Real estate, stocks, gold/precious metals and private equity investments – according to a survey by UBS, these are the asset classes in which billionaires want to invest in the next twelve months.

The latest Billionaire Ambitions Report notes that the super rich whose wealth is based on real estate have seen lower gains over the past decade compared to industrial moguls and technology billionaires. With an increase of 30%, their wealth increased the least. The report cites the real estate crisis in China, and the abrupt rise in interest rates in the US and Europe in 2022, which exacerbated the structural problems of commercial real estate after the pandemic, as factors.

Of the 82 billionaires surveyed by UBS between April and September this year, almost a third (31%) plan to hold more cash in the next twelve months. That is only twelve percentage points less than the top target – which is real estate, in spite of its recent underperformance.

UBS attributes the trend towards more cash liquidity to rising geopolitical risks, and high valuations on the stock markets.

The preferred region for investments for 80% of respondents is North America, far ahead of Asia/Oceania (excluding China). This applies both in the short term, and with a view to the next five years. This is a clear difference from the last survey. In 2023, only half of the participants said they wanted to invest in North America. At the same time, the Asia-Pacific region dropped by 17 percentage points to 25%.

Looking ahead to the next five years, more billionaires want to invest in Asia/Pacific (45%) but slightly fewer in North America (68%). Western Europe ranks well behind in third place among the preferred investment regions with 29%.

Technology billionaires recorded the highest increases in wealth, according to the report. However, the fields of activity have changed. Until a few years ago, e-commerce, social media and digital payments were in the foreground, but topics such as generative AI, cybersecurity, fintech, 3D printing and robotics now dominate. In a global comparison, the USA is likely to take a leading position here.

By a clear margin (+178% to 1.3 trillion dollars), industrial billionaires are in second place among the billionaires with the greatest increase in wealth. They have benefited from national support measures in the green economy, and the relocation of companies, which is particularly advocated in the USA, writes UBS. They have also benefited from industrial policy measures in favour of companies in the aerospace and defence sectors, as well as electric vehicle manufacturers.

When looking at wealth development as a whole, 2020 represents a turning point. While billionaires' wealth grew by an average of 10% annually from 2015 to 2020, it has only grown by 1% since then. The total wealth of all billionaires increased from 6.3 trillion to 14 trillion dollars (+121%) from 2015 to 2024.

The slowdown in growth since 2020 is due to mainland China. The 427 billionaires living there have seen their wealth fall by 16% to 1.8 trillion dollars over the past five years. In the previous five years, however, it rose by 138% to 887 billion dollars. The number of billionaires fell by 97 from 2023 to 2024.

The report also sheds light on how billionaires came into their money. Almost all super-rich people from China are self-made billionaires. In the USA, too, three out of four large fortunes are self-made. Germany comes last in this analysis with 28%. The clear majority of the super-rich in this country have thus inherited their wealth. In UBS terminology, they are multi-generational billionaires.

Multi-generational billionaires have inherited 1.3 trillion dollars in the past ten years. However, this figure significantly underestimates the total inherited wealth of the super-rich. A significant number of heirs are unlikely to have become billionaires, but „only“ (multi-)millionaires. For the next 15 years, UBS estimates that billionaires aged 70 and over will pass on 6.3 trillion dollars – to family members but also charitable causes.

The report also states, with a view to their own business, that high-net-worth clients will increasingly demand simple and globally oriented solutions. Despite complex and globally extending family structures, these must allow flexibility if families want to move to another country. It is also important to take the needs of individual family members into account to do justice to their strengths and ambitions. Finally, family governance remains of central importance, „especially with the involvement of the next generations“.