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Stocks and gold are the most promising medium- and long-term investments for wealthy Koreans, with their sentiment for real estate investments turning negative compared to a year ago, according to the latest report released by KB Financial Group, Sunday.

The "2023 The Korean Rich Report" is based on an in-depth survey conducted over three months from July to September of 400 rich Koreans owning both financial and real estate assets worth more than 1 billion won ($766,000) each.

The report showed that respondents selected stocks (44 percent) and gold (32 percent) as their preferred investment items for the next three years. Compared to last year, the response rates for stocks increased by 13 percentage points and gold by 5.2 percentage points.

In contrast, the wealthy respondents' selection rates for commercial real estate posted a year-on-year decrease of 13 percentage points to 25 percent, from last year's 38 percent.

“Rich Korean's preferences for stabler assets like gold and jewelry, as well as individual stocks, have deepened as external uncertainties surrounding the international political landscape and economic situation have increased due to wars, interest rate hikes and inflation," the report highlighted.

As of the end of 2022, the number of rich people who hold financial assets worth more than 1 billion won was estimated to be around 456,000, or 0.89 percent of the total population in Korea. The number has increased by 7.5 percent from the end of 2021.

The main sources of their accumulated assets included business income (31 percent), followed by real estate investment (24.5 percent), inheritance or gift (20 percent), financial investment (13.3 percent) and earned income (11.3 percent).

As for asset composition, financial assets accounted for 37.9 percent, while real estate assets accounted for 56.2 percent. By region, 7 out of 10 rich people live in the Seoul metropolitan area, including Gyeonggi Province and Incheon.

Their total financial assets, assessed to be over 2,747 trillion won, posted a year-on-year decrease of 4.7 percent from last year's 2,883 trillion won. It is the first time in four years for the total value of their financial assets to record a decline.

With regard to the total real estate assets held by Korea's rich this year, it stood at 2,543 trillion won, an increase of 7.7 percent from last year's 2,361 trillion won. Yet, the year-on-year growth rate was slower than in 2021 and 2022, which each exceeded the 10 percent mark.