Why Millionaires Are Fleeing London - What The Latest Data Reveals

Millionaires are fleeing London - not by handfuls or dozens, but by the thousands. In 2024 alone, more than 11,000 millionaires fled London for greener pastures. Most of them settled either in Asia or America. Though this has been happening for a few years now, what is worrisome is that the frequency and scale of the exits have risen exponentially.

Data collected annually by wealth advisory firms suggest that some of the more prominent reasons behind the exodus are ever-increasing taxes, failure to fully recover from the 2008 financial crisis, and Brexit - Britain's decision to separate itself from rest of Europe.

'LONDON IS FALLING'

London was once home to the world's highest number of dollar millionaires, but since 2014, the city faced a sharp decline. In the last decade alone, London has lost 12 per cent of its wealthiest residents. London has now dropped out of the 'top 5 wealthiest' list.

According to the World's wealthiest Cities Report, which is published by advisory firm Henley and Partners, more than 11,300 millionaires have abandoned London between January and December last year. A data intelligence firm New World Wealth seconds that finding.

But the situation isn't dire yet for The Square Mile, as the British capital is popularly called. The city still has 215,700 millionaires - though a year ago, that number was 227,000. For the first time in many decades, London couldn't make it to the 'Top 5 Wealthiest' list either. Los Angeles took its place at number five.

In fact, London lost the most number of millionaires (11,300) compared to any other European city. At 10,000, Moscow was second, despite Russia being at war.

REASONS FOR THE EXODUS

Business opportunities, especially in the IT sector, was also one of the reasons London was affected. "The growing dominance" of Asia and America's lead in tech "caused several tech entrepreneurs and millionaires to reconsider their base," said Andrew Amoils, head of research at New World Wealth.

Writing to news agency AFP, he claimed that "Brexit has arguably had an exacerbating effect on this". He also highlighted that taxes in London are among the highest in the world. "Capital Gains tax and estate duty rates in the UK are amongst the highest globally. This, he said, deters high net-worth individuals, wealthy entrepreneurs, and retired people from wanting to live in London, or for that matter, anywhere in the UK.

Another indicator, he said, is the "dwindling importance" of the London Stock Exchange, which now no longer figures in the top 10 stock exchanges in the world in terms of market capitalisation. Financial hubs in Asia, like Dubai, and closer home in Europe, like Frankfurt are much sought after, he said.

ASIA AND AMERICA - A MILLION-DOLLAR CHOICE

Asia and America are surging ahead in terms of millionaire residents. In the last decade, San Francisco Bay area saw a whopping 98 per cent rise in the number of millionaire residents , while Singapore in Asia recording a 62 per cent rise in millionaires. 

Seven out of the top 10 cities with the maximum number of millionaire residents were either in America or in Asia. New York City, The Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Chicago were American cities in the 'top 10' list, while Tokyo, Singapore, and Hong Kong were Asia's three on that list.

Cities like Dubai, Tokyo, Los Angeles all recorded a surge in dollar millionaires. New York City continued to hold the top spot with 384,500 millionaires.