China’s property barons fulfilled ordinary families’ dreams – and became fabulously wealthy
- Wang Jianlin has proven to be one of the property sector’s biggest experimenters, shifting to commercial real estate to find his money tree
Even as e-commerce and other hi-tech innovations have cranked out a new generation of billionaires, property moguls are still among China’s ultra rich, including one long-time survivor and nimble experimenter, Wang Jianlin.
Three out of China’s 10 richest billionaires made their fortunes in property, capitalising on economic reforms over the past 40 years that propelled property into one of the most important drivers of growth and creators of a middle class.
The three richest with property roots are: Xu Jiayin, chairman of Evergrande Group, worth US$36 billion (ranked 2 on Hurun’s latest China Rich List); Yang Huiyan, vice-chairman of Country Garden, worth US$21.6 billion (ranked 4), and Wang, chairman of Wanda Group, and his family, worth US$20.2 billion (ranked 5).
But, as property development has slowed and hi-tech has emerged as the new king, property developers have slipped in dominance on the rich list. Back in 2002, seven out of the top 10 on the Hurun China Rich List were property developers.
This year, about one-third of the 100 richest people in China were property developers, down from 54 of the top 100 in 2009.
“The property businesses are getting bigger and becoming more centralised and consolidated. And there are many new industries now coming up. That is also making a big difference,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report chairman and chief researcher.
Internet-related fortunes now rank high: Jack Ma, the founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba, the owner of the South China Morning Post, and his family are the richest, with US$39 billion. Pony Ma Huateng, chairman of social and gaming giant Tencent, is the third richest, with US$34.6 billion.