Wealthy Indians Prefer Second Home in London, New York: Report

New Delhi: India's multi-millionaires prefer to buy their second homes in leading global financial centres such as London, New York and Singapore, according to a report by New World Wealth.

The bulk of London's second home buyers come from the rest of the UK and Europe and a substantial number also came from China, India, Russia and the Middle East, the report said.

A large number of New York's second home buyers also come from the UK, Europe, China, Russia, Brazil and India.

Similarly, major second home buyers in Singapore are from India, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

As many as 22,300 multi-millionaires own a second home in London. This is in addition to the 9,700 resident multi-millionaires living there.

"This means that during peak holiday months, London can be home to up to 32,000 multi-millionaires in total," the report said.

After London, New York City is in at the second spot with 17,400 multi-millionaires owing a second home there, followed by Hong Kong (14,800), Singapore (11,200) and Dubai (8,200).

According to the report, there are currently just over 13 million dollar millionaires in the world (as of June 2014) and round 495,000 of these individuals can be classified as multi-millionaires.

The study defines a millionaire (or HNWI) as an individual with net assets of $1 million or more, whilst a multi-millionaire is an individual with net assets of at least $10 million.

Other notable hotspots with 1,000 or more multi-millionaires with second homes include Las Vegas (USA), Lake Como (Italy), Aspen (USA), Pebble Beach, Monterey (USA), San Diego (USA), Cannes (France) and St Tropez (France).

Meanwhile, among the 30 cities in the world for resident multi-millionaires, Hong Kong is at the top, (15,400) followed by New York City (14,300) and London (9,700).

Mumbai is the only city on the list which is ranked 24th and is home to 2,700 multi-millionaires.

This study is based on a sample of 4,500 global multi-millionaires that have second homes. It has gathered this information by tracking major residential prime property purchases over the past 10 years.