Hong Kong, Apr 9 (IANS): A survey released by Citibank Hong Kong showed that the number of multi-millionaires in Hong Kong has reached 515,000, up 2.18 per cent compared with the previous survey released in September last year.

A multi-millionaire is defined as a person with a total net worth of 10 million HK dollars (about $1.28 million) or more and at least 1 million HK dollars in current assets, according to the bank, Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday.

The bank randomly interviewed over 4,000 Hong Kong residents aged between 21 and 79 via phone and calculated the number. The results showed that the net assets of the multi-millionaires mainly distributed in properties, accounting for 71 percent.

The number of multi-millionaires who were optimistic about the property market in the next 12 months was significantly higher than that in the last survey, rising from 7 percent to 15 percent, the survey said.

The survey also showed that under the Covid-19 epidemic, 25 percent of the multi-millionaires reported an increase in their liquid assets compared with the end of 2019, with a median increase of 1 million HK dollars. Among them, 65 percent said that the increase in liquid assets was mainly due to investment returns, with the majority of the increase gained from stocks.

Josephine Lee, head of retail banking for Citibank Hong Kong, said that some of the respondents' liquid assets increased despite the economic impact caused by the epidemic, which reflected the operational effect of diversified investment.

Lee said that the increase also reflected the appreciation of related financial assets driven by measures taken by major countries to save the economy and stabilize the financial sector in response to the epidemic.