Real Estate Wishes and Billionaire Dreams
Can you make a $1 billion in real estate? These 46 people on Forbes’ latest list of the world’s billionaires did.
BY HALEY M. HWANG
If you have dreams and aspirations of tremendous success and making millions in real estate—you’re not aiming high enough.
According to the recently released list of “The World’s Richest People” by Forbes magazine—the 19th annual list of the world’s billionaires—46 out of the 691 billionaires (7 percent) made their money in the real estate industry. An additional 18 billionaires (3 percent) made their fortune in diversified industries and investments that included significant holdings in real estate.
And although no real estate billionaire came close to software giant Bill Gates, who was No. 1 on the list for the 11th straight year with $46.5 billion, the richest billionaires to make their fortunes in real estate were Raymond, Thomas, and Walter Kwok (#31, $10.9 billion)—brothers who inherited Sun Hung Kai Properties, a giant real estate development company in Hong Kong, after their father’s death in 1990. They also branched out into cellular phone service and bus operations in Hong Kong.
The richest American to make his fortunes in real estate, according to the Forbes list, is Donald Bren, 72, of Newport Beach, Calif. (#122, $4.3 billion), who started a homebuilding company and sold it to International Paper for $34 million in 1970. He now sells finished plots on Irvine Ranch, just south of Los Angeles, for more than $1 million per acre. He also owns 400 office buildings, 36 shopping centers, 80 apartment complexes, and two luxury hotels.
Other American real estate billionaires who may be familiar names to you include “The Apprentice” star Donald Trump (#228, $2.6 billion), hotel heiress Leona Helmsley (#292, $2.2 billion), and William Pulte (#437, $1.5 billion), founder of Pulte Homes.
If you aspire to billionaire status, there’s good news. Although 17 of the 46 real estate billionaires (37 percent) inherited and then grew their fortunes, 29 of them (63 percent) are self-made billionaires. Also, almost half (47 percent) of the real estate billionaires live in the United States, with eight living in California (17 percent), four in New York (9 percent), and three in Illinois (7 percent).
So what characteristics do all of the real estate billionaires share—that you can possibly emulate to achieve higher success? To increase your chances of being a billionaire, keep these thoughts in mind:
Move to California. Of the 21 U.S. real estate billionaires, eight (38 percent) live in Atherton, Newport Beach, Stockton, Palo Alto, or Los Angeles.
Immigrate to Asia. If you have aspirations to live outside the United States, move to Asia and practice real estate there (13 of the 46 real estate billionaires, or 28 percent, live in Hong Kong, Japan, or Singapore.). The top three non-U.S. countries with the most real estate billionaires are Hong Kong (7), United Kingdom (5), and Japan (4).
Get married. Of the 43 real estate billionaires whose marital status are known, 37 are married (86 percent), three are divorced (7 percent), and three are widowed (7 percent).
Have lots of kids. The 43 real estate billionaires whose marital status are known have an average of 2.9 children; 11 (or 26 percent) have four or more children, with William Pulte topping the list with a reported 14 children.
Get a college degree. Of the 26 real estate billionaires whose educational attainments are known, 20 have a college degree or higher (77 percent) (15, or 58 percent, have a bachelor’s degree and five, or 19 percent, have graduate degrees); five are high school grads (19 percent); and one is a high school dropout (4 percent).
Following is a complete list of the 46 billionaires who made their fortunes in real estate:
1. Raymond, Thomas, and Walter Kwok (#31, $10.9 billion), Hong Kong
2. Lee Shau Kee (#38, $9.3 billion), Hong Kong
3. Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor and family (#80, $5.6 billion), Chester, United Kingdom
4. Eitaro Itoyama (#103, $4.9 billion), Tokyo, Japan
5. Fukuzo Iwasaki (#117, $4.4 billion), Kagoshima, Japan
6. Donald Bren (#122, $4.3 billion), Newport Beach, Calif.
7. Cheng Yu-tung (#132, $4.2 billion), Hong Kong
8. Kwek Leng Beng and family (#138, $4 billion), Singapore
9. Yoshiaki Tsutsumi (#149, $3.7 billion), Tokyo, Japan
10. Frank Lowy and family (#151, $3.6 billion), Sydney, Australia
11. Akira Mori (#170, $3.2 billion), Tokyo, Japan
12. Nina Wang (#188, $3.1 billion), Hong Kong
13. Stefan Schörghuber (#203, $2.9 billion), Munich, Germany
14. Charles Cadogan and family (#219, $2.7 billion), London, United Kingdom
15. Ng Teng Fong (#228, $2.6 billion), Singapore
16. Donald Trump (#228, $2.6 billion), New York
17. Leonard Stern (#243, $2.5 billion), New York
18. Melinda Esterhazy (#272, $$2.3 billion), Zurich, Switzerland
19. Leona Helmsley (#292, $2.2 billion), New York
20. Samual Zell (#292, $2.2 billion), Chicago
21. Matthew Bucksbaum and family (#321, $2 billion), Chicago
22. Chen Din Hwa (#321, $2 billion), Hong Kong
23. Peter Woo and family (#321, $2 billion), Hong Kong
24. Melvin Simon (#355, $1.9 billion), Indianapolis
25. John Whittaker (#387, $1.7 billion), Isle of Man, United Kingdom
26. Manual Jove (#413, $1.6 billion), La Coruna, Spain
27. Mortimer Zuckerman (#413, $1.6 billion), New York
28. Archie Aldis (Red) Emmerson (#437, $1.5 billion), Redding, Calif.
29. William Pulte (#437, $1.5 billion), Detroit
30. John Sobrato (#437, $1.5 billion), Atherton, Calif.
31. Edward Debartolo Jr. (#488, $1.4 billion), Tampa, Fla.
32. Paul Raymond (#488, $1.4 billion), London, United Kingdom
33. John Gandel and family (#507, $1.3 billion), Melbourne, Australia
34. Vincent Lo (#507, $1.3 billion), Hong Kong
35. Harry Triguboff (#507, $1.3 billion), Sydney, Australia
36. George Argyros (#548, $1.2 billion), Newport Beach, Calif.
37. Carl Berg (#548, $1.2 billion), Atherton, Calif.
38. Thomas Flatley (#548, $1.2 billion), Milton, Mass.
39. Olav Thon (#548, $1.2 billion), Oslo, Norway
40. Albert Gubay (#584, $1.1 billion), Isle of Man, United Kingdom
41. Edward Roski Jr. (#584, $1.1 billion), Los Angeles
42. Alexander Spanos (#584, $1.1 billion), Stockton, Calif.
43. John Arrillaga (#620, $1 billion), Palo Alto, Calif.
44. Neil Bluhm (#620, $1 billion), Chicago
45. Richard Peery (#620, $1 billion), Palo Alto, Calif.
46. A. Alfred Taubman (#620, $1 billion), Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
