Influence of the Ultra Rich on Real Estate Prices | Ginger Martin

Ultra Rich Influencing Real Estate Prices Globally

March 14, 2018

Real estate investments around the world continue to skyrocket prices as individual’s assets trend upwards. Knight Frank’s 2018 wealth report indicates growth has impacted multiple cities from New York to Guangzhou, China. The pool of influencers, billionaires and millionaires alike, play powerful roles in prime real estate investments. Since 2016, individuals with excess of $5 million in assets, have increased over 20% to exceed 2.5 million people across the world.

With its bolstering high-tech success, it’s no surprise half of California’s millionaires live in the San Francisco Bar-area. Undoubtedly impacting well-known neighborhoods like Palo Alto and Woodside, who saw double digit price increases within the past three years. Despite the scarcity of real estate in these quick selling markets, luxury offerings tempt the world’s elite. Of the 23 individuals from California making Forbes list of “The World’s Billionaires in 2017”, five residents were international.

Pieces of the Prime Pie

With the abundance of wealth in the San Francisco Bay-area, it’s surprising to find this region ranks fourth among other U.S. cities. New York alone is home to 1.167 million high-net-individuals, earning a minimum of $250,000 a year. Los Angeles (637,700), Chicago (400,416), San Francisco (396,431) follow with an additional 1.3 million households. As these individuals flex their spending power, price jumps have become inevitable. Foreign buyers, who spent $153 billion between April 2016 and March 2017, attraction remains strong. The investment doesn’t stop there - sights have been set abroad in Guangzhou, China, which saw a 27 percent spike in prices between 2016 and 2017, followed closely by Cape Town with a 19% spike, and Aspen a close third, with 15%.

No Signs of Slowing in the Future Five

North America remains the leader in wealth concentration with 34% of global wealth located here, however according to Knight Frank 5-year projections, China and India aren’t far behind. China’s individual wealth is expected to double, while India’s is expected to increase by 71 percent in the next five years. As individual affluence expectancy grows, this could mean change for the top prime cities. Currently Hong Kong remains the most expensive city at $4,000 per square foot, followed by Tokyo($3,280), London($1,770), and New York($1,570).