The world's affluent population – those with a net worth of $5 million and up – grew 19.8% in 2021, according to a report by Coldwell Banker Global Luxury.
According to the 2022 Global Luxury Insights Report, the affluent population added 597,550 individuals to bring the total population to 3,612,730 individuals worldwide. Their combined wealth rose 20.4% to over $75 trillion – a significant jump from 2020, which only saw a 2.1% year over year increase. Meanwhile, U.S. wealth growth rates were even higher in 2021, rising 24.8% in both total population and wealth during the same period, up from 8.1% in 2020.
Coldwell officials said the massive wealth growth and population jump of affluent individuals, combined with new living patterns and changing property preferences, led to a historic luxury real estate market expansion.
In 2021, sales of luxury single-family homes, defined as the top 10% of any given market, rose 14.5% while prices increased 20.3% from 2020. Sales of attached luxury homes saw a more dramatic uptick of 29.6% year over year and a 16.6% increase in prices, officials said.
This year, the report compiled insight from curated surveys of Coldwell Banker global luxury property specialists worldwide and data collected by the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing and Wealth-X to better understand the trends reshaping the luxury market domestically and abroad.
Key findings featured in the report include:
- U.S. states that attracted the greatest number of foreign homebuyers from April 2020 to March 2021 were California, Arizona, Texas, Florida and New Jersey;
- Green cities, like Portland, San Francisco, and St. Paul, Minn., are attracting interest from those seeking out more eco-friendly locales;
- Secondary cities like Denver; Boise, Idaho; Sacramento, Calif.; San Antonio, Texas; Raleigh, N.C., and Salt Lake City fared extremely well; and
- Manhattan saw a 101.7% increase in luxury sales during 2021.
