Australia Top Choice for Wealthy, 4,000 Millionaires Move to Sydney in 2015: Report

Australia seems to be the most preferred destination for the rich across the globe, with Sydney leading the pack with the biggest net inflow of millionaires, as some 4,000 of them shifted base to the city in 2015, according to a report by New World Wealth.

Overall, the figure for the entire continent stood at 8,000 as Melbourne and Perth attracted 3,000 and 1,000 high net worth individuals (HNIs) and secured second and eighth positions, respectively, New World Wealth, a global wealth intelligence and market research company, said in its report.

"Sydney, Melbourne and Perth all benefited from millionaire inflows from China, Europe, the UK, the US and South Africa. Other Australian areas such as the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Noosa and the Sunshine Coast also experienced inflows," the report noted. Tel Aviv drew a large chunk of millionaires from Europe, especially France. The city was ranked third with as many as 2,000 HNIs making this city their domicile. Other Israeli cities such as Herzliya, Jerusalem and Netanya too saw inflows.

There were large millionaire inflows to San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver from China and South East Asia while Dubai pulled in many from North Africa (Egypt, Algeria and Morocco) and Turkey. Interestingly, in 2015, London saw an inflow of 3,000 millionaires but 2,500 super-rich left the city and moved to other parts of England. A large number also moved overseas, mainly to English-speaking countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the US.

"Most of the millionaires who left London were UK-born whereas almost all of the millionaires coming into the city were from other countries," the report said, adding, "This may be a trend that continues in future as several wealthy UK-born people remain 'concerned' about the way London and the UK in general had changed over the past decade or so."

Paris saw the biggest outflow, with as many as 7,000 of millionaires heading the exit door. The other cities with large outflows of millionaires included Rome (5,000), Chicago (3,000) and Athens (2,000). The factors responsible for millionaire migration varied widely. For Paris, it was rising religious tension and lack of opportunities; for Rome, economic slump; for Chicago, rising racial tension and rising crime levels, and for Athens, economic slump and migration crisis with Syria/Turkey.

Millionaires refer to individuals with net assets of $1 million or more excluding their primary residences.