Ultra rich increase holdings in property

As the rich appear to be getting wealthier globally they are investing increasingly in property portfolios around the world.

Analysis from Savills and ultra high net worth individuals intelligence provider Wealth-X, has revealed that real estate now accounts for around a fifth of the invested wealth of the nearly 200,000 UHNWIs in the world.

Savills estimates that the total value of the world’s real estate is now around US$180 trillion, some 72 per cent of which is owner occupied residential property.

Around 3 per cent, or US$5.3 trillion, of the world’s total real estate value is owned by UHNWIs. This wealthiest 0.003 per cent of the world’s population has real estate holdings which are worth an average of US$26.5 million each.

Yolande Barnes, head of Savills world research, said: “Global real estate is mostly residential and held by occupiers, but private owners are becoming more important in the world of traded investable property.

"Since the ‘North Atlantic debt crisis’ of 2008, sovereign wealth funds, wealth management companies, private banks and family offices have stepped into the property deals that corporate bankers have deserted.

“In the world’s leading cities, the willingness of private wealth to take the place of debt finance or to take a higher-risk development position is now making the difference between deals done or schemes mothballed.”