BBC’s & Second People’s Vote campaigner Lineker’s wage could snap up ten houses in Leicester:

sack lineker from bbc

With Gary Lineker facing backlash over this BBC salary, leading estate agent comparison site, GetAgent.co.uk, has looked at the UK’s highest paid celebs and what their last pay packet equates to in their local housing markets.

According to Forbes, there are 12 UK celebrities that make the list of the world’s highest-paid celebrities and they make Lineker’s yearly earnings of £1.75m look like a handful of spare change. That said, Lineker could still buy 10 houses in his hometown of Leicester if he wanted

They are Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Calvin Harris, Gordon Ramsay, Depeche Mode, Paul McCartney, Rory McIlroy, J.K Rowling, Lewis Hamilton, the Rolling Stones, Elton John and Simon Cowell – all earning between £34m-£91.6m

But how does this translate into bricks and mortar in each of their hometowns?

GetAgent.co.uk looked at the average house price for each hometown and how many homes each celeb could buy with their impressive pay packets.

No.1 – Coldplay, 708 houses

Of course the financial spoils would be distributed amongst each band member but should they all decide to invest in the property market, Guy Berryman’s hometown of Kirkcaldy would allow the bands £91.6m in earnings buy an insane 708 houses in the town.

This drops to 440 houses in Will Champion’s hometown of Southampton, 355 in Chris Martin’s Exeter and 249 in Jonny Buckland’s home borough of Islington.

No.2 – Ed Sheeran, 601 houses.

After his meteoric rise to fame, Ed Sheeran bagged over £87.2m last year, enough for 601 houses in his home town of Halifax.

No.3 – Calvin Harris, 389 houses

Having taken home £48m Calvin Harris could afford 389 houses in his home town of Dumfries.

No.4 – Gordon Ramsay, 373 houses

Gordon could buy an impressive 150 homes in his current home town of Stratford upon Avon, however, should he move back to his birth town of Glasgow he could snap up 373 houses with his £49.1m in earnings.

No.5 – Depeche Mode, 297 houses

Between them with their earnings of £42m, Depeche Mode could afford 297 properties in Andy Fletcher’s home town of Nottingham, 140 in Martin Gore’s hometown of Dagenham or 90 in Dave Gahan’s hometown of Epping.

No.6 – Paul McCartney

Sir Paul made £37.6m last year, enough to buy 282 houses in Liverpool.

The remaining six may rank in the bottom half of the table but have still made more than enough to buy a small town or village.

Rory McIlroy could afford 199 homes in Holywood,  J.K Rowling could buy 153 homes in Yate, while Lewis Hamilton could afford 138 properties in his hometown of Stevenage.

Depending on which hometown the Rolling Stones decided to buy would see there property potential sit somewhere between 75 and 104 homes in either Dartford, Kingsbury or Hillingdon.

Finally, Elton could pick up 81 properties in Pinner, with Simon Cowell able to afford 70 homes in his home borough of Lambeth.

Founder and CEO of GetAgent.co.uk, Colby Short, commented:  

“As a nation, we’re obsessed with properties and their prices and so ranking celebs and their earnings on the number of houses they could buy seems like a much better representation of their wealth.

To be fair to them, this is total earnings and so on a net income basis, they can probably only scrape a few hundred houses or so, which will make those struggling to get a foot on the ladder for just the one house feel a lot better about life.”

