New York ranks first as home of the ultra-wealthy

• American cities dominate the top 20 ranked cities for ultra high net worth individual housing
• San Francisco and San Jose posts a high density of very high net worth individuals
• Top five for UHNW include NYC, LA, London, Hong Kong, and Paris

So the old African proverb goes “Choose your neighbours before you buy your house”; choose New York, and you’ll be in excellent company.

With almost 25,000 ultra high net worth individuals calling New York home, a report recently released by Wealth-X and REALM ranked the world’s cities by how many ultra-wealthy choose to call a place home.

Ultra high net worth was been defined as a net worth of over US $30M, very high net worth between $5M and $30M.

The report found traditional strongholds of LA, London, Hong Kong and Paris kept their place higher on the list, with the top 20 dominated by American cities.

Other Asian cities make an appearance further down the list, Singapore being the first Asian city, ranked 9 overall, followed by Beijing (12), and Shen Zhen (19).

The impact of COVID, and what home means, and what a quality life looks like has changed substantially.

Founder and CEO of REALM, Julie Faupel, said that “HNW and UHNW consumers prioritized peace of mind and safety over formerly prized shared experiences.”

Preferences for the ultra-wealth are changing with the times, Founder and CEO of The Agency, Mauricio Umansky said “Those who previously lived close to work moved further away to avoid denser areas and the wealthy buyer quickly sought to invest in sub markets for both primary and secondary residences. Demand was unprecedented, inventory was extremely limited, and the essence of home became paramount.”

The top 20 cities by total UHNW footprint (number of UHNW individuals with a primary or secondary home in this location, and rank):

1. New York City, 24,660
2. Los Angeles 16,295
3. London 14,485
4. Hong Kong 14,235
5. Paris, 7,035
6. San Francisco, 6,740
7. Chicago, 6,085
8. Miami, 5,615
9. Singapore, 5,250
10. Washington DC, 4,905
11. Dallas, 4,890
12. Beijing, 4,480
13. Houston, 4,435
14. Geneva, 3,705
15. Zurich, 3,295
16. Toronto, 3,080
17. Naples, 3,035
18. Greenwich, 2,910
19. Shenzhen, 2,830
20. San Jose, 2,790