The number of Australian individuals with more than US$10 million ($15.7 billion) in assets has passed 42,000, rising by 3.9 per cent over the past year.
Currently, there are 42,789 individuals with this level of wealth and this was a rise of 3.9 per cent over the past year, according to the annual Knight Frank Wealth Report.
Out of the top 10 globally, Australia sat in ninth position, slightly ahead of Hong Kong which had 42,715 individuals and behind France in eighth place which had 51,254. The top position was held by the US which had a substantially higher volume at 905,413 individuals.
With a population of 27 million people, the volume of wealthy individuals represents around 0.1 per cent of the Australian population.
The number in Australasia who had more than US$100 million sat at 1,918, up from 1,846 last year, and is on track to pass 2,000 individuals by 2028. The number set to have US$10 million should reach 51,983 in Australasia over the same period.
Knight Frank chief economist Ben Burston said: “While several major economies, including Australia, saw sluggish growth in 2024 as higher interest rates took a toll on household incomes, robust growth in the United States supported the global economy and underpinned ongoing wealth creation.
“Moves by major central banks to reduce interest rates have also buoyed investor confidence and supported a strong rally in equity markets, resulting in rising numbers of HNWIs globally and in Australia.”
The report also explored the Australian commercial real estate investment sector, which was identified as the top investment asset for HNWs. Rising up from ninth, Australia was the sixth most active market globally for commercial real estate investment in 2024.
Around a third of Australian family offices said they expect to increase their allocations to real estate over the next 18 months, with most being focused on domestic properties.
Total commercial real estate investment volumes in Australia rose 57 per cent from US$20.9 billion to US$32.8 billion during the year, which was the strongest year-on-year growth by all countries surveyed.
Australia was also the fourth most popular destination for cross-border commercial real estate investment at US$12.8 billion, with Sydney specifically identified as the second top metro destination with US$8.6 billion, beating out cities like Tokyo and New York.
Burston said: “Australia’s increase was partly due to improving sentiment and less uncertainty over the macro outlook, with an increase in activity in each of the office, industrial and retail sectors. We expect continued momentum in 2025, with a further pick-up in activity in the office, retail and alternative sectors, although the volume of entity-level activity in data centres unlikely to be repeated.
“The market is firmly in recovery mode, and while 2025 won’t be without its challenges, a significant pool of capital is seeking deployment in Australia and additional interest rate reductions are likely to buoy sentiment further as the year goes on.”
