New York will overtake London as favoured playground of super rich by 2025
03-09-2015
London is home to 4,363 ultra-high net worth individuals. But other cities are attracting wealthy homebuyers at a quicker rate than the UK capital
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By Anna White, Property correspondent
New York is poised to steal London’s crown as the most important city for the worlds super rich, according to a new report from Knight Frank.
London is currently home to the largest community of ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNWIs) – those with more than $30 million in net assets. They have been attracted by a favourable tax regime, a secure political and economic environment and the prestige of an address in one of the world’s most glamorous cities.
According to a report from estate agent Knight Frank, there are now 4,363 UHNWIs living in London. But other cities are catching up fast. The rate of super rich moving to the British capital is expected to slow compared with Singapore, Hong Kong and New York.
The report predicts that over the next 10 years, Singapore will attract 1,752 more UHNWIs, 1,251 will buy homes in Hong Kong, and 1,013 will go mansion shopping in New York. Only 907 will choose London.
Liam Bailey, head of research at Knight Frank, said: “This relates to the huge outperformance of the US economy versus the economy in Europe and the UK over this period.
“The US is becoming a bigger target for safe-haven wealth flows from Europe, the Middle East and Africa at the current time – and this trend is expected to continue.”
The Knight Frank study predicts that New York will knock London off the top spot by 2025. The index – which surveyed cities where the wealthy congregate, work, invest, are educated and spend their leisure time – also showed that Beijing will rise from ninth to sixth position in the top 10, pushing Paris down a few places.
The findings also reflect the rapidly expanding wealth of Asia, and China in particular. The super-rich of the Far East will begin by investing close to home before looking farther afield.
“China will continue to flourish, with a 91pc growth in its super-wealthy population,” said Mr Bailey. “And while London will remain the single biggest centre for global high net worth individuals, Singapore’s rapid growth is set to challenge the city’s dominance over the next decade.”
A new build luxury apartment, Rue de Grenelle. (Price on application.)
The definition of the “most important city” is broader than just a count of permanent residents, he added. “It’s not necessarily the number of resident rich people but is a measure of the cities that will attract the most investment, take most children of the affluent and educate them, or simply be places the wealthy choose to visit for shopping, leisure or business networking.”
New York experienced the biggest rise in the value of luxury homes last year: up 18.8pc. In the past 12 months there has been a growing divide between Europe and the US in house-price performance.
Mr Bailey said: “Property markets are cyclical, and London has seen rapid growth since 2009. The tax changes and the election have also dampened demand at the top end,” says Mr Bailey.
Wealthy homeowners in the upmarket Colorado ski resort of Aspen enjoyed double digit house-price growth at 16pc, property values jumped by 14.3pc in San Francisco and by 13pc in Los Angeles, fuelled by a strengthening economy that is attracting global investment.
Meanwhile, the well-publicised problems in the eurozone helped restrict price growth in European cities to an average of 2.5pc, against North America’s average of 13pc.
The value of luxury property across the globe rose by an average of just over 2pc in 2014, compared with 3pc in 2013, Knight Frank’s report showed.
The top five cities by luxury house price growth in 2014 were New York, Aspen, Bali, Istanbul and Abu Dhabi. London was in joint 32nd place with Bangkok and Madrid.
“For European and North American wealth, places such as the Caribbean have been second-home, sunbelt locations. Bali is starting to represent that for Asia,” said Mr Bailey. “Istanbul, on the other hand, is now being seen as a regional safe haven like Abu Dhabi.”
Of all global locations, Monaco retained the title of the world’s most expensive city in which to buy luxury residential property for the eighth year running, the report revealed. A million dollars buys just 17 square metres of accommodation in the principality. Hong Kong was the second priciest, followed by London.