Wealth
Comparing Luxury Investment Around the World
Comparing Luxury Investment Around the World
Do you enjoy the finer things in life? For many of the world’s wealthy individuals, acquiring luxury goods such as art, fine wine, and watches is a passion.
Unlike traditional investments in financial assets, luxury goods can be difficult to value if one does not have an appreciation for their form. A rare painting, for example, does not generate cash flows, meaning its value is truly in the eye of the beholder.
To gain some insight into the market for luxury goods, this infographic takes data from Knight Frank’s 2021 Wealth Report to compare the preferences of nine global regions.
Global Tastes in Luxury Goods
To rank the most popular luxury investments in 2020, Knight Frank surveyed over 600 private bankers, wealth advisors, and family offices. The following table summarizes their findings, as well as each category’s growth according to the Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index.
Global Average Ranking | Category | 10-year growth in asset values (%) |
---|---|---|
1 | Art | 71% |
2 | Classic cars | 193% |
3 | Watches | 89% |
4 | Wine | 127% |
5 | Jewelry | 67% |
6 | Rare whiskey | 478% |
7 | Furniture | 22% |
8 | Colored diamonds | 39% |
9 | Coins | 72% |
10 | Handbags | 108% |
Art was unmistakably the top category for 2020, ranking first in every geographic region except Africa and Asia, where it placed second instead. The global market for artwork was estimated to be worth $64 billion in 2019, and is often facilitated through auction houses such as Sotheby’s.
In terms of asset appreciation, rare whiskeys have climbed the most in value over the past 10 years. Connoisseurs of this spirit will be familiar with distilleries like The Macallan, whose rare bottles can sell for more than a million dollars.
Comparing Luxury Investment Between North America and Asia
Below, we’ve compared the rankings of Asia and North America to get a better idea of how preferences can vary.
The biggest differences here are watches, which ranked first in Asia but fourth in North America, and classic cars, which ranked second in North America but fifth in Asia. The remaining eight categories took similar spots across the two regions.
Rank | Asia Popularity | North America Popularity |
---|---|---|
1 | Watches | Art |
2 | Art | Classic cars |
3 | Jewelry | Wine |
4 | Wine | Watches |
5 | Classic cars | Jewelry |
6 | Rare whiskey | Rare whiskey |
7 | Handbags | Furniture |
8 | Furniture | Handbags |
9 | Colored diamonds | Coins (tied for 8th place) |
10 | Coins | Colored diamonds |
Asia’s stronger preference for watches was likely driven by Chinese consumers, who are now the biggest buyers of luxury watches globally. Demand throughout the COVID-19 pandemic proved resilient, with exports of Swiss watches to China increasing by 17.1% between January and November 2020.
Classic cars, on the other hand, may be more popular in North America due to the region’s longer automotive history. Two of America’s most iconic automakers, Ford and General Motors, have both been around for over a century!
The Biggest Sales of 2020
Here were some of the most extravagant and noteworthy luxury sales from 2020.
Art
Francis Bacon’s 1981 Triptych Inspired by the Oresteia of Aeschylus was sold by Sotheby’s for $84.6 million in June 2020. A triptych is an artwork that is divided into three sections but displayed as a single piece.
Other paintings by Francis Bacon have sold for even larger amounts. In 2013, Three Studies of Lucian Freud was sold by Christie’s auction house for $142 million.
Classic Cars
A 1932 Bugatti Type 55 Super Sport Roadster sold for $7.1 million in March 2020, making it one of the biggest classic car sales of the year.
Founded in 1909, Bugatti has produced some of the world’s most sought-after cars. The French brand was acquired by the Volkswagen Group in 1998, and since then, has released numerous special edition cars with price tags reaching well into the millions.
Handbags
An Hermès Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile Retourné Kelly 25 sold for $437,330 in November 2020, becoming the most expensive handbag ever sold at an auction. Founded in 1837, Hermès is commonly regarded as one of the world’s most prestigious makers of handbags.
COVID-19 Dampens Luxury Investment
When compared to 2019, total sales for Sotheby’s declined 16% in 2020, while Christie’s, another leading auction house, reported a 25% decline. Despite these decreases, executives remain optimistic.
“The art and luxury markets have proven to be incredibly resilient, and demand for quality across categories is unabated.”
– Charles Stewart, CEO, Sotheby’s
The industry has been largely successful in transitioning to online operations, with Sotheby’s reporting that 70% of its auctions in 2020 were held online, up from 30% in the previous year.
Wealth
Mapped: Where Do the Wealthiest People in the World Live?
There are over 600,000 individuals worldwide with a net worth surpassing $30 million, representing the wealthiest people on the planet. Here’s where they live.
Where Do the Wealthiest People in the World Live?
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
Investors didn’t expect 2023 to be the bumper year for returns it ended up being. Despite tightening monetary policies and surging bond yields, equities continued their strong performance (helped hugely by enthusiasm around the potential of artificial intelligence).
This has boosted wealth creation, and the growth of ultra high net worth individuals (UHNWIs) in the world.
We map out where the 600,000+ UHNWIs reside, as of the end 2023. To be categorized as such, a person’s net worth needs to be higher than $30 million. This map uses data from the Knight Frank Wealth Report 2024.
