Among the billionaires who saw their wealth increase by more than twofold since the outbreak of coronavirus are Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg.
Oxfam said the 10 wealthiest men’s wealth jumped from £500 billion ($700 billion) to £1.1 trillion ($1.5 trillion), at an average rate of £1 billion ($1.3 billion) per day, according to a new report.
The pandemic is under control and travel restrictions are relaxed. This means that the richest people in the world can now enjoy luxurious getaways to exotic destinations.
How do you spend one billion pounds? One superrich buyer used their Covid-accumulated wealth to snap up a £20 million car. Some are using it to buy eco-yachts and others to purchase tickets for Richard Branson’s space flight.
FEMAIL has revealed how the wealthiest are planning to spend billions of dollars in a post Covid world…
SUPER CARS
Rolls-Royce saw record sales last year, as people became aware that ‘life is short’ because of the pandemic.
The super-car maker, whose vehicles are priced from £233,000 to £432,000, sold 5,586 vehicles, the most vehicles globally in its 117-year history.
Torsten Müller-Otvos, chief executive said that many people saw people die from Covid in their communities and it made them realize life is short. It was better to live right now than wait until later.
The British luxury car maker announced the highest sales in its 117 year history – up by a dramatic 49% year-on-year to 5,586 vehicles
Its latest model, the Ghost limousine (pictured), drove records in sales.
‘That also has helped quite massively to [encourage people to]Invest in what I call the lovely, beautiful things of the world.
BMW’s Sussex-based business saw its sales increase in all regions of the globe.
German Mr Muller-Otvos said: “It’s very much because of Covid that all luxury businesses are booming globally.
‘People couldn’t travel a lot, they couldn’t invest a lot into luxury services…and there is quite a lot of money accumulated that is spent on luxury goods.’
Many of their cars were custom, one the £20 million Boat Tail, was created with boot doors that open in a butterfly motion with a parasol popping out for picnics.
ECO YACHTS
For the richest individuals in the world, twenty million pounds cars don’t suffice.
But in a very 2022-twist, billionaires are now asking for them to be eco-friendly – although these can cost 15 per cent more than the regular superyacht.
In fact, sustainability is now the number one request for those buying and building super yachts, says Jamie Edmiston, chief executive of the leading superyacht broker Edmiston, told the Times: ‘Buyers are saying, “If I’m going to do this, how does it look? What can we do to make this as eco-friendly as possible? The team is looking into hybrid power, hydrogen and biofuels.
American designer, John Dewey has revealed plans to build a futuristic $811 million superyacht that is eco-friendly and powered by solar-panelled sails.
The Florida is also known as the Florida. It has a helipad and three huge carbon fibre sails that are 262ft high. They can be powered using solar energy or wind.
In March, a US-based designer has unveiled plans for a futuristic eco-friendly $811m (£593 million) superyacht powered by retractable solar-panelled ‘sails’.
This yacht, known as Florida, is equipped with a Helipad. Three enormous carbon fibre sails measuring 262 feet tall are used to power the boat using solar or wind energy.
Kurt Strand, a Norwegian designer based in Florida, designed the 525ft-long design. It will be available for sale in 2026.
The super yacht can transform to a’solar sail mode’ on days without wind.
Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world, who also owns a private jet, has commissioned a $500 million (£366million) three-mast sailing yacht.
Owners of superyachts that consume a lot of fuel are turning their boats into hybrids.
HOLIDAYS and EXPEDITIONS
This year, the Middle East will become a popular holiday spot. The super-rich are expected to travel to Qatar and Saudi Arabia to enjoy the Fifa World Cup.
You can reserve a VIP suite with 44 seats at winter games for $2.5 million.
This is for people who want to remain on Earth.
Virgin Galactic is selling 700 extra tickets for commercial space travel.
Virgin Galactic sold approximately 100 additional tickets to its commercial space flights since Richard Branson, Virgin Galactic’s founder, flew into space last summer (pictured).
Branson hopes that Branson’s firm will begin commercial space flight operations at the beginning of next year
The current price of the fare is $450,000 (£331,000) per seat – well above the $200,000-$250,000 (£147,000-£184,000) paid by some 600 customers from 2005 to 2014.
Branson hopes that Branson’s firm will begin commercial space flight operations by the end of next.
Other adventurous billionaires will be heading on expeditions across the globe.
Abercrombie & Kent’s Inspiring Expedition: Emperors & South Pole sets adventurers back £187,970 per person for 11-nights, it’s sold out.
Geoffrey Kent is the founder of the company. He told The Times that he believes travelers have two years to plan their dream destinations and are now planning more extravagant and expensive trips. Last-minute requests have come in as fast as one week.
LUXURY LONDON HOUSES
While we have seen many cutbacks in our spending over the past year, super-rich people spent $201 million on super-prime real estate worth hundreds of millions.
Beauchamp Estates estimates that central London’s multi-millionaire buyer population doubled during 2021. This is in addition to the expected boom in super wealthy buyers market in 2022.
