The World Added 412 Billionaires in 2020, Bringing the Total to 3,288
The billionaires’ combined wealth rose 32% year over year.
2 min
The billionaires’ combined wealth rose 32% year over year to US$14.7 trillion, a sum that falls between the GDP of the world’s two biggest economies, the U.S. (with US$19.5 trillion) and China (with $12.2 trillion).
“A stock market boom, driven partly by quantitative easing, and flurry of new listings have minted eight new dollar billionaires a week for the past year,” Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report chairman and chief researcher, said in a statement. “The world has never seen this much wealth created in just one year, much more than perhaps could have been expected for a year so badly disrupted by Covid-19.”
Three individuals added more than $50 billion in a single year, led by Tesla’s Elon Musk who added US$151 billion and climbed to the top spot of the Hurun Global Rich List with a net worth of US$197 billion. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos dropped to the second place, despite his wealth growing US$50 billion last year to a total of US$189 billion.
Colin Zheng Huang of Pinduoduo, China’s e-commerce giant, also saw his net worth grow more than $50 billion to US$69 billion, earning him the title of 19th richest billionaire in the world.
China jumped way ahead of the U.S. with 1,058 billionaires, up 259 from a year ago. The U.S. added 70 billionaires to take the total to 696 billionaires, according to the report, which calculates the billionaires’ wealth based on market data as of Jan. 15.
Other key findings in the report include:
- Five people have more than US$100 billion, including Musk, Bezos, LVMH’s Bernard Arnault (US$114 billion), Bill Gates (US$110 billion), and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg (US$101 billion);
- California-based Austin Russell of car sensor maker Luminar Technologies was the youngest self-made billionaire, at 25 years old, with US$3.5 billion;
- Beijing had the largest number of billionaires, with 145; Shanghai (113) overtook New York (112) as the runner-up. Six of the top 10 cities with the highest concentration of billionaires were in China;
- Healthcare and real estate tied as the main source of wealth for the world’s billionaires, each accounting for 8.7% of total billionaire wealth;
- There were 231 self-made female billionaires, an increase of 51 from a year ago. China dominated with 69% of the world’s self-made women billionaires.
Last year saw a net addition of 17 cryptocurrency billionaires, who derived their wealth from holding currency tokens. Blockchain also had 17 billionaires, whose wealth was predominantly from crypto exchanges, according to the report.
“We are currently right in the heart of a new industrial revolution, with the ABCDEs—that is AI, blockchain, cloud, data, and e-commerce—creating new opportunities for entrepreneurs and leading to a concentration of wealth and economic power on a scale never seen before,” Hoogewerf said in the report.
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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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