Hong Kong Loses Ultra-Rich to Mainland, SingaporeCovid, crackdown cut into city’s allure City’s high-net-worth individuals slip while mainland and Singapore benefit
By: Toh Han Shih
Hong Kong is losing out on wealthy individuals compared to mainland China and Singapore, according to an April 18 report of Henley & Partners, an international firm which offers residential and citizenship planning to the ultra-rich. The super-rich who filled Hong Kong’s crowded streets with Ferraris and Bentleys and gave the city its extraordinary glitz are moving and the city isn’t replenishing its pool of wealthy people, observers say. Long considered a haven for Asia’s richest because of its role as a gateway to China; its function as Asia’s foremost financial center, its role as a hub for international business and its low tax regime, it began to lose its glamor as the government’s strict Covid-19 lockdown shut off freedom of movement. Beijing's clampdown on the city is also believed to have cautioned some of the ultra-rich Chinese who previously preferred Hong Kong to the mainland and made Singapore relatively more attractive. Hong Kong’s loss is China’s gain, with Shanghai and Beijing now hosting more US dollar billionaires than Hong Kong and Singapore collectively, according to the Henley & Partners report. Beijing and Shanghai have 43 and 40 billionaires respectively, while Hong Kong and Singapore have 32 and 27 respectively… The text above is just an excerpt from this subscriber-only story.To read the whole thing and get full access to Asia Sentinel's reporting and archives, subscribe now for US$10/month or US$100/year.This article is among the stories we choose to make widely available.If you wish to get the full Asia Sentinel experience and access more exclusive content, please do subscribe to us for US$10/month or US$100/year.
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