Millionaires don’t want to be in Joburg anymore

Johannesburg ranks as the wealthiest city in South Africa – but the ‘New York of Africa’ has seen a massive exodus of wealth over the last decade.

New data from Henley & Partners shows that when it comes to the number of dollar millionaires resident in cities across the world, the USA and China dominate the top 10 wealthiest cities, with Europe only offering up one city – London.

The latest 2023 list from the migration company revealed that New York City is the wealthiest city in the world with 340,000 dollar millionaires, while two other American metros – the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles – come in third and sixth place, with 285,000 and 205,400 resident high-net-worth individuals respectively.

According to Henley & Partners, high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) are defined as those with investable wealth of over USD 1 million and all figures are rounded off to the nearest 100).

Tokyo comes in at second place with 290,300 dollar millionaires, followed by London, which was dropped down to fourth with 258,000 resident HNWIs.

“City-state Singapore, widely regarded as the most business-friendly city in the world and one of the top destinations for migrating millionaires, sits in 5th place with 240,100 resident millionaires, while Sydney comes in 10th place with 126,900 millionaires,” said the migration firm.

Despite growth in both China and the US, Andrew Amoils, the head of research at New World Wealth (a collaborator with Henlyey & Partners), said that traditional wealth magnets such as Dubai and Monaco have remained especially strong in millionaire growth over the past decade.

“Arguably the world’s top safe haven for the super-rich, the average wealth of a person living in Monaco exceeds USD 10 million, making it the top-ranked city on a wealth per capita basis. It is also the world’s most expensive city, with apartment prices regularly exceeding USD 35,000 per square meter,” said Amoils.

“Dubai is another established international wealth centre, with its low tax rates making it a magnet for migrating millionaires from all over the world. Approximately 3,500 high-net-worth individuals moved to the city in 2022 alone.”

South Africa

Domestically, South Africa sports low levels of HNWIs when compared to other metros around the world.

Henley & Partners provides the following breakdown of HNWIs in cities across South Africa:

• Johannesburg – 14,600
• Cape Town – 7,200
• Durban – 3,600
• Cape Winelands – 3,400
• Garden Route – 3,000
• Pretoria – 2,400
• Whale Coast – 1,100

Johannesburg has seen a significant dip in the number of HNWIs within its region. The city reported a 40% decrease in the number of dollar millionaires between 2012 and 2022, while Cape Town increased by 10%.

Despite this loss, Johannesburg is still largely considered the economic hub of South Africa.

However, Cape Town has increasingly become more popular, being seen less as a holiday destination and more so as a place to live or work – especially for those that can afford the area’s rising property prices.

As seen by the data from Henley & Partners, the Western Cape is home to a significant portion of wealthy South Africans; Gauteng, however, does not display the same kind of array of wealth across its geography, with many of the HNWIs being centred in Johannesburg – home to the richest square mile in Africa, Sandton City.

Pretoria, also in Gauteng, is home to around 2,400 HWNIs, and this city, too, has seen a massive outflow of wealth, losing 35% of its HWNIs between 2012 and 2022.

The World’s Wealthiest Cities Report 2023 includes HNWI population data for 97 cities across the world, as well as HNWI growth stats for the past decade (2012 to 2022) along with seasonal hotspots for centi-millionaires (those individuals with an investable wealth of USD 100 million or more.

The table below compares the cities listed in the latest Henley & Partners report:

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