According to Knight Frank’s latest Wealth Report, Beijing became one of the world’s most expensive cities to buy luxury residential property in 2015 with the legendary Chinese city moving into the report’s top ten list. However, prices in Singapore may have gotten ever so slightly more affordable, but not enough to move it out of the top ten. The city-state came in seventh on this year’s list.
The reason for Singapore’s decline had to do with the country’s property curbing measures which were designed to cool off market. For USD1 million you can buy a little over 40 sqm. on the island which makes it a relative bargain when compared to the likes of Monaco and Hong Kong, the first and second ranked cities on the list.
USD1 million in Monaco gets you nothing more than 17 sqm. while in Hong Kong you can buy a whopping 20 sqm. for that price. Other cities in the top five include London, New York and the rapidly rising Sydney which saw prices for luxury residential property jump nearly 14.8 percent y-o-y.
The real estate market that saw the biggest price gain in 2015 wasn’t in the top ten, however. Vancouver took that honor with prices soaring 25 percent y-o-y. The aforementioned Sydney ranked second in this category while Shanghai saw 14 percent growth and finished third. Chinese buyers were big time players in all three markets and helped drive prices up. The reported added that investors in China could continue to play a role in luxury residential property prices across the globe as the country’s economic slowdown has seen more wealthy Chinese buyers make purchases in a number of key markets.
A little closer to home, Bangkok’s saw a significant increase in luxury residential property prices y-on-y with a 6.3 percent jump, according to the report. This figure was the highest rise in an Asian city outside of China. Meanwhile, Phuket recorded a 4.1 percent increase y-o-y as investors continue to return to the island.
