UAE continues to be a magnet for high net worth individuals

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) The UAE, especially Dubai, continued to woo high net worth individuals (HNWIs) as another 1,300 millionaires made the emirate their home last year, according to the latest New World Wealth Report.

The UAE is among the top 10 countries that witnessed the highest inflows of millionaires last year and also becoming the wealthiest country in the region followed by Israel, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

By June 2020, the UAE was home to 79,000 millionaires, 3,400 multimillionaires with wealth of over $10 million and 12 billionaires. Their total wealth stood at $825 billion (Dh3.02 trillion).

Dubai has 49,500 millionaires, 2,300 multimillionaires and nine billionaires by June 2020 with total wealth at $490 billion (Dh1.8 trillion).

Similarly, Dubai was among the five top cities which recorded highest inflow of high net worth individuals last year.

"Over the past 20 years, the UAE has been one of the world's biggest recipients of migrating millionaires. We estimate that over 25,000 HNWIs have moved to the UAE over the past decade [2010 to 2020]. Many of these individuals have come from India, the Middle East and Africa," said Andrew Amoils, head of research at New World Wealth. He stated that the rich prefer to UAE for its safe-haven status in the Mena region, high income, first-class healthcare system, low tax rates, international business hub, luxury hub with top-class shopping malls, top-end apartments and villas and good international schools.

He also pointed out that expat-dependent countries could see exodus of overseas workers in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic but this will be a short-term phenomenon.
"There are concerns that countries with large numbers of wealthy expats such as the UAE may see a HNWI exodus in 2020-21. This is a possibility in the short term [one to two years]. However, we expect the UAE - Dubai specifically - to remain a popular destination for migrating HNWIs in the long-term due to its status as the only real safe-haven in the Mena region."

Year-to-date, according to Amoils, not many HNWIs have moved to the UAE due to travel restrictions in the wake of the pandemic.

Globally, Australia attracted the highest number of millionaires last year at 12,000 followed by the US (10,800), Switzerland (4,000), Canada (2,200), Singapore (1,500), Israel (1,400), New Zealand (1,400), the UAE (1,300), Portugal (1,200) and Greece (1,100).

Among the cities, Sydney was the largest recipient of millionaires followed by Geneva, Melbourne, Singapore and Dubai.

China, India, Russia, Hong Kong, Turkey, the UK, France, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia witnessed the highest outflows last year. Iran, Qatar, the Philippines, Pakistan, Lebanon and Thailand also saw high outflows of millionaires.

-

MENAFN0310202000490000ID1100897586