CHINA has 150,000 people with personal wealth of US$5 million or more and their ranks are rising fast, pushing up prices for golf, yachting, villas and other luxuries, a researcher said Wednesday.

“The number of wealthy individuals in China is growing very fast, based on the economic boom,” Rupert Hoogewerf, who compiles an annual China “rich list,” said in an interview. He previously put together a list of China’s 100 richest people for Forbes magazine.

His China Luxury Index, which tracks 32 items including the Rolls-Royce Phantom EWB and the Louis Vuitton Speedy Bag, indicates that prices of luxury products in China jumped 8.7 percent in the year to this February, compared with a 3.5 percent rise in the consumer price index.

Luxury properties, golf memberships and executive education led the gains, with the price of a 372 square meter, or 4,000 square foot, villa in Shanghai rising 18.6 percent to 19 million yuan, or US$2.5 million.

Also fueling the rise were China’s culture of gift-giving and the implementation in April 2006 of a 10 percent to 20 percent tax on certain luxury imports, he said.

Although most luxury goods are imported, they seem to have seen little price relief from the appreciation of the yuan, which rose 4.5 percent against the U.S dollar during the period.

Hoogewerf said 50 individuals in China had wealth of at least US$1 billion, while 2,000 were above US$100 million and 35,000 exceeded US$10 million.

The growing numbers of China’s wealthy have caught the attention of the world’s luxury goods makers.

Richemont’s Cartier watch and jewelery brand said last month that it planned to open 25 new shops on the Chinese mainland by March 2008, while Hermes International said in June that it aimed to triple its stores in China to 25 in the next five years.

(SD-Agencies)

Visitors look at Spyker C8 Spyder Double 12 at the Shanghai Auto Show on April 26, 2007. Foreign automakers are targeting the new rich in the world’s second largest car market.

SD-Agencies