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Chinese interest in luxury has increased by 20pc: Hurun

January 23, 2017

Affluent consumer Affluent consumer

 

Emigration from China is now the lowest the country has seen in five years and 90 percent of Chinese millionaires are more confident in the nation's economic development, according to a new report from Hurun.

The report, Chinese Luxury Consumer Survey and Hurun Best of the Best Awards 2017, shows that Apple, Cartier, Chanel and L.V. Moutai are the top five gifts for the Chinese New Year. Real estate moves into the most popular spot for favored investment because of the booming housing market in China.

Chinese insights
China saw poor stock performance last year, but 64 percent believe there will be a stable rise in price for real estate within the next two years.

After a steady increase in emigration since 2013, this year 44.5 percent of consumers are not considering leaving the country, which is a record breaker in the last few years. However, more than half of citizens are considering leaving.

Wealthy Chinese consumers have a very high travel rate, with an average of 8 days a month away on business, as well as 10 days for vacation. The super wealthy take an average of 15 days for vacation and both go abroad 3.4 times a year.

luxury hotel travel

Luxury travel hotel

Chinese ink painting and watch collections are some of the top collection investments this year, and the hobby as a whole is on the rise. Individuals interested in collecting rose five percent this year.

As per sports, jogging, golf and swimming maintain their position as the sport of interest for men and yoga for women.

Taghazout Bay golf course 400

Taghazout Bay golf course

Respondents of Hurun’s survey showed that the highest expenses for wealthy consumers are travel, luxury goods and children’s education. This year children’s education beat out luxury goods for second place.

Travel is the number activity for leisure among Chinese affluent. Average travel time per month increased by three days this year.

Hurun research
Wealthy Chinese individuals’ philanthropic donations rose 50 percent year over year in 2016, according to other research from Hurun Report.

Hurun’s rankings of China’s 100 most generous philanthropists found that the top Chinese donors were most apt to support education and disaster relief, with half of the list giving funds to causes in those two categories. Almost one in seven individuals who made the list are new to the rankings, showing a diverse, large audience for institutions that rely on the deep pockets of ultra-high-net-worth individuals for funding (see more).

High-net-worth individuals from China highly favor the United States for real estate purchases, with a positive sentiment shared across 66 percent of the demographic.

Another recent white paper from Hurun revealed that almost half of high net worth Chinese individuals put stock into overseas investments with 75 percent of total investments. Wealthy Chinese consumers are also highly interested in Australia, Canada, the UK and Japan to place their top investments overseas (see more).