Knight Frank's Global Head of Research on why a real estate company produces a comprehensive report on the lives of the wealthy.

It’s twenty years since high-end real estate agent Knight Frank first produced its now much anticipated Wealth Report, which offers unparalleled insights into the lives of the super-rich.

What was it that first inspired a London-based estate agent to launch a data-based report on the world’s wealthiest people, and how has it adapted over the years to stay just as relevant and riveting today as it was when it launched in March 2007?

To find out, we spoke with Liam Bailey, Knight Frank’s global head of research and the report’s editor since day one.

Why did Knight Frank decide to produce a wealth report?

In the early 2000s, prime property, particularly in London, was growing at an extraordinary pace. While London had always been an international city, something felt different. Suddenly, very large amounts of wealth were flowing in from all over the world. Capital was becoming far more mobile, and it felt like a good moment to pause and really try to understand what was driving these changes.

Around the same time, Citibank’s equity analyst team published a report called Plutonomy. It set out the idea that a relatively small number of very wealthy individuals were accounting for a growing share of global wealth. That thesis resonated with what we were seeing on the ground. We wanted to bring these ideas together, so we collaborated with Citi’s Private Wealth team and launched The Wealth Report in March 2007.

The aim was simple, really: to document what was happening to the global economy and explore what this concentration of wealth meant for property markets. Ultimately, we wanted to understand how wealthy investors think and behave, because those decisions would shape markets long into the future.

What data on ultra-wealthy individuals existed at the time?

Truthfully, there wasn’t very much. The Capgemini report was already well established and a useful benchmark, and there were a handful of smaller data providers attempting to estimate global wealth numbers. But overall, it felt like there was a clear gap in the market.

To build a more complete picture, we had to develop a lot of this ourselves. In the early years, we worked with Scorpio Partnership and their proprietary Wealth Distribution Model, which blended macro- and microeconomic data to estimate the underlying distribution of wealth across countries.

From the outset, though, wealth sizing was only the starting point. What really interested us was layering that data alongside prime housing market performance, understanding where wealth was being created, and then where it was being deployed.

Was “UHNWI” even a used term back then?

Yes, the term had actually been around for quite some time, coined by the banking world as a polite way to describe their wealthy clients. Interestingly, our own language evolved as the report developed.

In the first edition in 2007, we focused on High‑Net‑Worth Individuals, people with more than US$10 million in investable assets. It wasn’t until the 2008 edition that we formally introduced the term Ultra‑High‑Net‑Worth Individual, initially defining it as someone with a net worth of US$30 million or more.

How did that first report compare with today’s edition?

The early reports were very tightly focused on prime residential property, primary homes, second homes, and investment properties, and largely informed by interviews with UK‑based HNWIs and wealth managers.

Today, the scope is much broader. The report has become a genuinely global piece of research, covering the full ecosystem of wealth…

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A new private club is for those that own iconic properties, and are keen to (discreetly) show them off.

You can’t just apply to join the Falcons Club. You must be recommended by an existing member and fill out an application form.

Perfectly normal for private members clubs, however, in order to join the Falcons Club, you must also host its founder, Alex De Valkeneer, at your home for a dinner or a short stay.

“It’s so I can check they are the right sort of people to join,” De Valkeneer explains to Mr Family Office. “And that their home - and their hospitality - is of the calibre our members are coming to expect.”

The Falcons Club doesn’t have a club house, bar, restaurant or any physical location. The venues for meetups are its members’ homes. De Valkeneer, 29, says: “Except these aren’t ordinary homes, and they aren’t available to anyone who is not a Falcons member.”

He notes every house must be “beyond special, it must be iconic”.

Current homes on the roster include several castles in Scotland, Italy, France and Spain. There are also ranches and vineyards in some of the most idyllic spots. Some members also own private islands and remote lodges across the world from deep in the African bush to remote wilderness areas of Alaska.

He refuses to provide any details of the houses or the club’s members citing privacy concerns. And when asked to provide images of any of the houses for this newsletter, De Valkeneer sent an image of a large country house (see above) but won’t provide any details.

A simple Google Image search reveals it is Knowsley Hall, near Liverpool, UK, which is owned by the Earl of Derby.

Asked why he is so secretive when it is so easy to identify the house, De Valkeneer replies: “Because we don’t want any information about members online… it’s what the whole club is about! Of course it’s easy to find. You just put it in Google Images and you know all about it.”

He also refused to provide details on how the club operates…

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Major sporting events are creating a private-jet gridlock. Over 2,000 private business aircraft are arriving during sporting drawcards, reports Robb Report, despite hefty event fees that pack in higher costs of jet fuel, hangar rates, and other costs associated with managing a much larger fleet.

Billionaire completes one of the biggest single home transactions in history. Ukrainian billionaire Rinat Akhmetov has bought a five-floor Monaco apartment for a record-breaking US$552 million, according to Bloomberg. The 21-room property, which features a private swimming pool and jacuzzi, is within the Le Renzo tower built on land reclaimed from the Mediterranean Sea.

The most expensive Cartier watch ever sold. Over the weekend, a 1987 Cartier Crash - with a dripping shape more like one of Salvador Dalí’s Surrealist melting clocks than a luxury timepiece - set a staggering new record at auction, selling for almost $2 million - CNN

An adventurous new arctic motorcycle rally. This 2,500-mile route from Copenhagen to the ‘Nordkapp’, a place well inside the Arctic Circle, promises owners of custom bikes the chance to truly enjoy their machines in a staggering setting - The Rake

A New Costa Rican hotel with 139 acres of rainforest, and just seven villas. While Costa Rica has become increasingly popular with tourists, there are still destinations that provide a quiet escape. Origins Astral Lodge in the northern Bijagua region delivers exactly that - Travel + Leisure

As Living Large is about the finer things in life, let’s talk about extravagance!

That’s all for now! We’ll be back on Friday with more from Knight Frank.

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