"Some people have the cash tied up so need to raise a mortgage but Ed has piles of 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."
Sheeran, 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. 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, a company Sheeran set up in 2015 with his manager Stuart Camp, and 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."
