S’pore household wealth growth slows
SINGAPORE is now tenth in the world in household wealth per adult, down from eighth last year, but still top in Asia, says a report released yesterday by the Credit Suisse Research Institute.
Wealth per adult rose 1.4 per cent to US$277,000 (Bt9.8 million) this year. This compares to the annual growth rate of 6 per cent from 2000-16 caused by high savings, asset price increases and the rising Singapore dollar from 2005-12.
“Wealth” in this study includes the price or value of one’s home and financial assets like bank savings, shares and bonds.
Wealth per adult here is forecast to rise 2.2 per cent a year to $309,000 in 2021, said Credit Suisse in its seventh annual “Global Wealth Report”.
Singapore’s total household wealth grew 2.9 per cent in 2016 to $1.1 trillion, reversing a 5.8-per-cent drop to $1 trillion last year.
However, household wealth here will accelerate at a rate of 3.5 per year in the next five years to $1.4 trillion in 2021.
Wealth distribution in Singapore was “moderately unequal”, with 18 per cent of adults having wealth below $10,000, compared with 73 per cent globally.
Singaporeans have also progressed rapidly up the wealth pyramid, with now 50 per cent of adults having a net worth above $100,000, compared to 21 per cent in 2000.
Those with wealth below $100,000 have declined from 79 per cent to 50 per cent of the adult population.
