Taking the long view

Kate Everett-Allen looks back at the performance of the PIRI 100 over the past decade and more

Go West

In 2023, the top five overseas markets UHNWIs are most likely to invest in include the US, UK, Australia, Spain and France. The wealthy are targeting markets offering lifestyle benefits along with currency diversification, stable political governance and high levels of transparency.

NO. 1 ASSET CLASS

The estimated total value of homes worldwide in US dollars, the world’s biggest and most influential asset class, accounting for half of all wealth. By way of comparison, stock markets are worth a mere US$90 trillion.

Buyer Appetite

The percentage of UHNWIs who plan to buy a home in 2023, down from the 17% who purchased in 2022. Among UHNWIs in the Middle East, though, the figure rises well above the global average to 21%.

Overseas Assets

The share of residential property owned by UHNWIs outside their country of residence – but there are big regional variations. For Australasians the figure is 12%, jumping to 35% for those based in the Americas and 42% among Middle Eastern UHNWIs.

Since 2010 marginal shifts, most of them up, have been the order of the day for prime prices. Annual price growth in the decade before Covid-19 was unspectacular but steady, averaging 1.6%. The unexpected pandemic surge marked the biggest leap since the PIRI 100 began in 2008. Prime prices jumped an average 5.2% in 2022 and now sit 35% above their financial crisis low. But markets have lost some of their prepandemic synchronicity. In 2019, 19 percentage points separated the strongest and weakest performers; in 2022, it was 68. A more nuanced landscape is emerging as countries adopt different monetary policy strategies, introduce taxes or buyer restrictions and, in some cases, deal with the impact of protracted border closures.

2022 In Perspective

Average annual % change across the PIRI 100 markets