The Global Cities Survey looks at the most important cities globally in terms of where the world’s wealthy live, invest, educate their children, grow their business and spend leisure time.
|
Most important cities to UHNWIs 2015 |
Most important cities to UHNWIs 2016 |
|
1 |
London |
London |
|
2 |
New York |
New York |
|
3 |
Hong Kong |
Singapore |
|
4 |
Singapore |
Hong Kong |
|
5 |
Shanghai |
Dubai |
|
6 |
Miami |
Shanghai |
|
7 |
Paris |
Paris |
|
8 |
Dubai |
Sydney |
|
9 |
Beijing |
Beijing |
|
10 |
Zurich |
Geneva |
Liam Bailey, head of research, Knight Frank said: “Our survey results confirm that London and New York’s positions at the top of our survey results look invincible for the immediate future due to their and long-established lead over other cities. However, further down the leader board the main battleground is Asia, where our respondents predict that Shanghai will eclipse Hong Kong’s position, in terms of its importance to the wealthy over the next ten years.”
Which city is best connected?
The report also looks at which city has the best connections to the world's wealthy. This analysis was undertaken by combining an assessment of city level Ultra-High-Net-Worth-Individuals (UHNWI) population and flight time. Paris tops the list as the most accessible city to UHNWIs based on travel time, with more than 16,900 UHNWIs living within two hours of the city.
Although New York has most UHNWI residents, London’s geographical position means that within a two hour flight time, the city is accessible to more than 16,000 UHNWIs, compared to New York’s 8,300, helping to explain London’s primary importance to the global UHNWI population.
The concentration of wealth within Europe propels cities in this region high up the ranking of “wealth accessibility” on this measure.