China has the largest number of property billionaires, as decades of economic growth fuelled urbanisation and demand for a roof over every head
- China has 108 dollar-denominated property billionaires, according to Hurun’s 2019 list, led by Evergrande’s chairman Hui Ka-yan
- US President Donald Trump’s wealth is estimated at US$3 billion, in 82nd spot
China has the world’s largest community of property tycoons, as a generation of developers grew wealthy over three decades of rapid economic growth, which fuelled the aspiration to have a roof over every head.
The second-largest economy had 108 dollar-denominated billionaires, out of 239 around the world, according to the 2019 Hurun Global Real Estate Rich List. The United States, with an economy that’s one and half times larger, has 26 real estate billionaires, while the UK has 17, and Hong Kong has 25.
China’s economy expanded at an average clip of 9.7 per cent every year since data collection began in 1992, lifting 500 million people out of poverty and created a middle class of 140 million households, according to the World Bank’s estimates. That has attracted millions of people to migrate from the countryside and villages into the cities in search of jobs and better income, leading to a surge in demand for housing.
Housing in China used to be provided by the state during the early days of the Communist Party’s centrally planned economy, part of the benefits of living in a socialist welfare state. Private housing only emerged two decades ago as the government experimented with capitalism to allow homes to be sold for profit, with the country’s very first land sale taking place in 1987.