The domestic economy has stabilized over the past year, with the number of high net worth people in China growing steadily. 37 percent of the high net worth surveyed said they were considering emigration.
At the international level, both traditional and emerging immigrant countries are implementing different stimulus policies, including a sharp reduction in corporate taxes in the United States and a one-step move in some European countries to buy homes. At the same time, China`s increasingly stringent foreign exchange controls, property restrictions in first-tier cities and other policies also to a certain extent stimulated China`s high net worth groups of overseas investment, immigration.
The United States is definitely the first choice for China`s high net worth groups to consider immigration. London has risen rapidly this year, overtaking Vancouver, Toronto and Melbourne for the first time in sixth place. Interestingly, 90% of the immigrants considered said they would return to their homes after retirement.
The focus of this year`s white paper on `emerging immigration trends` shows that passports and foreign real estate investments are new guarantees for the economic safety of China`s high-net-worth population. It is worth mentioning that Ireland has become a black horse with a quality education system and a corporate tax of up to 12.5%. As Greece`s economy recovers and continues to develop, as one of the less-funded projects in Europe`s investment migration program, investors can gain substantial real estate investment returns in addition to obtaining Greek immigration status through the project. Greek home buyers have become the preferred choice for domestic investors.
At the same time, with China officially launching the CRS Global Taxation Program, the needs of migrants, in addition to traditional education, welfare and travel facilitation, are constantly expanding and redefining. Demand for overseas asset allocation and identity planning has led to an emerging wave of migrants, with some investors putting overseas allocation on the agenda and focusing on passport migrants. Under the background of China`s` Belt and Road Initiative `proposal, the tax change of global investment migrants and the changing international situation, in order to realize the global allocation of investment and identity, investors` eyes must not be limited to domestic real estate and stocks.
In 2018, eight indicators were adopted: education, investment destination, applicability of immigration policy, overseas home purchase, low tax burden of personal income tax, effectiveness of health care system, visa-free passport and Chinese adaptability. Combined, the Hurun China Migration Index Visas Consulting Hurun Chinese Immigration Index 2018 (CII 2018) ranked the top 10 countries. For the fourth year in a row, the United States has become the most suitable country for high net worth investment immigrants in China. Britain rose one place to second. The emerging immigrant countries Ireland and Greece were impressive, with Ireland up four places to third, with Greece in sixth place for the first time. Canada fell two places to fourth. Australia fell one place to fifth. "the US is far from the number one destination for high net worth Chinese migrants," Hurun said.
The United States held the top spot with a high score of 8.7 for four years in a row. From a single point of view, the American education system is still one of the important reasons for Chinese investors to choose American immigrants. In addition, passport visa-free and Chinese adaptability indicators are also ranked first. Trump has been pushing for tax reform since he took office, raising his single rating on tax rates to eight this year.
Britain rose one place to second with 8.5 points. Despite Brexit, London is still one of the world`s financial centres. Education is second only to the United States. Investment immigrants to the UK, children can enjoy pure British elite education, family allocation of British quality health care resources. And the current exchange rate, the pound is low, at a good time to invest in the UK. "Brexit has little impact on Chinese entrepreneurs," Hurun said. "at present, the price of British property is relatively high. On the one hand, the uncertainty brought about by Brexit makes the price of British property cheaper." On the other hand, the price-to-price ratio of the pound is also relatively high. "
Ireland rose four places to third with 7.9 points, becoming the black horse of immigration. Ireland, which is located in the west of Europe and across the sea from Britain, has a beautiful natural environment and a well-developed welfare system, and has complete educational facilities, especially advanced high-tech levels such as computers, which are among the highest in the world. Ireland is also a low-tax country. Diverse and young social structures and many advantages make Irish immigrants the black horse of immigration.
Canada dropped two places to fourth with 7.8 points. At the end of March, Canada`s Queens Immigration Service announced a new deal, announcing price increases. Household net worth requirements rose from C $1.6 million to C $2 million, and total investment increased from C $ eight hundred thousand to C $1.2 million. And the annual quota is limited. Coupled with stringent immigration audit standards, Canadian immigrants ranked fourth this year.
