Illuminated buildings are seen from Victoria Peak at night in Hong Kong on Aug 28, 2019. (PAUL YEUNG / BLOOMBERG)
COVID-19 doesn’t stop the rich from getting richer – a survey released on Monday showed that the number of Hong Kong’s multimillionaires increased by 22 percent to 504,000 as of May, with the median of net assets standing at HK$17 million (US$2.2 million).
In the Citibank survey, multimillionaires are defined as those with total net assets of over HK$10 million, and liquid assets of at least HK$1 million.
Among them, 56 percent are male with an average age of 58, while the average age for female multimillionaires is 57. Nearly 70 of them are couples with children, while 21 percent are single. Over a half are enjoying a non-working life
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Among them, 56 percent are male with an average age of 58, while the average age for female multimillionaires is 57. Nearly 70 of them are couples with children, while 21 percent are single. Over a half are enjoying a non-working life.
Stock markets are their top investment holding in the past three months, while foreign currencies, including Renminbi, and funds, come in a close second and third.
Most of them thought property prices in Hong Kong will drop, but more have shown interest or consider the downward trend to be good timing for buying a new property, increasing to 13 percent from 6 percent last year.
Of their total net assets, property occupies a dominant 78 percent. Meanwhile, they use cash and deposits, stocks, bonds and funds to diversify investment.
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"The rise in the number of multimillionaires and their net assets is probably due to the positive impact of rising property prices, a strategy of balanced allocation of diversified assets that is conducive to seizing investment opportunities brought about by global market volatility, and the convenience and efficiency of diversified investments made possible by the flexibility of digital wealth management,” said Josephine Lee, head of retail banking at Citibank Hong Kong, in a webinar releasing the result.
The survey interviewed over 3,500 Hong Kong residents aged 21 to 79 in two phases, from November to December in 2019, and March to May this year.
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