May 21, 2007 - 10:53PM
Survey shows increase in affluent population in the Inland Empire
JAMES QUIGG Staff Photographer
Home shoppers walk through Cordillera at Stonebrook Estate's Model homes. The upscale development's most recent sale was in the mid $900,000's.
MITCH DEACON Staff Writer
VICTORVILLE — The ranks of affluent residents in the Inland Empire continue to swell, according to a recent survey by Glencrest Investment Advisors Inc.
According to a series of surveys in San Bernardino and Riverside counties, the number of households with more than $1 million in liquid assets rose nearly 25 percent from 2003 to 2005 to reach 10,617.
Over the past two years, the pace of growth has slowed, rising 9.7 percent to 11,654 households in 2007.
“Wealthy households are clearly on the rise in the Inland Empire since 2003,” said Tom Steffanci, senior managing director of Glencrest in Claremont.
“Earnings from corporate employment are the dominant force for creating wealth in the region,” Staffanci said.
Although many households in Southern California derive much of their wealth from home appreciation, the survey excludes the value of the residential from the its definition of wealth, indicating that the increase in millionaires is independent from the unstable fortunes of the housing market.
The profile of wealthy individuals that emerges from the survey shows that the affluent population is overwhelmingly white, well-educated and older in age than the rest of the population.
Among affluent residents surveyed in the Inland Empire, 93 percent are Caucasian, 84 percent were over the age of 60, two thirds are retired, 66 percent are college educated and72 percent have been resident in the region for over 10 years.
The effect of the growing numbers of affluent residents is becoming evident in the residential housing market, where developers are increasingly building large and more expensive homes to house the wealthy.
Housing starts in the range of $550,000 to $650,000 grew from 9 percent of the market in 2005 to 15 percent in 2006, according to Metrostudy Southern California.
More executives and professionals are moving into the Inland Empire from the coastal counties, which has caused a shift in the type of residential product being built today.
The Glencrest survey also shows a trend toward greater numbers of management and professionals in the region.
“About 35 to 40 percent of the wealth and income was from corporate employment,” he said.
Other leading sources of income and wealth in the region include earnings from well-educated independent professionals, such as doctors and attorneys, and the earnings of sole proprietors.
Overall, the survey reveals a broad diversity of wealth in the Inland Empire, unlike previous decades, when the region was heavily dependent on weapons and aerospace industries.
Mitch Deacon can be reached at 951-6232 or at .