In a finding that vindicates continued global investment in real estate, the Knight Frank Global Wealth 2017 report says that one quarter of global wealth is held in real estate. But in what seems to chastise Uganda’s economy, the same report finds that in 2016, Uganda made the least number of individual dollar millionaires in East Africa, compared to Kenya and Tanzania.
The report says that in 2016, Uganda made only 100 new dollar millionaires, compared to Tanzania’s 200 and Kenya’s 900. Like Uganda, Rwanda also made only 100 new millionaires in 2016. This brings the total number of dollar millionaires in Uganda to 1,300, compared to Tanzania’s 2,400 and Kenya’s 4,800. Only Tanzania registered one dollar billionaire. In Africa region, South Africa hosts the highest number of millionaires at 40,400. In total Africa is home to 145, 100 of the world’s 13,645,400 dollar millionaires.
The report is however positive that in the next 10 years, the number of millionaires in Uganda will rise to 2,500, against Tanzania’s projected 4,800, Kenya’s 16,900 and Rwanda’s 1,200.
A dollar millionaire is an individual whose total net worth is at least US$1 million. The Knight Frank report rates millionaires according to whether they are: dollar millionaires (at least US$1 million), multimillionaires (at least US$30 million), centa-millionaires (At least US$100 million), and billionaires (at least US$1 billion).
The report says millionaires prefer to keep part of their wealth in real estate because it provides a good “investment diversification vehicle, stable income and a strong area for future income stream.”
The Forbes Africa Richest 2017 ranking shows that the riches people in Africa tend to invest in the areas manufacture of construction materials (like cement), oil & gas, minerals (diamonds), real estate (both residential and commercial), construction industry, oil and gas, telecommunications and manufacturing.
The riches people in the US and Europe on the other hand, tend to hold more of their investment in stocks and other capital investments. According to Knight Frank, the US continued to have the highest number of dollar millionaires globally at 4.389 million, followed by Japan at 1.166 million, Germany 776,600.
There is however optimism that Africa will see a rise in the number of its millionaires in the coming decade. “In Africa, the sharp rise of number of millionaires is expected in countries like Mauritius, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda. In fact of the 20 countries whose number of wealthy populations has grown most rapidly over the last decade, 11 are in Africa,” the report notes.
