It’s hardly a surprise that Asia and its booming economies will produce thousands more multimillionaires in coming years. The question is, for everyone from luxury brands and real estate agents to private bankers and wannabe rich spouses: Where exactly to find these newly minted rich?
Try any major city in China.
The new annual Wealth Report from property agency Knight Frank says there were 167,669 ultra-high-net-worth individuals in the world in 2013. It defines that term as someone with $30 million in assets, not including debt and their primary residence. The number is expected to grow by 28% to 215,113 by 2023, with much of the growth coming from Asia.
Though double-digit economic growth in China may be a thing of the past, its economy is still expected to produce an explosion of wealth, Knight Frank said. China’s ultra-high-net-worth individual population is forecast to increase 80% over the next decade to 14,213, which will place it third among nations, after the U.S. and Japan.
Among Chinese cities to have big jumps in multimillionaire numbers: Hangzhou, which is expected to see its wealthy headcount go to 1,002, an increase of 78% from its current level of 563. Shanghai will see its rich population rise 50% to 1,542, while Beijing is expected to be home to 1,872 by 2023, a rise of 42%.
China’s cities won’t rival New York or London anytime soon as a magnet for the rich, though. (London boasts 4,224 ultra-high-net-worth individuals and that figure is expected to grow 17% to 4,940 by 2023, for example.) But consider this: Hangzhou, a rising technology hub in China, is forecast to have more multimillionaires than Los Angeles in a decade’s time. Perhaps then, we’ll be thinking Moganshan instead of Beverly Hills.