Scores of megarich people own homes in Naples, Florida. But don’t count on bumping into them on the golf course on an off-season Tuesday.
The west coast Florida city counts 24 centimillionaires among its year-round residents. But more than 100 own homes there and use them as occasional crash pads, especially in cold-weather months, according to a new report from New World Wealth and Henley & Partners, firms that study wealth.
That number is dwarfed by seasonal hotspots like the Hamptons in New York. More than 700 superrich flock to second homes on the South Fork, usually during peak summertime season. That swells the ranks of wealthy residents by 2,700%, in contrast to the 25 living there full time, according to the report.
New World Wealth, a South Africa-based firm, analyzed information from 2022 on people with $100 million in investable assets and, for the first time, pulled together a sampling of US, European and African cities. The study spotlights the dramatic influx of wealth during peak holiday months as the world’s rich decamp to second homes.
“It’s always been an argument around wealth stats about how many people actually live in a city and how many have homes there,” said Andrew Amoils, head of research at New World Wealth. The figures are often of interest to companies and representatives who want to attract high-net-worth clients, such as luxury retail firms, investment advisers, city planners and policymakers, said Sarah Nicklin, a spokeswoman for Henley & Partners.
One of the more dramatic influxes of wealth occurs in Aspen. Only six centimillionaires live in the ski paradise full-time, while more than 200 come in for a seasonal visit — a more than 3,000% increase, the firm said. In fact, so many Aspen newbies are moving in that the town has been dubbed “Wall Street West.”
The ultrarich are also retreating in droves to second homes on Lake Como, Italy; Saint Tropez, France; Lugano, Switzerland; and Cape Town.
More than 800 centimillionaires are sitting on real estate in Miami and the island of Miami Beach, compared with about 160 who live there year-round. Some of those 800 may also be counted in the figures for Aspen or the other cities if they also spend time in their homes there, Amoils said. In Paris, there are more than 300 ultra-rich homeowners but only 126 who live in the city of light full time.
Meanwhile, tiny Carmel-by-the-Sea, which has only 3,196 residents according to 2021 US Census figures, includes more than 150 ultra rich homeowners. Only 40 of them are full-time residents.