Australia was the top country worldwide for HNWI inflows in 2017, beating out its main rival the US for the third year running, according to New world wealth report.
Australia attracts significant number of HNW millionaires from China, United States and UK for a number of reasons.
Approximately 95,000 millionaires (HNWIs) migrated to another country 2017, of which 10,000 of HNWI migrated to Australia. Australia is the 9th wealthiest country in the world in 2017 with total wealth of $6.1 trillion with only 22 million people living.
Australia has the world’s ninth-largestimmigrant population, with immigrants accounting for 26% of the population, with third-highest human development index ranking highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom, civil liberties and political rights.
Australia’s superior growth over the past decade has also no doubt had an impact on confidence and business opportunities – over the past 10 years, total wealth held in Australia has risen by 83% compared to 20% growth in the US.
As a result, the average Australian is now significantly wealthier than the average US citizen, which was not the case 10 years ago.
Reasons why migrating HNWIs may be preferring Australia to the US:
- Australia’s location makes it a better base for doing business in emerging Asian countries such as China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Vietnam.
- Safety – Australia was recently rated as the safest country for woman worldwide during our annual woman safety ratings (see section 9.2). Australia is also a particularly safe country to raise children (although some describe it as a nanny state with too many rules).
- Australia has lower inheritance taxes than the US.
- Healthcare – Problems in the US healthcare industry. In the US, getting healthcare insurance can be difficult for incoming HNWIs. Notably, several international medical aids cover patients in all developed countries with the exception of the US (which is a big warning sign). In particular, the Affordable Care Act enacted in 2010 has not turned out well for wealthy and middle class patients in the US, with average premiums rising by over 120% since the act was passed in 2010.
- Education – Australia has some of the best universities in the world offering high quality education.
- Real estate – Soaring property prices in Australia is the highest in the world.
Popular places for HNWI to move to in Australia are:
- Sydney,
- Melbourne,
- Gold Coast,
- Sunshine Coast,
- Perth and
- Brisbane.
There is also trend of large European, American and Asian companies setting up offices in Australia, which assists the businessmen in charge of these companies in moving to Australia via work transfers.
Australia also attracts investors through Significant investor golden visa scheme for business and innovation
Note:
- Billionaires are those individuals with net assets of US$1 billion or more.
- Millionaires or High-net worth Individuals (HNWIs) are those with net assets of US$1 million or more.
