Almost 41 percent, or 436,000, of Singapore’s households will have assets of at least US$1 million by 2017, compared with 39 percent in Hong Kong and 28 percent in Switzerland, according to a survey by Barclays Wealth, the bank’s wealth management unit. The Southeast Asian nation was second in 2007 with 23 percent, while Hong Kong had 26 percent, the report said.

Singapore’s US$132 billion economy grew last quarter at the fastest pace since 2003 as tax breaks and efforts to draw banks and manufacturers to expand or set up new businesses in the city offset slowing demand for electronics. Growth is expected to moderate this year because of a U.S. slowdown.

“It’s a little premature to assume that growth will continue in a straight line, but the underlying trend remains one where Asian countries are generating plenty of economic activity and employment opportunities,” said Song Seng-Wun, an economist at CIMB-GK Securities Pte. in Singapore.

Economic growth elsewhere in Asia is also boosting wealth creation. China, the world’s fastest-growing major economy, is estimated to become the third-wealthiest nation in the world by 2017 by total net worth, lagging behind only the U.S. and Japan, while India will be ranked eighth, according to Barclays Wealth.

“Not only are we seeing unprecedented wealth creation in Asia, but the structure of the region’s economies have fundamentally changed,” Didier von Daeniken, chief executive officer of Barclays Wealth in Asia, said in a press release. “Education, technology and globalization are driving wealth creation, resulting in a shift of economic power to the East.”

Singapore households with more than US$1 million held about US$672 billion in assets last year, and will grow to US$1.6 trillion by 2017, according to Barclays Wealth. The survey takes into account assets such as cash, shares, bonds and property.

Home prices in the city-state have increased 58 percent in the four years to March 31, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority. Singapore’s residential property market grew the fastest globally last year, outpacing gains in China and Bulgaria, researcher Global Property Guide said in a Dec. 19 report.

“Given that real estate prices are likely to go up in the next 10 years, millionaires probably won’t be that uncommon in Singapore,” said CIMB-GK’s Song.

Barclays Wealth is a unit of Barclays Plc, the UK’s third- biggest bank, and oversees client assets of about 132.5 billion pounds (US$261 billion).

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