South Africa has lost a shocking number of millionaires – here’s how many are left

As part of the AfrAsia Bank South Africa Wealth Report 2019, New World Wealth has looked at the movement of wealth around, and out of the country over the past year.

NWW stated that 2018 was a poor year for wealth in the country as total private wealth held by people living in SA, declined 10%, to $649 billion.

The drop, the report said, was facilitated by a poor exchange rate, a ‘sluggish’ local property market, and the ongoing migration of wealthy people.

The report shows that wealth in Joburg has declined among high net worth individuals, to $248 billion, from $276 billion before. As have the number of dollar millionaire residents, from 18,400, to 16,600. Cape Town has seen total wealth decline to to $133 billion, from $155 billion, with dollar millionaires dropping to 7,100, from 8,300 residents before.

“Our research shows that over the last ten years South Africa’s two main wealth markets, namely Johannesburg and Cape Town, have performed relatively poorly,” said Andrew Amoils, head of research at New World Wealth.

“Johannesburg has lost a large number of HNWIs to other parts of the country while more recently, Cape Town has been harmed by the ongoing drought which has hurt the city’s real estate market and deterred migration to the city.”

NWW noted that millionaires or HNWIs refer to individuals with wealth of $1 million (R12 million) or more, while wealth refers to the net assets of a person. It includes all their assets (property, cash, equities, business interests) less any liabilities.

Durban, including Ballito and Umhlanga, has the third highest concentration of dollar millionaire wealth (3,300 residents), followed closely by Paarl, Franschhoek and Stellenbosch (2,800 residents).

Overall, the number of dollar millionaires across the country has dropped significantly over the past year, from 43,600, to 39,200, while the country has lost 130 residents with $10 million or more over the same period.

The report is inline with similar research conducted by Frank Knight which showed that many of South Africa’s wealthiest people have lost a lot of money – or have taken their wealth elsewhere – in recent years.

Super wealthy in 2018

Change in millionaires (2017 to 2018)

Read: How much money you need to be considered rich in South Africa