill are more quirky," says Jonathan Hewlett, of Savills estate agents. "Old money is centered in old, traditional areas, such as such as Mayfair, Belgravia and Hampstead. New money has more eclectic taste."

 

London's hills--both Notting and Primrose--north of the River Thames, have both become honey pots for celebrities both British and American. Liam Gallagher, Ewan McGregor, Sean Bean and Jude Law all call the latter mentioned area home.

 

Seven years ago, the film Notting Hill spurred interest in London's more diverse quarters. In one scene Hugh Grant, as a bumbling poor bookstore owner, tries to break up with movie star Julia Roberts with the explanation: "I live in Notting Hill, you live in Beverly Hills." It was a metaphor for the difference in house prices, class and status that each neighborhood represented…oh, how times have changed.

 

 

 

Gwyneth Paltrow

Location: Belsize Park, North London

Approximate value: £3.2 million ($5.8 million)

 

Paltrow and her husband Chris Martin, lead singer of Coldplay, live in a five-bedroom townhouse near Primrose Hill Park. It is in a conservation area, which means the properties have to be preserved, and boasts a 100 foot-long garden. The house is apparently haunted by a classical musician who died in the master bedroom more than 100 years ago.

Oh my gosh, what a beautiful house! I've never seen it this well.. Awesome!

its soooo nice. i can totally picture that happy family living there! very pretty,

now that's a BEAUTIFUL home! really practical and chic; so perfect!

it gets annoying having to hear/see about celebrity "13-bedroom mansions" here in the U.S. Honestly, does anyone need all that space? Of course NOT.

 

<3 the UK