Property magnate the Duke of Westminster has amassed a further $1bn in the past year, making him the 45th richest person in the world, according to the Forbes Magazine Rich List.
Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, the head of the Grosvenor property company, is listed as the richest of the UK’s 12 billionaires, with a personal fortune $6.5bn (£4.6bn).
Other property people among the 12 are the Earl of Cadogan and Mark Dixon of Regus, who take joint 490th place with $1bn each.
In the list of the world’s richest real estate billionaires the Duke of Westminster comes second, after Hong Kong’s Kwok brothers. Walter, Thomas and Raymond Kwok, who have property interests across South-East Asia, are 23rd on the full list, with an estimated fortune of $11.5bn.
Another key player on the international property scene, Lee Shau Kee, has dropped from 4th place in 1997 to 52nd in 2001, with $5.9bn.
It is thought that the stability of real estate has enabled Grosvenor and the Kwoks to weather the slowdown that has stripped down the number of technology billionaires.
Even Bill Gates’ hoard has dropped by $4.3bn due to problems in the market, knocking him down to a mere $58.7bn.
EGi News 22/06/01
