Sydney enters the top 10 cities list for UHNWIs: Knight Frank Wealth Report
Australia has seen a growth of 135% in the number of UHNWIs over the last decade, according to Knight Frank Australia chief Stephen Ellis.
This is due to changes in sources of wealth, including technology, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, and strong growth in the property sector.
“However, this level of growth in numbers of UHNWIs in Australia is anticipated to slow over the next decade to 35%, and we have already seen a slowdown of 2% during 2015.
"In Australia, the biggest concerns UHNWIs have in regard to wealth creation and preservation over the next 10 years include stock market volatility, the global economy, and the issues that come with succession and inheritance,” said Mr Ellis.
“Last year, there was a 3% slide in the number of UHNWIs globally, with almost 6,000 people dropping out of the UHNWI wealth bracket.
"This downward shift reflected slower economic growth and the more volatile financial climate,” said Mr Ellis.
According to Mr Ellis, Sydney has entered the top 10 list of most important cities globally to UHNWIs.
“Over the past decade, The Wealth Report has ranked the cities that matter most to the world’s wealthy, based on where they live, invest, educate their children, grow their businesses, network and spend their leisure time.
"Sydney has appeared in the eighth position due to its quality of lifestyle in these areas, jumping from 14th position in 2015.”
Mr Ellis said that despite the slowdown in the number of UHNWIs projected over the coming decade, wealthy investors are more mobile than ever and investment flows are targeting new markets – including Australia.
“Our analysis of cross-border capital flows confirms the rapid growth of investment activity and also the scale of movements between key countries, with strong growth in outflows from China reflecting the growth from the wider Asia region.
"However, much of the wealth creation in the region has been powered by China’s economic growth, which is now slowing.
“Australia is expected to make up 6% of the 73,000 UHNWIs in the Asia Pacific region in 2025. Currently, Australia makes up 7% of the 45,000 UHNWIs in the region,” said Mr Ellis.
