The Asia Pacific wealth report found the HNWI population within the Asia Pacific has expanded by 31 per cent since 2007 and that its wealth increased by 27 per cent. This exceeds the global rate of HNWI population growth of just 14 per cent and growth in wealth of 9 per cent.
The increase in the HNWI population was predominantly driven by service and manufacturing-based economies such as Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea, as well as by emerging economies such as China, India, Indonesia and Thailand. In 2012, all Asia markets recorded positive growth in HNWI wealth, with Hong Kong increasing its HNWI wealth by 35.7 per cent and India increasing its HNWI wealth by 23.4 per cent.
Dorus van den Biezenbos, wealth specialist at Capgemini Australia, said the growth in the Asia Pacific region had been tremendous.
“We’ve seen double digit growth across the Asia Pacific region in 2012, with the two exceptions of Taiwan and Japan, which has fuelled the number of millionaires in the region to 3.68 million,” said Mr Biezenbos.
While the growth in Australia was slightly more moderate, it was still significant, with the millionaire population growing by 15.5 per cent and their wealth increasing by 15.5 per cent from the previous year. Mr Biezenbos said this has been driven by the 3.6 per cent growth in GDP, the 16.4 per cent increase of the share market and the 2.1 per cent rise in real estate prices.
The report showed that Australia has a strong preference towards real estate investment, with over 40 per cent of all HNWI wealth being invested in this area, which is double the global average of around 20 per cent.
Mr Biezenbos attributed this figure to the Australian culture of people wanting to own their own home, the strong performance of the real estate market over recent years and fiscal incentives such as negative gearing associated with buying an investment property.
Another finding of the report was that Australians were more aligned with Western countries than with other Asian Pacific countries in terms of their preference for direct contact with wealth managers.
“People in the Asia Pacific region generally prefer to have multiple firms in order to spread their risk whereas Australian millionaires prefer to have a single firm or single touch point,” said Mr Biezenbos. Australians also differ from the residents of other Asian countries in their preference for direct contact with wealth managers as opposed to online contact.
The research also showed that Australians are much more focused on wealth growth than wealth preservation.
“Australians have a strong belief that they can grow their wealth in coming years so they are confident about the forecast for Australia in the next few years,” Mr Biezenbos said.
