Dubai's wealth poised to grow strongly over next decade

Dubai is among the cities to watch out for in terms of total wealth held and is knocking on the door of the top 20 club, a new study on Thursday revealed.

The emirate - thanks to its stature as a safe investment destination and overall positive business environment - is among eight cities that are "expected to grow strongly over the next 10 years", data intelligence firms New World Wealth and Webster Pacific say in their report called 'The wealthiest cities worldwide in 2019'.

"Dubai is the top financial centre in the Middle East. It is also one of the safest cities in the region and a popular destination for migrating HNWIs and wealthy expats. Major industries there include financial services, professional services, transport, retail and real estate," the study says.

Among those eight places to keep an eye on are the Indian cities of Delhi, which has a "well-diversified economy and is strong in a large number of key sectors", and Bangalore and Hyderabad, mainly because of their prowess in the information technology sector.

New York City is No.1 in the report, holding wealth that amounts to $3 trillion. Others in the top 10 are Tokyo ($2.5 trillion), the San Francisco Bay Area ($2.4 trillion), London ($2.4 trillion), Beijing ($2.1 trillion), Shanghai ($1.9 trillion), Los Angeles ($1.4 trillion), Hong Kong ($1.2 trillion), Sydney ($1.1 trillion) and Singapore ($1 trillion).

Chicago is 11th with $980 billion, followed by India's financial centre, Mumbai, with $960 billion. Rounding out the top 20 are Toronto ($900 billion), Houston ($880 billion), Geneva ($850 billion), Frankfurt ($800 billion), Osaka ($790 billion), Seoul ($780 billion), Paris ($770 billion) and Shenzhen ($750 billion).