Why is London’s millionaire population shrinking? Where are they going?
About 11,300 millionaires left London in 2024, according to a new report.
Thousands of millionaires have left London for the United States and parts of Asia in the past year, according to a new report released on Wednesday.
According to the annual World's Wealthiest Cities Report published by advisory firm Henley & Partners and data intelligence company New World Wealth, some 11,300 millionaires exited London in 2024.
London now has 215,700 dollar millionaires, down from 227,000 in 2023, the report found.
The British capital was pushed into sixth place by Los Angeles (with 220,600 millionaires) in the top 50 cities for millionaires.
Besides London, Moscow is the only other city in the top 50 which has fallen, suffering a 25% decline due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Why millionaires are leaving London?
This trend is part of a broader pattern that has unfolded over the past decade, attributed to climbing tax burdens, economic stagnation post-2008, and the long shadow cast by the UK’s exit from the European Union, reported AFP.
Andrew Amoils, head of research at New World Wealth, told the news agency that the "growing dominance" of the United States and Asia in tech had caused" several wealthy tech entrepreneurs in the UK to reconsider their base".
"Brexit has arguably had an exacerbating effect on this," he told AFP in an email.
He also added that capital gains tax and estate duty rates in the UK are "amongst the highest in the world, which deters wealthy business owners and retirees from living there".
Amoils also cited the "dwindling importance" of the London Stock Exchange, which now ranks 11th in the world by market capitalisation, and the ascendance of nearby financial hubs such as Frankfurt and Dubai.
