Richest Real Estate Entrepreneurs in the World and Their Net Worth
Richest real estate entrepreneurs in the world and their net worth
Real estate has been producing billionaires for ages. In fact some of the richest entrepreneurs the world has produced in the last 200 years or thereabouts made their money from real estate investments.
And even today despite the tech industry taking the lead, you still find real estate investors or agents among the richest entrepreneurs in the world.
From Asia to Europe and even to North America you find multi-billionaires whose only source of wealth is investment in real estate. Perhaps you are wondering if real estate is still the right place to invest I strongly recommend it. And I want to show you a list of the top 10 richest real estate entrepreneurs in the world and their net worth. It is an extract from the 100 Hurun Global Real Estate Rich List 2022.
Top 10 Richest Real Estate Entrepreneurs in The World and Their Net Worth
1. Li Ka-Shing | $33B – Richest Real Estate Entrepreneurs in the World
Shing takes the top spot as the richest real estate entrepreneur in the world. The 94 year old Chinese real estate billionaire is worth an estimated $33 billion.
Majority of the Hong-Kong based billionaire’s wealth consists of stakes in publicly traded companies. His major company is real estate developer Cheung Kong Asset. But he also have huge stake in another Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings, Canadian oil and gas producer Cenovus Energy and San Jose-based Zoom Video Communications.
2. Lee Shau Kee | $28.6B – Richest Real Estate Entrepreneurs in the World
The second on our list of the richest real estate entrepreneurs in the world is Lee Shau Kee. Kee is another 94-year-old real estate magnate and philanthropist. He ranks as the 2nd richest man in Hong Kong, and the 29th richest person in the world according to Forbes.
Lee Shau Kee is a true definition of a real estate entrepreneur. Almost all his investments are in the sector. He epitomises the saying ‘putting your money where your mouth is”.
He is a co-founder of multibillion-dollar property developer Sun Hung Kai along with Kwok Tak-Seng. But aside that, he also founded Henderson Land Development, a property giant whose massive property portfolio constitutes the majority of his admirable $27 billion net worth.
3. Yang Huiyan | $26B -Richest Real Estate Entrepreneurs in the World
The first woman to make our list of richest real estate entrepreneurs in the world is Yang Huiyan. The Chinese billionaire’s wealth derives from her 57% stake in the real estate developer Country Garden Holdings, which she inherited on the death of her father, Yeung Kwok Keung, in 2007.
In addition to her activities with the property group, Yang serves as the chair of the education company, Bright Scholar Education Holdings, the largest, publicly owned operator of international and bilingual K-12 schools in China. Her impressive net worth of $26 billion places Yang at the position of the richest woman in Asia.
4. Peter Woo | $18B – Richest Real Estate Entrepreneurs in the World
Peter Woo’s net worth of $18 billion can be traced to his career as chair of the property developer Wheelock & Co. This is along with its subsidiary, Wharf Holdings. The group owns investments in multiple properties (including the famous Harbour City and Times Square in Hong Kong) and has controlling interests in companies such as i-Cable Communications, Wharf New T&T, Modern Terminals Limited and Marco Polo Hotels.
Woo stepped down as Chair in 2017 but continues to serve on the advisory boards of numerous Fortune 500 companies and retains full control of the luxury retail group LCJG.
5. Wang Jianlin | $17B – Richest Real Estate Entrepreneurs in the World
Wanda Group is the largest commercial real estate developer in China. It boasts over 260 plazas in the country. And its chairman, Wang Jianlin has become one of the richest real estate entrepreneurs in the world thanks to the impressive performance of Wanda Group over the years.
Although he’s scaled back his activities in recent years, Jianlin still worth as much.
6. Wu Yajun & Family | $17B -Richest Real Estate Entrepreneurs in the World
Wu is the chairman and largest shareholder of Longfor Group, a Chinese developer of commercial and residential property. The Beijing-based company operates in more than 100 cities under brands including Paradise Walk, Starry Street and Moco. Longfor reported revenue of 223.4 billion yuan ($34.6 billion) in 2021.
The super rich Chinese woman was at one time the richest self-made woman in the world.
