CHINA'S richest people are stepping up investment in US real estate and other foreign assets as they try to preserve their fortunes in the face of a fast-changing economy, a report said yesterday.

The report by China Merchants Bank and consulting firm Bain & Co reflects uncertainties about abrupt shifts in an economy in which growth slowed to 7.8 percent last year from the past decade's double-digit rates.

China is trying to shift the basis of growth to domestic consumption and services, reducing the reliance on exports and construction that made fortunes for earlier entrepreneurs. The government has pledged to use taxes and social spending to narrow the huge wealth gap in the country.

Investor attitudes are being influenced by "the political environment and possible changes in tax policy," said Chen Kunde, director of China Merchants' wealth management business. They are "switching their focus from deriving more profits to protecting their existing wealth."

Growth in the number of Chinese people with at least 10 million yuan (US$1.6 million) in investable assets slowed in 2010-12, according to the report.

The total rose 18 percent over the previous two-year period to 700,000, down from 29 percent growth in 2008-10.

At least 100,000 of those people have more than 50 million yuan while 40,000 have more than 100 million yuan, said the report1. It was based on questionnaires filled out by 3,300 people and more detailed interviews with about 100 of them and with bank employees.

Sources of wealth for China's richest people have shifted repeatedly over the past two decades as industries from real estate and manufacturing to the Internet and soft drinks had developed.

More recently, entrepreneurs have been squeezed by government policy shifts such as efforts to rein in surging housing prices. Curbs on real estate purchases and financing have battered revenue for developers.

Almost 60 percent of people with investments abroad plan to increase them, the report said. Real estate makes up the bulk of investment and top destinations include the United States, Canada and Singapore.

Half of those who haven't invested abroad plan to start.

China Merchants and Bain caused a stir in 2009 when they reported 60 percent of wealthy Chinese had completed or were considering "investment immigration" - temporary or permanent residency given by some countries to attract investors.

They found similar levels of interest this year.

Australia's government said this week that a Chinese toy manufacturer and his family had become the first to receive visas under a program that requires an investment of at least A$5 million (US$5.1 million).