12,000 new members of the Midlands millionaires’ club
TWELVE THOUSAND people in the Midlands have become millionaires in the past two years, taking the region’s total to 92,000, according to a report from Barclays Wealth.
The Midlands has the highest number of millionaires outside of London and the South East, but at 15%, it has seen the smallest increase of any region in the UK, and only the North East has a lower proportion of the population in the millionaires’ club, says the report.
The report, the ‘Barclays Wealth 2011 UK Wealth Map’ – produced in conjunction with Ledbury Research – provides a snapshot of the wealth landscape in the UK and for the first time shows the concentration of wealth in each of the UK regions.
The report reveals that the number of millionaires fell by 15 per cent to 528,000 by the end of 2008 as the effects of the economic downturn were felt across the UK. But the report findings also confirm an outlook of growth. The return of confidence and consequent 17 per cent upswing now means there are 619,000 millionaires living in the UK.
The Midlands has 0.5 millionaires per 1,000 rpeople in the general population, compared to London and the South East at 2.12, the North West at 1.3 and Yorkshire at 1.32.
The Wealth Map report predicts that the number of millionaires in the Midlands will grow by almost a third (30 per cent), meaning there will be nearly 120,000 millionaires in the region by 2020.
Ben Gulliford, Barclays Wealth’s regional centre head for Birmingham, said: “Despite one of the deepest recessions ever experienced by this country, these findings indicate that wealth creation is starting to recover in the Midlands and this trend is set to continue at a steady pace. We are hopeful that this will contribute to growth in the wider economy and help boost regional expansion in and around Birmingham in the coming years.”
David Semaya, head of UK and Ireland private bank at Barclays Wealth said: “Even with lingering uncertainty in this new economic landscape, there are indications that confidence is returning across the regions and that an improvement in investment conditions will be one factor encouraging entrepreneurs to look at how they can grow their businesses or restructure them. Our challenge now is to help them navigate this changing environment.”
Most (46 per cent) of UK-based millionaires live in London and the South East, but the Midlands has the second-highest number of millionaires: 92,000 live in the region and 9,000 of those have a wealth of more than £5 million.
Despite all the UK regions experiencing similar levels of growth in the number of millionaires over the past two years (between 15 and 19 per cent), the report reveals that some regions will now see further increases in the size of their millionaire populations. The number of millionaires in all regions will increase between now and 2020, but the North East in particular will see the highest growth with a 46 per cent rise, taking the region’s total millionaire population to 20,000 by 2020. Similarly, Scotland will also see an increase of 38 per cent to 55,000 millionaires.
