South Africa is home to over twice as many dollar millionaires (HNWIs) as any other African country, data from New World Wealth (NWW) shows.<\/p>\n
The country ranks 30th in the world by this measure, ahead of major economies such as Greece, Portugal and Turkey.<\/p>\n
HNWIs are defined as those who have a net worth of $1 million or more (net assets less net liabilities). Currently, there are just over 35,000 HNWIs living in South Africa, NWW said.<\/p>\n
Most of these HNWIs are based in Johannesburg (Sandton especially), Cape Town, Umhlanga and Pretoria.<\/p>\n
There are approximately 1,800 multi-millionaires living in the country, each with net assets of $10 million or more; 86 centi-millionaires living in SA, each with net assets of $100 million or more; and there are 5 billionaires living in SA, each with net assets of $1 billion or more.<\/p>\n
As at September 2020, NWW estimates that South Africa is also home to approximately 680,000 ‘mass affluent individuals’, each with net assets of US$100,000 or more.<\/p>\n
New World Wealth investigated what factors draw these wealthy individuals to South Africa.<\/p>\n
From physical properties, like a sunny climate and beautiful scenery, to more business-focused aspects like a developed financial services sector and necessary infrastructure to keep developing wealth – South Africa still emerges as a top destination for the super rich.<\/p>\n
According to New World Wealth, things that attract HNWIs to SA include:<\/p>\n
Notably, South Africa is a global pioneer in estate living and is home to many of the world\u2019s best lifestyle estates, New World Wealth said, highlighting developments such as Steyn City – an upmarket lifestyle estate in Fourways.<\/p>\n
The group estimates that over 45% of South African HNWIs either live or have homes on estates. An additional 30% have homes in luxury apartment blocks, which have been the fastest growing residential segment in the country over the past 20 years in terms of price growth.<\/p>\n