Wealthy Chinese families drop in number

Economic slowdown and the trade tensions between China and the United States have resulted in a minor slide in the number of affluent families in China, said the Hurun Wealth Report 2019 released on Tuesday.

As of Dec 31 last year, the number of high–net-worth Chinese families with household assets of 10 million yuan ($1.4 million) dropped 1.5 percent from a year earlier to 1.98 million, according to the report. The number of ultra-high-net-worth Chinese families with household assets of 100 million yuan also contracted by 4.5 percent to 127,000.

Rupert Hoogewerf, founder and chief researcher of Hurun Report, said it is the first time in five years that a drop has been recorded in the number of high–net-worth Chinese families. China's economic slowdown and restructuring, the trade conflict between China and the United States, combined with the 20 percent slide in the major A-share indexes last year, have resulted in the contraction, he said.

Beijing is still home to the largest number of high–net-worth families, with 288,000 households in the city owning assets of at least 10 million yuan. Guangdong comes second, followed by Shanghai.

The majority of 65 percent of these 10-million-yuan asset families own their own businesses. Company executives, property market investors and professional stock market investors are the less commonly found occupations in this category.

However, the number of wealthy Chinese families with household assets of 6 million yuan reached 4.94 million by the end of 2018, up 1.2 percent year-on-year, according to the report.

It is the 11th-year in a row that the report has been released.