These are the 10 richest cities and areas in South Africa

New World Wealth with Afrasia Bank has published its latest African Wealth Report, showing the state of wealth on the African continent – including where South Africa fits into the picture.

The data shows that South Africa is still by far the leading economy in Africa by most metrics, with it being home to the most high net worth individuals, and highest levels of total wealth held by them.

However, there are a few areas where South Africa is falling to the sidelines.

Specifically, in terms of wealth per capita, Mauritius dominates, at a rate of $32,700 compared to South Africa’s second-place positioning of $12,900 (just ahead of Namibia’s $12,300).

South Africa has also seen a lower rate of wealth growth between 2016 and 2017, registering only 8% growth, compared to Mauritius which saw growth of as much as 20%. Over the last decade (2007 to 2017), South Africa’s growth in wealth was one of the lowest (2%), compared to Mauritius which topped the list at 195%.

Further, New World Wealth has warned that South Africa’s prime property sectors – which is currently the most expensive in Africa – is coming under strain due to talks of land redistribution without compensation – while Cape Town’s drought has also affected prices.

Wealth in Africa

According to the report, wealth in Africa is distributed like this:

• There are approximately 148,000 HNWIs living in Africa, each with net assets of US$1 million or more.
• There are approximately 7,100 multi-millionaires living in Africa, each with net assets of US$10 million or more.
• There are approximately 320 centi-millionaires living in Africa, each with net assets of US$100 million or more.
• There are 24 billionaires living in Africa, each with net assets of US$1 billion or more.

In terms of wealth, total individual wealth held on the continent amounts to US$2.3 trillion, NWW said, of which, around US$920 billion (40%) is held by HNWIs.

South Africa has the highest levels of total wealth, more than double the next closest (Egypt) and almost three times bigger than the biggest African economy, Nigeria.

These are the richest countries in Africa.

In terms of city wealth, South Africa again tops the list, led by Johannesburg ($276 billion) and Cape Town ($155 billion). Other South African cities that feature include Durban ($55 billion), and Pretoria ($48 billion) – with Stellenbosch and the Garden Route identified as up-and-coming wealth hubs.

These are the 23 richest cities in Africa.

South African cities

South Africa is home to 43,600 HNWIs, each with net assets of $1 million or more, and 2,200 multimillionaires, each with net assets of US$10 million or more.

The country has as many as 98 centi-millionaires, each with net assets of $100 million or more.

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.

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Read: Here are 23 of the richest people in South Africa