This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
WHILE Sydney pulled into 10th place of the World’s Top 10 Wealthiest Cities, the USA and China are the clear global hotspots for the number of millionaire residents in 2023.
According to the analysis released by international investment migration firm Henley & Partners in partnership with global wealth intelligence firm New World Wealth, New York City is the wealthiest in the world, according to the volume of millionaires that call it come.
“The right to live, work, study, and invest in leading international wealth hubs such as New York, London, Singapore, Sydney, and Hong Kong can be secured via residence by investment,” said Juerg Steffen, CEO at Henley & Partners.
“Being able to relocate yourself, your family, or your business to a more favorable city or have the option to choose between multiple different residences across the world is an increasingly important aspect of international wealth and legacy planning for private clients.”
Steffen also noted that seven of the Top 10 wealthiest cities in the world are those that host that host formal investment migration programs and actively encourage foreign direct investment in return for residence or citizenship rights.
With 340,000 millionaires living in New York City, two other US cities made the list with the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles coming in at 3rd and 6th with 285,000 and 205,400 millionaires respectively.
China also has three cities in the top 10, when including Hong Kong which took 7th place with 129,500 millionaires, in addition to Beijing with 128,200 in 8th place and Shanghai with 127,200 in 9th place.
Comparatively, Europe had just one city on the list, with London dropping to 4th place with place with 258,000 resident high net worth individuals (HNWIs).
Tokyo placed in second with 290,300 HNWIs, while City-state Singapore, one of the top destinations for migrating millionaires, took 5th place with 240,100 resident millionaires.
Back in Australia, Sydney rounded out the top 10, in 10th place with 126,900 millionaires.
This comes as Sydney recently beat out Geneva and Paris for super prime residential sales activity, with the city recording 99 super prime sales last year of homes worth US$10 million or more.
While the same report found Sydney prime property to be significantly more affordable than other cities around the world, with US$1 million buying 44sqm of luxury space, as opposed to just 17sqm in Monaco.
Sydney has experienced strong wealth growth over the last two decades and is projected to break into the global Top 5 wealthiest cities by 2040.
