The city of London in the U.K. is regarded as a home to the ultra-rich people and was even dubbed as "the billionaire capital of the world". But now New York City looks like has something to say about that.
The Big Apple will have the world's largest number of the super-affluent by 2025, taking over the reins from London, according to the people from Knight Frank, a global property consultancy, in a panel discussion on the 64th floor of One World Trade Center, as reported by The Real Deal.
While the city is seeing a steady number on their billionaire count, countries across the globe are experiencing a downward trend with the emigration of these rich individuals from their cities to settle to another, says Liam Bailey, head of research for Knight Frank.
This rise of moneyed individuals is definitely music to the ears of realtors from the New York real estate market. But, it could also lead to some difficulties like in the luxury property sector.
"One area of weakness are the $100 million penthouses," said Howard Lorber, chair of Douglas Elliman, at the discussion moderated by Robert Frank, CNBC's wealth editor.
There's just not enough demand to compensate for the supply in the market of these very expensive and luxurious real estate properties. Lorber also explained that most of these buyers may not be able to wait for these on-going projects to be completed, and simply opt for what is readily available.
"Most buyers want instant gratification, and the long lead time sort of hurts new development," he said.
Meanwhile, Investment sales in New York City have reached an all-time high of $20.8 billion in the first quarter of 2015, according to Cushman & Wakefield based on their quarterly capital markets overview, as told in another article by The Real Deal.
This breakthrough on its first quarter sales is experienced by the city thanks largely to the three notable transaction deals that were closed within the period -- each one of which, valued at no less than $1 billion.
The panelists at the discussion were on the same page in saying that this wealth flow into the city's real estate sector will be sustained. They are, however, well aware of the issues facing some foreign real estate buyers who have ties to corruption allegations, particularly in China.
In a 2014 article by the Daily Mail, there were a total of 104 billionaires who call the U.K. their home, which accounts for an aggregated wealth of £301billion across their names. The country just happens to have the most number of billionaires on its home soil today -- 72 of which hails from London.
