(Yicai Global) Feb. 8 -- The number of Chinese families with assets of over CNY10 million (USD1.5 million) jumped 2 percent as of the end of 2019 from the year before, largely on the back of a soaring stock market, according to a recent report.

There were two million and twenty thousand high-net-worth Chinese families, according to the Hurun Wealth Report 2020 released today. Those with CNY100 million (USD15.5 million) or more increased 2.4 percent to 130,000.

Beijing is home to the majority of high-net-worth families, some 294,000 households, and 2 percent more than it did in 2018, according to the Hurun Research Institute, compiler of the report. Guangdong province has 291,000 such families, up 2.1 percent, and Shanghai has 255,000, an increase of 2.4 percent. Hong Kong ranked fourth with 223,000, a gain of 0.5 percent.

Much of the increase in personal wealth was due to big gains in the country’s stock exchanges that year, the Shanghai-based institute said. The Shenzhen Component Index surged 44 percent in 2019, its best performance since 2010 and the Shanghai Composite Index advanced 22 percent, the most since 2014. Shenzhen’s ChiNext Index leapt 44 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 9 percent.

There were five million wealthy families with assets of CNY6 million (USD930,000), an increase of 1.4 percent from 2018. Together they held household assets of CNY146 trillion (USD22.6 trillion), one a half times the country’s annual gross domestic product.

The wealth held by ultra-high-net-worth families with assets of more than CNY100 million came to CNY94 trillion, 64 percent of the CNY146 trillion and a gain of four percentage points from the previous year.

There was a 2.5 percent increase in the number of international ultra-high-net-worth families with assets of over CNY193.6 million (USD30 million) to 86,000. Their total wealth came to CNY89 trillion, accounting for 61 percent of the total wealth held, an increase of 5 percentage points.

Property, Investment Portfolios

Of the 2.02 million families richer than CNY10 million, some 60 percent were business owners, the report said. Corporate assets accounted for 59 percent of their assets. They all owned at least CNY5 million worth of properties and had CNY2 million invested.

Senior executives of large firms, with high salaries and company shares, made up 20 percent. Cash and marketable securities accounted for 59 percent of their wealth. They all owned CNY7 million worth of properties.

Real estate speculators accounted for 10 percent, with property investment making up 59 percent of their wealth. Cash and marketable securities accounted for 26 percent. They all had a CNY6 million property portfolio.

Ten percent were professional stock investors. Cash and stocks accounted for 65 percent of their wealth and they owned more than CNY6 million of property on average.

Editor: Kim Taylor