 

Housing Affordability Rank
Forbes Ranking
Celeb
Earnings
Hometown
Average House Price
Housing Affordability Number
#1
#7
Coldplay
£91,634,235
Chris Martin
Exeter
£257,449
355.9
Will Champion
Southampton
£208,160
440.2
Guy Berryman
Kirkcaldy
£129,352
708.4
Jonny Buckland
Islington
£613,718
149.3
#2
#9
Ed Sheeran
£87,270,700
Halifax
£144,984
601.9
#3
#50
Calvin Harris
£48,000,000
Dumfries
£123,335
389.2
#4
#33
Gordon Ramsay

 

£49,188,940
Glasgow
£131,596
373.8
Stratford-on-Avon
£326,392
150.7
#5
#44
Depeche Mode
£42,048,610
Dave Gahan
Epping
£466,420
90.2
Martin Gore
Dagenham
£299,029
140.6
Andy Fletcher
Nottingham
£141,412
297.3
#6
#51
Paul McCartney
£37,685,075
Liverpool
£133,569
282.1
#7
#82
Rory McIlroy
£29,910,049
Holywood
£150,247
199.1
#8
#42
J.K. Rowling
£42,841,980
Yate
£279,912
153.1
#9
#47
Lewis Hamilton
£40,461,870
Stevenage
£291,879
138.6
#10
#80
Rolling Stones
£30,941,430
Mick Jagger
Dartford
£295,126
104.8
Keith Richards
Dartford
£295,126
104.8
Charlie Watts
Kingsbury
£474,540
65.2
Ronnie Wood
Hillingdon
£410,386
75.4
#11
#57
Elton John
£36,495,020
Pinner
£445,636
81.9
#12
#64
Simon Cowell
£34,511,595
Lambeth
£488,610
70.6
N/A
Gary Lineker
£1,754,999.00
Leicester
£170,238.07
10.3
Sources:

 

Properganda PR

National and local media coverage for property businesses. Journo quotes delivered in minutes.

You May Also Enjoy

Breaking News

Council funding to crack down on rogue landlords

English councils are set to receive additional funding and training to help tackle rogue landlords, ahead of taking on new responsibilities when renters’ rights reforms come into force next month. All 317 local authorities in England will share £41 million in funding, building on an earlier £18 million allocation made last autumn. The funding is…
Read More
New Builds 2020
Breaking News

Fewer than 1 in 5 new properties securing buyer

New-build demand remains subdued as fewer than 1 in 5 homes find buyers in Q1 2026 The latest New-Build Stock and Demand Index from Property Inspect has found that demand for new-build homes remained subdued in the first quarter of 2026, with fewer than one in five new properties securing a buyer. New-build stock levels…
Read More
Estate Agent Talk

Top five AML red flags in UK property transactions

Cash-heavy and internationally supported purchases continue to shape the UK market New data from client due diligence platform Thirdfort reveals the most common anti-money laundering (AML) red flags identified in UK property transactions. Analysis of more than 415,000 completed Source of Funds (SoF) checks shows that the top five red flags are: Savings mismatch – 43.04% Gifted…
Read More
Estate Agent Talk

Discover Northern Ireland’s top emerging investment hotspots

Derry/ Londonderry and Fermanagh named Northern Ireland’s top emerging investment hotspots Northern Ireland’s emerging investment hotspots are delivering compelling opportunities for landlords in 2026, with new research from Belfast-based estate agency John Minnis revealing a shift in where investors are finding the strongest returns. Drawing on insights from the latest John Minnis Investment Guide, the…
Read More
Breaking News

Breaking Property News 13/4/26

Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.   Why customisation matters more than capability Thought Leadership by Wes Snow CEO & Co-founder of Ascendix Technologies ‘There’s a persistent misconception that success with Artificial Intelligence comes down to selecting the most advanced or sophisticated tool. In reality, that’s not where the value lies. The real…
Read More
Rightmove logo
Breaking News

First-time buyers pay extra £307m in stamp duty since relief ended

New Rightmove analysis reveals that since the end of the temporary relief measure in April 2025, first-time buyers in England have paid an estimated £307 million extra in stamp duty, averaging £4,618 more per buyer: The total estimated first-time buyer stamp duty bill over the past year was £408 million, versus £101 million the previous year In April 2025 the first-time buyer stamp duty threshold was lowered from £425,000 to £300,000. Before the change 62% of homes for sale were stamp-duty free for first-time buyers and that has…
Read More