Taylor Swift Joins Elon Musk on Global Billionaire Rankings
3 min
Elon Musk has some new company on the list of the world’s richest people: Taylor Swift, who’s now reached her billionaire “era.”
Buoyed by the rise in Tesla stock and the surge in SpaceX’s valuation, Musk has reclaimed the title of the world’s richest person in an annual ranking of billionaires.
Musk’s US$231 billion fortune catapulted him above Amazon executive chairman Jeff Bezos (US$185 billion) and LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault (US$175 billion), who ranked second and third, respectively, on the 13th Hurun Global Rich Report, an annual survey from China-based media and research firm Hurun. This year marked Musk’s third time in four years at the top of the roster.
Swift made her debut on the list, her wealth, estimated at US$1.2 million, propelled by her Eras Tour and royalties from re-recording her albums.
Mark Zuckerberg (US$158 billion), CEO of Meta Platforms Inc., trailed at No. 4, but added more wealth than anyone on the list, as Meta shares more than doubled, the report said.
Miami-based entrepreneur Ryan Breslow (US$1.3 billion), the 30-year-old chairman of fintech platform Bolt, entered the list this year as its youngest self-made billionaire. While 66 is the average age of billionaires on the list, 93 billionaires ranked are 40 or younger.
The list ranked 3,279 billionaires, up from 3,112 the previous year. The number of billionaires increased by 5% and their total wealth was up 9%, Hurun said in a news release. The wealthiest hail from 2,435 companies and 73 countries.
The wealth calculations are through Jan. 15 of this year.
For the first time, more than half the new wealth on the list was generated by the boom in AI, the report said.
“AI has been the major driver for wealth growth,” Rupert Hoogewerf , Hurun’s chairman and chief researcher, said in a statement. “Whilst [Nvidia president] Jensen Huang has grabbed many of the headlines as Nvidia broke through the US$2 trillion mark and catapulting him into the Hurun Top 30 as a result, the billionaires behind Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Oracle and Meta have seen significant surges in their wealth as investors bet on the value generated by AI.”
Despite losing 155 billionaires, China still claims the most, with 814, the report said. The U.S. added 109 billionaires, for a total of 800. India added 84, and now has almost double the number of billionaires as the U.K., the report said.
If there’s a billionaire capital, it’s New York, where more reside than any other city; London ranked second, and Mumbai third, edging out other locales to become Asia’s hub for billionaires.
Overall, the world’s wealthiest made their money in financial services (10%), followed by consumer goods (8%), and food & beverages (7%) and real estate (7%), Hurun said. By sector, it was a “good year” for media and entertainment, which added US$226 billion, outpacing software and services at US$149 billion, financial services at US$118 billion, and retail, at US$104 billion.
Not everyone was a winner. The report said 1,346 billionaires saw their wealth decrease; 278 of them dropped off the list, with 208 of those hailing from China.
“Wealth creation in China has gone through deep changes these last few years, with the wealth of billionaires from real estate and renewables down,” Hoogewerf said in a statement. “Whilst as many as 40% of the Hurun Global Rich List from the high water mark two years ago have lost their billionaire status, China has added 120 new faces to the list.
The report called the latest rankings a “bad year” for healthcare, where billionaires in the field shed US$75 billion; followed by industrial products, declining US$46 billion; food & beverages, losing US$40 billion; and real estate, dropping by US$32 billion.
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New research suggests spending 40 percent of household income on loan repayments is the new normal
3 min
Requiring more than 30 percent of household income to service a home loan has long been considered the benchmark for ‘housing stress’. Yet research shows it is becoming the new normal. The 2024 ANZ CoreLogic Housing Affordability Report reveals home loans on only 17 percent of homes are ‘serviceable’ if serviceability is limited to 30 percent of the median national household income.
Based on 40 percent of household income, just 37 percent of properties would be serviceable on a mortgage covering 80 percent of the purchase price. ANZ CoreLogic suggest 40 may be the new 30 when it comes to home loan serviceability. “Looking ahead, there is little prospect for the mortgage serviceability indicator to move back into the 30 percent range any time soon,” says the report.
“This is because the cash rate is not expected to be cut until late 2024, and home values have continued to rise, even amid relatively high interest rate settings.” ANZ CoreLogic estimate that home loan rates would have to fall to about 4.7 percent to bring serviceability under 40 percent.
CoreLogic has broken down the actual household income required to service a home loan on a 6.27 percent interest rate for an 80 percent loan based on current median house and unit values in each capital city. As expected, affordability is worst in the most expensive property market, Sydney.
Sydney
Sydney’s median house price is $1,414,229 and the median unit price is $839,344.
Based on 40 percent serviceability, households need a total income of $211,456 to afford a home loan for a house and $125,499 for a unit. The city’s actual median household income is $120,554.
Melbourne
Melbourne’s median house price is $935,049 and the median apartment price is $612,906.
Based on 40 percent serviceability, households need a total income of $139,809 to afford a home loan for a house and $91,642 for a unit. The city’s actual median household income is $110,324.
Brisbane
Brisbane’s median house price is $909,988 and the median unit price is $587,793.
Based on 40 percent serviceability, households need a total income of $136,062 to afford a home loan for a house and $87,887 for a unit. The city’s actual median household income is $107,243.
Adelaide
Adelaide’s median house price is $785,971 and the median apartment price is $504,799.
Based on 40 percent serviceability, households need a total income of $117,519 to afford a home loan for a house and $75,478 for a unit. The city’s actual median household income is $89,806.
Perth
Perth’s median house price is $735,276 and the median unit price is $495,360.
Based on 40 percent serviceability, households need a total income of $109,939 to afford a home loan for a house and $74,066 for a unit. The city’s actual median household income is $108,057.
Hobart
Hobart’s median house price is $692,951 and the median apartment price is $522,258.
Based on 40 percent serviceability, households need a total income of $103,610 to afford a home loan for a house and $78,088 for a unit. The city’s actual median household income is $89,515.
Darwin
Darwin’s median house price is $573,498 and the median unit price is $367,716.
Based on 40 percent serviceability, households need a total income of $85,750 to afford a home loan for a house and $54,981 for a unit. The city’s actual median household income is $126,193.
Canberra
Canberra’s median house price is $964,136 and the median apartment price is $585,057.
Based on 40 percent serviceability, households need a total income of $144,158 to afford a home loan for a house and $87,478 for a unit. The city’s actual median household income is $137,760.
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