Estimates by government officials show that about 5,000 British homes are believed to be registered in a way that allow their owners to avoid stamp duty and inheritance tax.
The multi-million pound homes are mainly in London and about 500 of the homes, worth a total of £1.6bn, were bought in the last year.
One exclusive street recently renovated was almost entirely bought using the loophole, it was claimed.
The statistics were obtained by the Independent newspaper via the investigative website Exaro.
In his Budget the Chancellor, George Osborne, said he would come down "like a ton of bricks" on the practice of switching large properties into corporate control and introduced a stamp duty levy of 15 per cent for houses bought this way.
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