World's Wealthiest Property Moguls Live In Hong Kong
The fact that it tops the UBS list of countries at bubble risk notwithstanding, world’s richest real estate moguls continue to live in Hong Kong, a city that also has the dubious distinction of being the least affordable property market in the world.
In Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey, Hong Kong retained its position as the least affordable property market in the world in 2019. Data show it would take an average skilled worker over 20 years of their income to afford a property in Hong Kong.
Of the 500 richest people listed on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index 2019, 43 owe their fortunes to real estate. Of these, 10 are from Hong Kong, with a combined net-worth of $135.82 billion. Notably, in this year’s list, 18 billionaires are from Hong Kong.
While a greater number of property moguls live in the US (14) , the richest still come from Hong Kong. The combined wealth of US billionaires from the real estate business ($100.61 billion) is less than the combined net-worth of Hong Kong’s real estate tycoons.
Chinese Billionaire Hui Ka Yan, who owns the Kong-Kong listed Evergrande Group, has emerged the richest property mogul with his $33.9 billion fortune. A total of five Chinese billionaires have made their fortune in real estate, the index shows.
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Of the 19 Indians that have made it to the list, only one has done it on account of real estate. With his $4.29 billion fortune, DLF’s KP Singh occupied the 458th position in the list.
Richest real estate moguls in Hong Kong
Name | Rank | Net worth (in $ billion) |
Li Ka-Shing | 29 | 31.9 |
Lee Shau Kee | 32 | 24.9 |
Raymond Kwok | 105 | 12.9 |
Thomas Kwok | 106 | 12.9 |
Peter Woo | 109 | 12.8 |
Joseph Lau | 183 | 8.4 |
Hui Wing Mau | 185 | 8.30 |
Vivien Chen | 242 | 6.77 |
Francis Choi | 402 | 4.80 |
Edwin Leong | 499 | 4.05 |
Total | 135.82 |
Richest real estate moguls in the US
Name | Rank | Net worth (in $ billion) |
Donald Bren | 63 | 17.2 |
Sun Hongbin | 135 | 10.8 |
Stephen Ross | 148 | 10.1 |
Dan Gilbert | 165 | 9.08 |
Stan Kroenke | 195 | 8.02 |
John Albert Sobrato | 213 | 7.39 |
Richard LeFrak | 294 | 5.84 |
Leonard Stern | 355 | 5.17 |
Jeff Sutton | 364 | 5.11 |
Edward Roski | 391 | 4.87 |
Sam Zell | 417 | 4.68 |
Ted Lerner | 476 | 4.17 |
Igor Olenicoff | 485 | 4.13 |
Total | 100.61 |