The number of households with more than $1 million in investible assets declined 8 per cent to 5.1 million at the end of last month, from a year earlier, according to estimates from a report issued today by Phoenix Marketing International of Rhinebeck, NY, the publication said.

The report matches findings of the Merrill Lynch/Capgemini report, issued in June, showing that the assets of high net worth and ultra HNW individuals fell sharply in 2008 as stock markets tumbled; the number of HNWIs and UHNWIs has also dropped.

The Phoenix report said that for the ultra-wealthy, the fall in wealth was even more severe. The number of households with $5 million or more in investible assets dropped by 18 per cent to 675,000 during the same period.

The report attributed the drop in wealthier households to the market downturn.

In less gloomy news, the number of affluent U.S. households — those with $250,000 or more in investible assets or $150,000 or more in annual household income — grew by 2 per cent to 23.8 million during the past year, according to the report.

The Phoenix study’s estimates were based on 940 statistical areas in the US.