How the super rich are binge-spending their lockdown cash

11 May 2021 - By Anna Tyzack, The Telegraph

Following a year of restraint, the uber wealthy are loosening their purse strings and nothing is off the table (including Narnia Treehouses)

A year of saving has meant cash for a new post-lockdown toy for the uber wealthy: the superyacht. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is shoring up a $500m, 417ft behemoth so big it will need its own ‘support yacht’ with a helipad; superyacht sales in Britain are up 43 per cent on this time last year. The binge-spending, it appears, has begun in earnest.

Superyacht brokerage Cecil Wright & Partners has said that 354 vessels were sold across the market in the past year, some costing up to £430 million to build. Due to the travel restrictions, many of these yachts were bought unseen. The wealthy are also panic-buying Arksen marine exploration vessels, safe and robust luxury cruisers, which cost up to £8.5 million and enable their owners to explore the wildest places on the planet. “Now, more than ever, the ultra wealthy want to know they can escape on a far-ﬂung adventure at any given moment,” explains Arksen’s chairman, Jasper Smith, who has seen an 88 per cent increase in enquiries this year.

Helicopters and electric performance cars, too, are choice purchases for ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs) intent on making the most of the post-Covid world. “Spending three lockdowns in the same house, albeit a very beautiful one, has made me crave travel and experiences,” agrees Martin Reith, chairman of Luchford, a communications agency for luxury brands.

Now, the super-rich want accessible exclusivity – whether that comes in the shape of a several hundred foot sea vessel, or ultra-exclusive resorts, such as Lopud 1483 in Croatia, a renovated monastery that sleeps 10 and rents for £70,000 per week.

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