The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

Sway of the Wealthy Remains Strong in Brazil’s Cities

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ed85ed9e-95ba-11e0-8f82-00144feab49a.html

According to Cushman & Wakefield, the property consultancy, office space in downtown Rio de Janeiro is now the most expensive in the Americas, beating even midtown Manhattan after prices in Brazil’s former capital jumped 47 per cent in 2010. The Economist magazine found earlier this year that executive pay was higher in São Paulo than anywhere else in the world.

Brazil manages to pay world-beating prices for its property and professionals, despite having a gross domestic product per capita that is less than one-fifth the size of that of the US. The current high value of the Brazilian real exaggerates the effect, but it is this same phenomenon that makes the country’s rich such capable consumers of international luxury items.