Sydney is the multimillionaire capital of Australia

Where do Australia’s ultra wealthy live?

Well..according to this year’s Wealth Report by Knight Frank there are 1,734 people classified as ultra high net worth individuals currently living in Australia and almost half of whom live in Sydney.

What is an Ultra High Net Worth Individual?

UHNWIs have a net worth of more than US$30 million ($38.4 million), and these figures include the resident billionaires and centa-millionaires (a net worth of $US100 million).

A breakdown of those figures shows 45% of these live in Sydney, 26% in Melbourne, 15% in Perth per cent and 14% in Brisbane as seen here:

Australia’s Ultra High Net Wealth individuals – by capital city. Photo: Knight Frank

John Bowie Wilson, senior director of city sales at KnightFrank was reported in Domain as saying:

“Sydney is certainly the preference for HNWI coming to Australia, especially for groups coming from Hong Kong, Singapore and mainland China.

But Melbourne is the preferred destination from Malaysia’s HNW community because of the education on offer.”

The number of ultra wealthy among us is expected to grow.

The dramatic rise of Asia’s super wealthy, in particular in China, means Asia has taken second spot behind Europe as the highest UHNWI growth, bumping the United States to third place.

Worldwide there are 172,850 UHNWI, up 3 per cent in 12 months, with a rise of 34 per cent forecast for the next decade, according to the Knight Frank report.

Property is an important part of their wealth

The report states that property is the cornerstone of many UHNWI investment strategies, accounting for almost a third of UHNWI portfolios, with residential property the most popular sector for investment.

The current slow-down in China’s property market is further fuelling demand for Sydney property as China’s wealthy look to invest abroad

“Most high net wealth individuals have generally built up wealth in their lifetime, but opt to send their children here to study at university and at that time invest in an apartment for their children and as a Sydney base for when they are here. From there those investors tend to diversify their investment into commercial or retail property investment opportunities and, increasingly, into tourism,” said Mr Bowie Wilson.