New World Wealth recently reviewed the wealthiest cities in the world for 2021, with a special spotlight on the wealthiest cities in the Middle East and Africa Region.
The Top 5 cities wealthiest cities in Africa and the Middle East are Dubai, Tel Aviv, Johannesburg, Instanbul and Cape Town. Dubai has the highest total wealth held in the region, with a total of US$530 billion.
The report looks at the “Total" private wealth held by all the individuals living in each city (i.e. resident wealth), which includes all their assets (property, cash, equities, business interests) less any liabilities.
NWW Analyst Andrew Amolis says, "We consider wealth to be a far better measure of the financial health of an economy than GDP. Reasons for this include:
- In many developing countries, a large portion of GDP flows to the government and therefore has little impact on private wealth creation.
- GDP counts items multiple times (for instance, if someone is paid $100 for a product/service and they then pay someone else that $100 for another product/service, then that adds $200 to a country’s GDP, even though only $100 has been produced at the start).
- GDP disregards income levels in a country.
- GDP ignores the efficiency of the local banking sector and the local stock market at retaining wealth in a country.
- GDP largely ignores the impact of property and stock market moves. These two factors obviously have a massive impact on wealth.
- GDP is quite a static measure - it tends to only move slightly year on year. As a result, it is not a great gauge of the performance of an economy.
"Wealth figures, on the other hand, do not have any of these limitations, making them a far better gauge of the financial health of an economy than GDP figures."
Johannesburg
Among South African cities, Johannesburg ranked as the richest city in the country and the continent. Total wealth held by Joburg's millionaires is $239 billion.
Most of Johannesburg’s HNWI wealth is concentrated in the suburbs of Sandhurst, Hyde Park, Houghton and Westcliff. Major sectors in the city include financial services (banks) and professional services (law firms, consultancies).
Cape Town
Cape Town is home to Africa’s most exclusive suburbs including Clifton, Bantry Bay, Fresnaye, Llandudno, Camps Bay, Bishopscourt and Constantia with a total wealth held in the city amounting to US$130 billion.
The Mother City is also home to several top-end lifestyle estates including Steenberg, Atlantic Beach and Silverhurst Estate. Major sectors include real estate and fund management.
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