‘Investments of passion,’ those objects of desire that are nice to own but will also hopefully rise in value. When I’m editing The Wealth Report, Knight Frank’s annual publication examining wealth distribution, the threats and opportunities for wealth creators, prime property markets and commercial real estate investments, ‘investments of passion’ is the section I most enjoy.
My own advice is buy what you love and if it goes up in value so much the better, but some people do look at these things from an investment perspective. So, if that’s your thing, what should you be looking at?
Well, according to the Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index (KFLII) which tracks the value of 10 of these desirable asset classes, wine was the top performer last year. Based on the performance of the Knight Frank Fine Wines Icons Index, compiled for us by the team at Wine Owners, investment grade wine saw a huge surge in value last year – up almost 25 per cent across the board.
Over to Nick Martin of Wine Owners to explain this stellar rise, which was driven by exceptionally strong growth in key areas across the world and in particular the resurgence of the top Bordeaux chateaux that form the backbone of most investment cellars.
‘In 2015 we saw growth of around 8 per cent for the whole of Bordeaux, off the back of steep declines in 2012-2014 following the bursting of the Chinese-induced Bordeaux bubble in late 2011.
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