New Zealand is becoming increasingly acquainted with Forbes magazine - the chronicler of mass wealth in the world. As the divide between the rich and poor exacerbates, the rich list is quickly finding more to report about from NZ. Today's Herald-on-Sunday reports that the annual Forbes list of the world's most expensive homes for sale finally lists a NZ home - Waiheke Island's Cowes Bay property, with an asking price of $26.5m. The article reports that the real estate industry is predicting that NZ will increasingly appear in the Forbes list, and that the price of many NZ properties was set to explode. It mentions last year's $10m sale of businesswoman Diane Foreman's North Shore clifftop home, the Bradley's $30m Coatesville estate, Mark Hotchin's $30m Paritai Drive home, and Lionel Rogers' $20m Parnell home.
Added to this, earlier in the month, Forbes magazine published the top 40 richest Australasians, which now includes a record eight New Zealanders. Last year you needed $404m to get on the list, but with rocketing wealth you now need $559m. NZ's richest person, Graeme Hart is now number three in Australasia. NZ's first female billionaire is also on the list - Lyn Erceg with an estimated $1.28b.
