The Big Apple replaces London as top city for ultra-high-net-worth investment

Flora Harley, an associate at Knight Frank explains:

“It’s no surprise that New York has recaptured its position as the city that matters most to the world’s wealthy. If you look at the number of UHNWIs residing in the city, the opportunities for investment and the lifestyle on offer – it is an incredibly appealing market. It will however be very interesting to watch New York and London compete for this title over the next year. New York, being more reliant on domestic investors may face a slowdown in the market in the run-up to the Presidential Election in November. Whilst, London seems to be out of the thick of it with the recent win for the Conservative party and a feeling of increased confidence from UHWIs around the world to take advantage of the value on offer in London currently.”

In addition to the City Wealth Index, Knight Frank has released the results of its inaugural City Wellbeing Index, identifying the cities that are increasingly focused on the quality of life they are able to offer in order to attract entrepreneurs, skilled employees and encourage companies to grow and succeed. Knight Frank’s analysis of 40 leading urban centres which takes into consideration a host of factors including – personal security, lifestyle, healthcare, crime, work-life balance and access to green spaces – reveals that European cities lead the City Wellbeing Index by some margin.

Flora Harley continued:

“The Norwegian capital, Oslo takes the top spot of Knight Frank’s first City Wellbeing Index, followed by Zurich and Helsinki tied in second and Vienna in fourth – unsurprising given its decade at the top of the Mercer Quality of Life Index. Madrid rounds off the top five with Stockholm in sixth place.”

The highest-ranking for Australasia is Sydney in seventh place. For North America, Montreal is highest in ninth place, for Asia it is Singapore in tenth and in the Middle East, Dubai takes the fifteenth spot. Looking at specific measures, Oslo leads for green space. According to the World Cities Culture Forum, 68% of public space in the city comprises parks and gardens, followed by Singapore’s 47%. If sunshine is the goal then Dubai comes out top with an average of 3,509 hours a year, followed by Los Angeles with 3,254 hours. For work-life balance, we looked at hours worked per day of vacation. Moscow has the lowest ratio, with 51.6 hours per vacation day, followed by Paris with 55.4.

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