Hurun Chinese Luxury Consumer Survey & Hurun Best of the Best Awards 2025

(21 March 2025, Shanghai) The Hurun Research Institute today released the Hurun Chinese Luxury Consumer Survey & Hurun Best of the Best Awards 2025. This is the 21st consecutive year Hurun Research has revealed the brand preferences, investment and lifestyle trends of China’s wealthiest individuals. Widely regarded as an ISO9000 for China’s luxury sector, the CLCS has become a benchmark for the luxury sector.

750 respondents completed the survey: high-net-worth individuals in China, with an average family wealth of CNY47.5mn (equivalent to US$6.5mn) and investable wealth of CNY12mn (US$1.6mn). Of those surveyed, 32 were ultra-high net worth individuals with more than CNY100mn (US$14mn). 45% live in China’s first-tier cities; the average age was 35; the ratio of male to female was 50:50; 91% are married (mostly families with one child).

Chairman and Chief Researcher of Hurun, Rupert Hoogewerf, said: 

“In the twenty years since our first Hurun Chinese Luxury Consumer Index and Best of the Best in 2005, we have providing insights into the lifestyle and investment habits of the Chinese luxury consumers and high net worth individuals. We know there are many rich people in China, but what sort of people are they? Where do they want to travel to, how do they stay fit, what family advisors do they have, where are they thinking of emigrating to, what do they want to invest in and what are they cutting back on, are they happy, are they confident in the business environment? I hope this can help brands and service providers have a better understanding of how to stay relevant to the Chinese luxury consumer.”

“The lifestyle, investment and brand preferences of the luxury consumers in China has changed dramatically in the past twenty years. Mobile phones have moved from Nokia to Apple, then to Huawei and Xiaomi; cars have shifted from Germany’s BBA (Benz, BMW and Audi) to local electric vehicle newcomers; baijiu has gone from Wuliangye to Moutai; business travel has gone down from eleven days a month to seven days, at the same time as holidays have increased from 18 days a year to 24 days; preferred travel destinations have shifted from Australia, France and the US to the Maldives, Singapore and Dubai; preferred sports have shifted from golf to running and preferred investments have shifted from real estate to shares and now gold.”

“At the same time, HNWIs have shown relatively stable characteristics in some aspects. For example, China Merchants Bank has been the most popular domestic bank almost every year; tourism has always been one of their favorite forms of entertainment, and Sanya and Yunnan have always been the most popular domestic tourist destinations; watches, liquor and electronic products have always been the most popular choices for gift-giving.”

“The average household consumption of China’s HNWIs was down 12% in the past year. This has forced high end brands to deliver higher quality for a lower price, such as in cars, where they now want to spend 15% less than last year, down to CNY660,000.”

“China’s HNWIs are not being very careful with their investments. Gold is still the preferred investment category for the fifth year running. It is noteworthy that life insurance policies are on the up for these HMWI, showing they more into risk diversification and long-term security.”

“It is worth noting that the global traditional luxury industry is entering a complex and delicate stage of development. According to the financial data, LVMH, the world's largest luxury goods group (its brands include LV, Dior, Bulgari, Hennessy, etc.), saw a 2% year-on-year decline in sales and a 14% year-on-year decline in net profit in 2024. Kering Group (its brands include Gucci, BV, Balenciaga, etc.) in 2024 saw revenue down 12%, and net profit down 46%. But there are still brands that are growing aggressively. Hermes maintained its growth momentum, with revenues in 2024 up 13%.”

The luxury market.  Hurun Research estimates the total size of the Chinese luxury market to be down 3% to US$230 billion. The luxury market includes premium cars (defined as cars worth over CNY 500,000), traditional luxury (includes fashion, cosmetics, jewelry, leather goods, watches), premium drinks and smokes, high-end consumer electronics, luxury services (hotels, travel and healthcare) and premium foods. 

This is a brief English language summary of the full Chinese press release which can be found at www.hurun.net. For media enquiries please contact our public relations team whose contact details can be found at the end of this report.

Awards

The Hurun Research Institute today released the Hurun Best of the Best Awards 2025, based on the results of the Hurun Chinese Luxury Consumer Survey 2025.

The Best of the Best is for the overall winner of a category. The Star Performer is for the product/service with the best year on year performance. The Best New Arrival is for a product/service launched into China in the past 12 months that has shaken up the market.

Source: Hurun Research Institute

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Established in the United Kingdom in 1999, Hurun is a research and media group, promoting entrepreneurship through its lists and research. Widely regarded as an opinion-leader in the world of business, Hurun generated 8 billion views on the Hurun brand in 2024, mainly in China and India, and recently expanding to the UK, US, Canada and Australia.

Best-known for the Hurun Rich List series, telling the stories of the world’s successful entrepreneurs in China, India and the world, Hurun’s other key series focus on young businesses and entrepreneurs, through the Hurun Unicorns Index, two Hurun Future Unicorns indices, and the Hurun Uth series.

Hurun has grown to become the world’s largest list compiler for start-ups, ranking over 3000 start-ups across the world through its annual Hurun Global Unicorns Index (startups with a valuation of US$1bn+), and two Hurun Future Unicorn Indexes: Gazelles, most likely to ‘go unicorn’ within three years, and Cheetahs, most likely to ‘go unicorn’ within five years.

The Hurun Uth series includes the Under25s, Under30s, Under35s and Under40s awards, representing the cream of each generation of young entrepreneurs who have founded businesses with a social impact and worth US$1m, US$10m, US$50m and US$100m respectively. 

Other lists include the Hurun 500 series, ranking the most valuable companies in the world, China and India, the Hurun Global High Schools List, ranking the world’s best independent high schools, the Hurun Philanthropy List, ranking the biggest philanthropists and the Hurun Art List, ranking the world’s most successful artists alive today. 

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