More Multi-millionaires In HK Despite Covid: Survey

The number of self-reported multi-millionaires in Hong Kong shot up by around a fifth this year, despite the economic devastation brought by the Covid pandemic.

That's according to a new survey by Citibank, which polled around 3,500 people between March and May this year.

Through extrapolation, Citi believes that there are now around 504,000 multi-millionaires in Hong Kong, 90,000 more than the previous year.

Multi-millionaires are defined as those who have net assets of at least HK$10 million, and liquid assets of HK$1 million or more.

Josephine Lee, Citibank’s head of retail banking, told RTHK’s Wendy Wong that the coronavirus outbreak and government efforts to prop up the economy may have inflated people's perception of how much they own.

“Many governments of different countries imposed measures to help the economy, so this also boosts up the sentiment of our respondents in how they estimate their net assets,” she said.

Looking forward, Lee expects a steady increase in multi-millionaires in the city, adding that more respondents said they would choose to buy homes amid a property market correction.