London retains crown as favourite city of world's ultra-rich

By Julia Kollewe

Extract from The Guardian, Wednesday 5 March 2014
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/mar/05/london-favourite-city-world-ultra-rich-new-york-asia

London beats New York for second year running – but Asian cities will eclipse both in coming decades, according to research

Booming stock markets and global economic recovery continued the seemingly inexorable rise in the numbers of the world's super-rich last year, according to a report that predicts their ranks will swell by nearly 30% to 215,000 over the next decade.

The world's so-called "ultra high net worth individuals" – those with $30m (£21m) or more in assets apart from their main home – number 167,669, according to a report from estate agents Knight Frank – up 59% over the past decade.

Roughly equal to the population of the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea – and many of them do indeed have a place there – they control more than $20tn in assets – more than the national output of the US and Germany put together.

London was home to more UHNWIs (4,224) than any other city in 2013 and this will still be the case a decade later, with nearly 5,000 expected to be living there, according to the report.

Singapore and New York will leapfrog Tokyo and Hong Kong to take second and third places. The top six cities have more UHNWIs living in them than Latin America and the Middle East combined.

Liam Bailey, global head of research at Knight Frank, said the cluster of businesses, international appeal, heritage and democratic institutions in London and New York are not easy to replicate. But, he said, "London wins over New York: It's more diverse. There are more nationalities living here and it's a more global city."

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