She co-founded Longfor Properties in 1993 alongside her former husband Cai Kui before they divorced in 2012. Kui no longer has a role in the company.
It is very easy to understand why Wu is regarded as self made seeing how she started from a very humble beginning working as a journalist and editor before venturing into real estate in the 1990s. Then later investing in technology companies including Uber and Evernote.
7. Hugh Grosvenor | $16B – Richest Real Estate Entrepreneurs in the World
Hugh Grosvenor is British billionaire, businessman and real estate investor. The 7th Duke of Westminster is the owner of Grosvenor Group, a business empire he inherited after the death of his father in 2016.
Hugh also inherited his father’s value of $13 billion, turning him into one of the UK’s richest people in their 30s overnight.
Today, under his watch and management Grosvenor Group has grown and he is now worth about $16 billion.
8. Donald Bren | $17B -Richest Real Estate Entrepreneurs in the World
The first American on this list of the richest real estate entrepreneurs in the world is Donald Bren. Bren is arguably the richest and most successful real estate investor in America.
He is the chairman and sole owner of the Irvine Company, a US real estate investment company. Donald Bren is worth the considerable sum of $15 billion. OC Weekly described him as a man who “wields more power than Howard Hughes ever did, probably as much as any man in America over a concentrated region—determining not only how people live and shop but who governs them”, Bren, who own more than 120,000,000 ft.of real estate in California, including numerous hotels, marinas, golf courses, 550 office buildings, 120+ apartment complexes and over 40 shopping centers, is said to be the man who shaped Orange County into what it is today.
9. Joseph Lau | $14B
Joseph Lau’s wealth comes from his 61% stake in Chinese Estates Holdings, a leading Chinese investment holding company whose business activities cover, amongst other things, property rental; money lending, and loan financing.
10. Li Hua | $11B
Li got his break in real estate investment In 1996 when he returned to Shenzhen and moved into the commercial property sector. Through his flagship Excellence Real Estate Group, he bought up plots of land in the central business district. Many of the office towers he then built serve as the headquarters of prominent companies today.
By 2009, Excellence Real Estate was the largest private commercial property developer in Shenzhen, according to an initial public offering filed with the Hong Kong stock exchange.
Youngest Real Estate Entrepreneurs in The World
I have said it time without number that wealth is no respecter of age. In my career as a writer, researcher and business consultant I have met people who built great businesses in their 20s. Some even do it and become multimillionaires as teenagers. And I have also seen people build great wealth as octogenarians. And in the real estate industry it is not different. It is all about been ready to put in the amount of work needed with superior leverage.
In this section I will share with you the youngest billionaires among the real estate entrepreneurs. As you already know the youngest billionaire in the list is Hugh Grosvenor with a net worth of $16 billion. But the richest among all the under 50 in the list is a woman – Yang Huiyan worth $26 billion.
So here is a list of the top 10 youngest billionaires among the 100 richest real estate entrepreneurs in the world.
Key stats
1. The richest real estate entrepreneur in the world is Li Ka-shing with a net worth of $33 billion.
2. The second richest entrepreneur in the world is Lee Shau-kee of Henderson Land with a net worth of $27 billion.
3. And the 3rd richest real estate entrepreneur in the world is Country Garden’s Yang Huiyan with a net worth of $26 billion.
4. The top 100 richest real estate entrepreneurs in the world is worth a combined $663 billion.
5. Average wealth of real estate entrepreneurs in China shrank by 3 percent.
6. Average wealth of real estate entrepreneurs in the US grew by 10 percent.
7. The 100 richest real estate entrepreneurs come from 16 countries.
8. 57 percent of this billionaires mainly hold commercial properties, while 43 percent mainly develop and sell properties.
9. As per the list, China topped the list with 52 entrepreneurs, then US with 17, UK with 8, and India with 6.
10. No African made the list.
11. 17 women made the list
12. Two under 40 billionaires made the list
13. The youngest person on the list is 31 year old Hugh Grosvenor who ranks 7th with a net worth of $16 billion dollars.
14. The top 6 names and 8 of the top 10 are all from China.
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