KUALA LUMPUR (April 14): Singapore, Australia and the UK are the top overseas home choices for wealthy Malaysians, according to Knight Frank’s Attitudes Survey in the latest edition of its Wealth Report.

The survey also revealed that Malaysia topped Asian countries when it comes to looking abroad for their children’s education and international work experience.

Education is seen as one of the main reasons influencing Malaysians in deciding to relocate.

Among Asian countries, Malaysia had 72% respondents who said they intend to send their children overseas for education. This serves as one of the key purposes that drives Malaysians to buy properties overseas, said Knight Frank Malaysia managing director Sarkunan Subramaniam in a press release yesterday.

He added that education for children is the second most important factor among a list of eight criteria for ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWI) across Asia choosing to buy somewhere to live.

Similar to 2016’s survey findings, respondents in Malaysia rated this criterion the highest among the respondents in Asia Pacific.

Overall, 38% of this year’s Attitudes Survey respondents with clients in Asia said wealthy families were becoming more likely to look abroad for a good school. For Malaysia, the figure was 72% – the highest of any country surveyed.

The survey also pointed out that wealth preservation was the most important factor when it comes to the management of UHNWIs’ wealth and investment decisions.

“The Attitudes Survey shows that more than half of the Malaysian respondents view the anticipation of capital control as one of the main threats for capital preservation of growth. This would be one of the main concerns of Malaysian UHNWIs who are looking to grow and maintain their wealth over the next five years,” Sarkunan said, adding that other concerns include political uncertainties and potential falls in asset values.

In the survey, 79% of Malaysian respondents expressed that their biggest concern was how they can pass on their wealth as they fear that their inheritance will be squandered or mismanaged by the next generation.

Nevertheless, it is also interesting to note that 43% of Malaysian respondents felt that the next generation should earn their own money.

Meanwhile, real estate investments continue to top the list for Asians’ wealth allocation at 29% compared to the global average of 24%.

“Survey respondents across the world stated that their clients typically own about three homes on average. Only Malaysia and Taiwan respondents stated four homes on average, alongside those from Saudi Arabia,” the survey showed.

Among all the countries, Singapore emerged as the second most likely market for Asian UHNWIs to own overseas property after the UK. Malaysia ranked the ninth most likely market for the wealthy to own overseas property.

Others Asian UHNWIs’ favourite overseas markets are the UK, Hong Kong, China, the US, Japan, Australia, Canada and Switzerland.

The Attitudes Survey offers an annual window on the issues that are influencing UHNWI investment and lifestyle decisions.

This year’s survey results are based on responses from almost 900 of the world’s leading private bankers and wealth advisors, representing over 10,000 clients with a combined wealth of around US$2 trillion (RM8.83 trillion).

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