^ Knight Frank Prime Global Cities Index Q3 2020; ranked by annual % change.
The index, which tracks the movement in prime residential prices in local currency across 45 cities across the globe, is still registering prime price growth during the pandemic.
Prime property—known as the most expensive property in a location, is generally defined as the top 5 per cent of each market and often has an international bias with buyer profile.
The index notes that travel restrictions in place across much of the world have seen demand remain primarily domestic in nature.
Australia’s Prestige Markets Luxury Properties
Knight Frank’s head of residential research Australia Michelle Ciesielski said a surge in demand post-lockdown as luxury homeowners re-evaluate where they want to be and the type of property they want to live in has boosted sales and supported luxury prices across several prestige markets.
Although an increase has been seen in the percentage of cities recording annual price declines, Ciesielski noted that Australia has so far “bucked this trend”.
“[Even] Melbourne, which has had the most stringent lockdown of all the capitals, continuing to record positive annual growth,” she said.
“In fact, Sydney, Perth and the Gold Coast all recorded growth above the index’s average annual increase,” Ciesielski said.
“Once lockdown was eased, the prime property market was supported by an upward trajectory in the stock market, low- interest rates, and ultra-wealthy money which remained at home.
“Most of Australia was fortunate to ease out of restrictions in time to take advantage of the idyllic spring selling season—the thin number of prime properties on the market had great exposure to the ultra-wealthy population who would have otherwise been returning from a European vacation.”
Countries considered to have efficiently handled the pandemic have moved higher in the rankings with Auckland (13 per cent) leading the index at number one.
The North America region was the strongest-performing world region this quarter, with three cities in the top ten annual rankings Toronto (8 per cent), Vancouver (7 per cent), and Los Angeles (6 per cent).
The index notes a number of “resilient cities” including Manila (10 per cent), Seoul (7 per cent), the Swiss cities of Zurich (7 per cent) and Geneva (6 per cent), as well as the recovery of Chinese cities Shenzhen (9 per cent) and Shanghai (6 per cent).
Sourced from The Urban Developer