new report<\/a> by data firm Wealth-X suggests that there were 16,295 homeowners with a net worth of over $30 million in LA as of December 2020. More than two-thirds of these high rollers considered La La Land their \u2018secondary home,\u2019 perhaps due to the state\u2019s steep income tax rates.<\/p>\nIn December, Elon Musk announced that he had moved from California to Texas, where there is no state income or capital gains tax. The SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO followed through on his promise to \u2018own no homes,\u2019 and sold four of his Los Angeles properties in 2020 for a combined $62 million.<\/p>\n
According to Wealth-X, UHNW secondary homeowners tend to be slightly younger and have greater female representation. The pandemic fueled the demand for second homes as US luxury buyers, discouraged from traveling internationally, snapped up vacation properties in markets like Miami and Aspen instead.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis group of wealthy individuals is used to travel, and it\u2019s hard for them to stay put,\u201d noted Joanne Nemerovski, Luxury Real Estate Advisor at Compass Chicago, in the report.<\/p>\n
Los Angeles was ousted by New York, which is home to 24,660 UHNW individuals owning a primary or secondary residence. NYC was described as the \u201cpre-eminent global city of the wealthy,\u201d celebrated for its commerce, culture, shopping, education and real estate opportunities. London\u00a0earned\u00a0the number three spot on the list, followed by Hong Kong, Paris and San Francisco.<\/p>\n
Among\u00a0the global top 20 cities for UHNW homeowners, 11\u00a0are located within the United States. This was attributed to the country\u2019s sheer size and geographic diversity \u2014\u00a0a wealthy individual living in Greenwich, Connecticut wanting to escape the cold can easily jet off to Naples, Florida for the weekend without packing their passport.<\/p>\n
Despite the significant wealth gap that exists between typical Americans and UHNW individuals, their pandemic-influenced home buying preferences are strikingly similar. Buyers in both tax brackets moved farther away from urban centers as remote work became the norm, and some of the most coveted home features among luxury clients included \u201cmore indoor-outdoor living space, a summer kitchen and privacy,\u201d according to Creig Northrop, President and CEO of Northrop Realty.<\/p>\n
As the pandemic continues and companies embrace permanent work-from-home policies, next year\u2019s report from Wealth-X could include a wider geographical spread of UHNW homeowners.<\/p>\n
\u201c2020 has seen large changes to the luxury real estate market,\u201d said Bonneau Ansley III, Founder and CEO of Ansley Atlanta. \u201cMany of my clients have made the decision to make a life change. As they can work anywhere, many are choosing quieter locations, with beaches or mountains, or moving away from the typically more congested cities.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Photo by Cory Rogers<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n