These are the cities and suburbs where South Africa’s richest people live

New World Wealth has published its South African Wealth Report for 2018, showing where the country’s wealthiest individuals live.

According to the report, South Africa is currently home to 43,600 high net worth individuals (HNWIs) – people who have total wealth exceeding $1 million – at the end of 2017.

This is up from the 40,400 recorded at the end of 2016, and climbing from the 38,500 recorded in 2015, when millionaire growth declined to levels last seen in the middle of the global economic crisis of 2008.

HNWI growth in 2017 was in-line with overall wealth growth in South Africa, where total private wealth increased from $670 billion at the end of 2016 to $722 billion at the end of 2017.

Of this, HNWI wealth rose from $284 billion to $306 billion, staying at 42% of total private wealth.

Johannesburg (including Sandton) is home to the most millionaires in the country, with 18,400 residents worth more than $1 million (and 970 worth more than $10 million), followed by Cape Town, though by some margin.

There are 10,000 fewer millionaires in Cape Town (8,300 recorded by NWW), though a slightly higher proportion of them are multi-millionaires (490).

Durban, including Ballito and Umhlanga, has the third highest concentration of dollar millionaire wealth (3,400 residents), followed closely by Paarl, Franschhoek and Stellenbosch (3,200 residents).

Over the past decade, all listed cities – except for Johannesburg – saw growth in their millionaire numbers. Johannesburg saw a decline of 4%, as a large number of Johannesburg millionaires moved to other parts of the country.

Johannesburg prime property prices also performed poorly relative to the rest of the country, NWW said.

The biggest growth was seen in Paarl, Franchhoek and Stellenbosh, which recorded a massive 20% jump in the number of billionaires residing in those areas – while HNWIs on the Garden Route and the Whale Coast also performed well (mainly due to a trend of retiring HNWIs moving there).

Suburbs

As the two most millionaire-dense cities in the country, it is no surprise that Cape Town and Joburg also have the most millionaire-rich suburbs.

The lists below look at where super wealthy ($10 million+) individuals have rooted their primary homes.

It includes the many suburbs known for high-cost homes on the Atlantic seaboard – such as Camps Bay and Clifton – but even these fall behind the likes of Houghton, Sandhurst and Hyde Park in Johannesburg, which all have over 100 super wealthy residents each.

While the lists below only consider the primary homes of South African millionaires, New World Wealth noted that Cape Town suburbs rank tops for millionaires’ choice for second homes.

Richest Cape Town suburbs

Richest Johannesburg Suburbs

Read: This is how many millionaires live in South Africa right now