The luxury property agency’s Billionaire Buyers in London survey revealed that 49 properties priced over £15 million sold in the city last year, compared to 17 sales in 2020, with the number of mega mansions sold this year only set to increase.
One buyer is said to have paid £39.5 million to purchase a four bedroom duplex in the Old War Office and a penthouse at the Corinthia Hotel Private Residences. The exterior of the residence is shown in this picture
This spacious family kitchen with its island, separate pantry, and utility area serves the dining room of the property’s main four bedrooms.
Eaton Square was built in 1820s and it is the largest private garden square. It is enclosed by grand homes designed in classic style and featuring Doric porches and colonnades.
Each one of the 4 bedrooms has its own unique design.
London’s super-prime housing market was primarily driven by Chinese and Russian buyers this year, with the latter predicted to surpass China as the main market for homes priced above £15 million in the city’s capital in 2022.
London’s property boom is believed to have been caused by an accumulation of wealth over the past 12 months, and interest-only “billionaire mortgages”, which has triggered a huge ‘buying spree” of luxurious London homes.
The 2021 boom in billionaires meant that people who bought luxury houses in London and penthouses there were more concerned with their postal code. Notting hill properties became increasingly popular.
Buyers were looking for mansions or grand townhouses with at least 10,000 square feet of living space.
Prices on super-prime properties priced above £15 million in London are expected to rise by 5 per cent to 7 per cent.
The volume of deals for luxury homes has the potential to double again, with around half a dozen homes valued at up to £100 million scheduled to be listed for sale during 2022.
In London, the SW1 postal code, specifically Knightsbridge, and Belgravia have remained the most sought-after addresses for the ultra-rich in the last two decades. Mayfair was closely behind. Key SW1 addresses included Eaton Square where an American billionaire purchased a £21 million duplex and Grosvenor Crescent where a Hong Kong billionaire purchased a £45 million townhouse.
Notting Hill is a popular location for young wealthy buyers. Prime property can be purchased at addresses like Elgin Crescent and Clarendon Road.
Another emerging location for super-rich buyers is Bayswater overlooking Hyde Park, where a young Russian billionaire recently purchased a £40 million mansion for over £5,000 per sqft.
Whitehall has also had a flurry of deals, with a buyer said to have paid £39.5 million to purchase a four bedroom duplex in the Old War Office and a penthouse at the Corinthia Hotel Private Residences.
In the past year, super-rich purchasers sought large homes with more than 10,000 square feet of living space. Some cases even exceeded 30,000 square feet.
Penthouse deals have also risen, with nine £15 million plus deals in 2021, compared to six in 2020 – with the penthouse an average of 6,128 sq ft with four bedrooms and large private balconies and terraces.
The average London millionaire lived in a house measuring 9,384 square feet. It had seven bedrooms and a private cinema. There was also a swimming pool, spa, and large garden.
The average prime property sold last year cost £3,221 per sqft with the highest hitting a reported record £11,000 per sqft.
One buyer is said to have paid £39.5 million to purchase a four bedroom duplex in the Old War Office.
NFTS
The 1 percent aren’t content with having the best art in real life. They also want the highest NFTs (or non-fungible tokens).
NFTs are digital assets that have been uniquely encrypted and signed by the creator. This authenticates them as original works. Popular NFTs by musicians and famous artists are now coveted collectibles and enjoy a boom in popularity.
Sometimes pronounced “nifties”, NFTs are very similar to cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or Ethereum. They live on blockchain networks, which is a distributed, decentralized ledger that tracks digital asset transactions.
The NFTs, however, are not fungible like traditional cryptocurrency. This means that they cannot be swapped for other cryptocurrencies. Digital assets are valuable to collectors and may include still images, GIFs and music.
NFTs are a well-known product that has been in existence for many years. However, they have seen a lot of popularity lately due to some high-priced sales.
‘Everydays: The First 5,000 Days’ by artist Beeple became the most expensive ever ‘non-fungible token’ on Thursday after being sold at auction for a record $69.3 million, fetching more than physical works by many better-known artists
NFTs generated sales of $45.2million over seven days during February, while also attracting attention from Mark Cuban and other top investors.
In March, a digital collage by American artist Beeple which exists only as a JPG file sold for a record $69.3 million (£50M) at Christie’s, fetching more money than physical works by many better-known artists.
The collage consists of over 5,000 images that were created one-per-day for more than 13 years. It was described by the auction house to be ‘a singular work in digital art history’.
Christie stated that Beeple is 39 and is one of the most valued living artists along with Jeff Koons or David Hockney.
In the last hour, there were more than 180 bids. The price jumped from $20million in just 15 minutes to $70million by the end of the auction.
With only seconds left, the piece was expected to fetch less than $30,000,000 before an unexpected cascade forced the extension of the auction by two minutes. There were 33 active bidders who are attempting the work.