New york leads global prime city growth

Photo: DavidYuweb

The latest Knight Frank Global Cities Forecast shows the growing impact of the eurozone economy upon the wider world. Along with Japan, the potential financial stagnation of the area could halt the gradual global recovery, which has shown green shoots this year.

Since 2009 a number of the key housing markets worldwide have been supported
by government stimulus measures. Now, though, such initiatives in
markets such as the UK and the US are being withdrawn, which has left the UK and US leading growth, while Japan and Europe fall behind.

Nonetheless, combined with the potential relaxation of cooling measures in Hong Kong and Singapore, 2015 could see a more level playing field for the world’s top luxury housing markets, says Knight Frank.

"In times of crisis the world’s wealthy look to shelter their capital in safe haven assets. In times of economic growth, there is an expanding pool of wealth
looking for its slice of prime property in the best cities."

"Of the eight cities included in our forecast we expect two to experience prices gains, one to see prices remain stable and five to see prices decline," reads the report.

One city that will certainly enjoy growth is New York, which is now back on top of the rankings, with with luxury prices across Manhattan expected to accelerate by 5 per cent to 10 per cent during 2015 - a rise fuelled by improving overseas interest from Chinese, British, Russian and Latin American buyers.

Sydney is also on the radar of foreign buyers. With the pipeline of luxury new supply limited, prices are forecast to rise by up to 5 per cent next year.

Dubai sits at the bottom of the forecast, although prime prices are only expected to slip by 5 per cent to 10 per cent, as limited supply and a growing appetite from Indian purchasers cushion the market.