Why world millionaires, including Djokovic, are heading to Monaco?

There are several wealthy individuals, who have their residence in Monaco starting from Sir Philip Green's wife, Tina, Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and the tennis ace Novak Djokovic. Many more millionaires are heading to Monaco now.

The Odeon tower building is seen in Monaco
The Odeon tower building is seen in Monaco Reuters

The European country Monaco which has already made headlines earlier for a five-floor penthouse called La Tour Odeon worth of $335m has a new construction deal to build more luxury apartments in next 10 years. The $2bn project is now making not many but thousands of millionaires heading to Monaco.

According to reports, out of 100 Monaco residents, almost 35 are millionaires. Knight Frank, who is an estate agent, stated in a research that about 2,700 wealthiest individuals are willing to settle down in the global destination by 2026.

The recent approval of the offshore urban extension project is cited as the major move to satisfy world's wealthy individuals to come and own the luxury apartments, which are sold for more than $100,000 per sq meter.

However, the idea to reclaim the area has already raised environmental as some important species on the seabed have to be moved elsewhere. Bouygues, the construction company behind the project, however, said that the species in the area have been moved to new reserve and the 3D-printed artificial coral reefs on the 18 trapezoid reinforced concrete caissons will be used to create the boundary of the new land.

Edward de Mallet Morgan, a partner at Knight Frank, has said "Such is the demand for new waterfront homes that price will be little deterrent to buyers – and their tax advisers."

There are several wealthiest individuals, who have their homes in Monaco such as Sir Philip Green's wife, Tina, Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and the tennis ace Novak Djokovic.

"You can't avoid that Monaco is a tax haven, you can dress it up as a low-tax environment, but it is a tax haven with a lot of tax breaks for families, businesses and importantly inheritance tax," said Morgan.

In terms of personal income tax, Monaco doesn't have that but to buy a residency in the country, a person should have Monaco bank account and a deposit of at least $586,637.

Superyacht builder Edmiston & Co chief Nick Edmiston told The Guardian, "You can walk around wearing expensive jewellery and feel safe. Many wealthy people are used to always being surrounded by bodyguards but that's not necessary for Monaco."

chairman of superyacht builder Edmiston & Co, Nick Edmiston

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