China has 150,000 super-rich with personal wealth of $5 million or more and their ranks are rising fast, pushing up prices for golf, yachting, villas and other luxuries, researcher Rupert Hoogewerf said on Wednesday.

"The number of wealthy individuals in China is growing very fast, based on the economic boom," Hoogewerf, who compiles an annual China "rich list", said in an interview.

His China Luxury Index, which tracks 32 items including the Rolls-Royce Phantom EWB and the Louis Vuitton Speedy Bag, shows prices of luxury products in China jumped 8.7 percent in the year to this February, compared with a 3.5 percent rise in the consumer price index.

Luxury properties, golf memberships and executive education led the gains, with the price of a 372-square-metre villa in Shanghai rising 18.6 percent to 19 million yuan ($2.5 million).

Also fuelling the rise were China's culture of gift-giving and the implementation in April last year of a 10 to 20 percent tax on certain luxury imports, he said.

Although most luxury goods are imported, they seem to have seen little price relief from the appreciation of the Chinese currency, the yuan, which rose 4.5 percent against the US dollar during the period.

Hoogewerf also said 50 individuals in China had wealth of at least $1 billion, while 2,000 were above $100 million and 35,000 exceeded $10 million.

The growing numbers of China's wealthy have caught the attention of the world's luxury goods makers.

Richemont's Cartier watch and jewellery brand said last month it planned to open 25 new shops in mainland China by March 2008, while Hermes International said in June it aimed to triple its stores in China to 25 in the next five years.

Overseas lenders such as Citigroup and BNP Paribas have set up private banking units targeting clients with investable assets of $1 million or more and several of their Chinese peers, including the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China and Bank of China, are following suit. - Reuters