It’s worth noting that some countries that are known hotspots for the wealthy—including Belgium, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Russia—do not have specified numbers in the source report and have not been covered in this map and article.
Ranked: Countries By Number of Ultra Wealthy Individuals
At the top of the ranks, accounting for more than one-third of the wealthiest in the world, the U.S. is home to 225,000 UHNWIs, more than double the number of 99,000 UHNWIs in China.
Together, the world’s two largest economies are home to 50% of the world’s wealthiest.
Rank | Territory | UHNWI Population | YoY Growth | % of World UHNWIs |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 🇺🇸 U.S. | 225,077 | +7.9% | 35.9% |
2 | 🇨🇳 China | 98,551 | +3.3% | 15.7% |
3 | 🇩🇪 Germany | 29,021 | +1.1% | 4.6% |
4 | 🇨🇦 Canada | 27,928 | +2.0% | 4.5% |
5 | 🇫🇷 France | 24,941 | +0.2% | 4.0% |
6 | 🇬🇧 UK | 23,072 | +3.1% | 3.7% |
7 | 🇯🇵 Japan | 21,710 | +0.3% | 3.5% |
8 | 🇮🇹 Italy | 15,952 | +3.8% | 2.5% |
9 | 🇦🇺 Australia | 15,347 | +2.9% | 2.4% |
10 | 🇨🇭 Switzerland | 14,734 | +5.2% | 2.4% |
11 | 🇮🇳 India | 13,263 | +6.1% | 2.1% |
12 | 🇪🇸 Spain | 10,149 | +1.7% | 1.6% |
13 | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | 8,390 | +0.2% | 1.3% |
14 | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | 7,640 | -0.3% | 1.2% |
15 | 🇰🇷 South Korea | 7,310 | +5.6% | 1.2% |
16 | 🇭🇰 Hong Kong | 5,957 | +2.5% | 1.0% |
17 | 🇸🇬 Singapore | 4,783 | +4.0% | 0.8% |
18 | 🇸🇪 Sweden | 4,125 | +2.5% | 0.7% |
19 | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | 2,587 | +2.9% | 0.4% |
20 | 🇳🇴 Norway | 2,276 | +1.1% | 0.4% |
21 | 🇦🇹 Austria | 2,167 | +0.3% | 0.3% |
22 | 🇹🇷 Türkiye | 1,932 | +9.7% | 0.3% |
23 | 🇮🇪 Ireland | 1,890 | +0.4% | 0.3% |
24 | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | 1,479 | +4.2% | 0.2% |
25 | 🇫🇮 Finland | 1,269 | +4.1% | 0.2% |
26 | 🇹🇭 Thailand | 889 | +0.8% | 0.1% |
27 | 🇿🇦 South Africa | 835 | -1.3% | 0.1% |
28 | 🇵🇹 Portugal | 800 | +3.0% | 0.1% |
29 | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | 754 | +4.3% | 0.1% |
30 | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | 752 | +2.4% | 0.1% |
N/A | 🌐 Other | 51,039 | +0.1% | 8.1% |
N/A | 🌍 World | 626,619 | +4.2% | N/A |
Note: The organization uses a dynamic proprietary wealth-sizing model created by their data engineering team to arrive at these figures. Exact numbers may change between different editions of this report.
Ranked third, Germany, has close to 30,000 UHNWIs, following the pattern of the biggest economic powerhouses having the highest share of the wealthy.
This correlation remains generally constant outside the top three as well, even if exact positions aren’t quite maintained:
- Canada, 10th largest economy, 4th in share of wealthiest people.
- Australia, 14th largest economy, 9th in wealthiest people.
- Switzerland, 20th largest economy, 10th in wealthiest people.
- India, 6th largest economy, 11th in wealthiest people.
Together, these top countries by share of UHNWIs account for 92% of all individuals with a net worth greater than $30 million.
Other countries, not specifically mentioned in the report, have 59,039 UHNWIs, or 8.1% of the world’s total.
Ranked: Regions By Number of Ultra Wealthy Individuals
Unsurprisingly, buoyed by the U.S. and China, North America and Asia are the top two regions by wealthiest individuals.
Europe is close behind Asia however; a reminder of the region’s collective economic might.
Rank | Region | UHNWI Population | YoY Growth |
---|---|---|---|
1 | North America | 253,066 | +7.2% |
2 | Asia | 165,442 | +2.6% |
3 | Europe | 155,232 | +1.8% |
4 | Middle East | 18,790 | +6.2% |
5 | Oceania | 17,934 | +2.9% |
6 | South America | 13,159 | -3.6% |
7 | Africa | 2,996 | +3.8% |
The oil-rich Middle East also outperforms on the wealthy individuals metric and saw the highest YoY growth in the ultra-wealthy after North America.
The world as a whole grew its UHNWI population by 4.2% and only South America saw a contraction in numbers between 2022 and 2023.
Where Does This Data Come From?
Source: Knight Frank Wealth Report 2024.
Note: Some countries that are known hotspots for the wealthy, including Belgium, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Russia have not been specified by the source report, and thus do not appear on this map.
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