Ed Sheeran bought his £57 million property empire in cash

His impressive property portfolio includes his vast estate in Suffolk, which is comprised of five houses he bought for a total of $4 million, beginning with one £895,000 abode in 2012.

An insider told The Sun Online: "He has a great portfolio of properties and he owns the lot free and clear. There was no need to borrow the cash from a lender because he already had it.

"Some people have the cash tied up so need to raise a mortgage but Ed has piles of the cash in the bank so there was no point in letting a bank earn money by lending him the money. He just bought them outright."

Ed - who is married to Cherry Seaborn - also owns a £20 million house in Notting Hill in west London, and later shelled out another £4 million to buy the homes on either side, while he also has a property in Covent Garden in the centre of the capital, two flats close to Battersea Dogs and Cats home in south London, and restaurant Bertie Blossoms, which cost him £1.5 million.

Some of the homes were purchased through Maverick Properties - the company Ed set up in 2015 with his manager Stuart Camp - while others were bought in his own name.

The 29-year-old singer has previously admitted he used to sleep on underground trains while homeless and trying to find success in London.

He explained: "I didn't have anywhere to live for much of 2008 and the whole of 2009 and 2010, but somehow I made it work. I knew where I could get a bed at a certain time of night and I knew who I could call at any time to get a floor to sleep on. Being sociable helped. Drinking helped.

"I spent a week catching up on sleep on Circle Line trains. I'd go out and play a gig, wait until 5am when the Underground opened, sleep on the Circle Line until 12, go to a session - and then repeat.

"It's not like I was sleeping rough on the cold streets."