Real estate has been the sole road to wealth for many of the world’s billionaires. Overall, there are 256 billionaires in the world whose main business is in real estate—up by 17 a year ago, according to the Hurun Global Real Estate Rich List 2020.
China is the leader at 137, 54% of the international total, the report shows. Hong Kong is home to the most real estate billionaires.
Meanwhile, the U.S. boasts 34 real estate billionaires, or 13% of the world’s total. New York has the highest concentration of real estate billionaires in the U.S., at 15, followed by Los Angeles and Newport Beach, Calif., at two each.
As of January, there were 2,816 billionaires in the world, according to the report.
“Overall it [was] a good year for [the] world’s biggest real estate entrepreneurs,” says Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of the Hurun Report. The report was issued prior to the coronavirus pandemic.
Source: “Hong Kong Is Global Capital for Real Estate Billionaires,” Mansion Global (March 20, 2020)