Greece ranked sixth on the list for the first time with seven points. The cooperation between China and Greece under the Belt and Road Initiative initiative has injected vitality into Greece`s economic development. As Greece`s economy recovers and continues to develop, as one of the less-funded projects in Europe`s investment migration program, investors can gain substantial real estate investment returns in addition to obtaining Greek immigration status through the project. Greek home-buying immigrants have become the preferred choice for domestic investors, which is also a major factor in Greece`s jump to sixth place this year.
Portugal dropped one place to seventh with 6.7 points. Spain maintained eighth with 6.5 points. Portuguese and Spanish immigration policies do not require language, education, business background and sources of funding. In addition, the requirements for housing are fairly loose, the threshold is low, and home-buying migrants are in place one step at a time.
Malta dropped four places to ninth with 6.4 points. Cyprus ranked 10th at 6.3 points for the first time. The demand for overseas asset allocation and identity planning has led to an emerging wave of immigrants. Cyprus is exempt from inheritance tax, dividend income tax and so on. Visa-free 171 countries and regions provide asset allocation and identity planning solutions for high net worth people. The choice of Malta and Cyprus compared to investors is a big part of the investment game, which is also an important reason why it has become a hot country.
Global Home purchase Map: the favorite destination for overseas Home purchase
Los Angeles, the top five most popular overseas home buyers in China for the fifth consecutive year, rose one place to second place in a row, and Boston rose two places to fourth in the third, San Francisco, as did last year in the top five most popular overseas home ownership cities of China`s high-net-worth people. Seattle fell two places to fourth with the San Francisco. Greece entered the top ten for the first time. London also jumped eight places to sixth.
Traditional Migration Project: momentum remains
"favorite immigration destination" and "Chinese immigration index" is different. The "Chinese Immigration Index" is the most suitable country for Chinese high net worth groups to invest in immigrants based on objective data, and "the most favored destination" is the subjective choice of high net worth people. The United States topped the list of favorite immigration destinations with 79%. This was followed by Canada and Australia, with 25% and 15%, respectively. It is worth mentioning that Ireland has become China`s new favorite immigrant destination for high net worth groups this year, ranking fifth among its favorite destinations.
Chinese people are known to value education all over the world, as evidenced by the survey`s data. "quality of education" remains the main reason for high net worth migrants, choosing 83%, an increase of 7 percentage points from last year.
This was followed by environmental pollution, with 69% chosen, up 5 percentage points from last year. "Food safety" is the third largest cause of emigration from high net worth groups, with 57% of them chosen, surpassing the traditional immigration causes of "health care" (38%) and "social welfare" (36%).
Global citizen
Fourteen percent of high net worth people surveyed thought they were global citizen. High net worth people see "freedom of wealth" as the most important factor in global citizen, followed by "visa freedom" and "educated overseas" in third place.
Twenty-one percent of high net worth people surveyed had lived overseas for more than a year, while 24 percent said they had lived in two or more overseas countries for more than a month.
Sixty-five percent of high net worth people surveyed thought their children had improved their self-confidence and education, as well as their quality of life (43 percent). Twenty percent said they would consider recommending family and friends to emigrate.
90 percent of the immigrants said they would return to China after retirement, or live on both sides of the country.
Number of High net worth households in China
As of January 2017, the number of "high net worth households" with 10 million assets owned by mainland in China had reached 1.47 million, an increase of one hundred and thirty thousand over the previous year, and a growth rate of 9.7%. Among them, the number of "high net worth households" with 10 million investable assets reached seven hundred and forty nine thousand. The number of "ultra-high net worth households" with billions of assets reached 99,000, an increase of 10, 000 over the previous year, an increase of 11.6%, of which the number of "ultra-high net worth households" with billions of investable assets reached 59,000; The number of "international ultra-high net worth households" with $30 million reached 65,000, an increase of 7600, or 13.3 percent, compared with the previous year. Of these, the number of "international ultra-high net worth households" with $30 million of investable assets reached 38,999.
