Decade Low Growth Rate in International Luxury Housing

High-end housing markets across the globe, stressed by coronavirus and the accompanying damage to the economy, have reached their lowest rate of annual growth in almost a decade, according to the latest prime cities index from Knight Frank. Prices edged up an average of 0.9% in the year to June across the 45 prime residential markets around the world that the property consultants analyzed. That’s the lowest rate of growth recorded since the end of 2009. Of the 45 cities analyzed, 20 saw prime prices decline in the second quarter: nine were in Europe, seven in Asia, two in Australasia, one in the Middle East and one in Africa, according to Knight Frank. London saw its high-end prices fall most significantly during the three-month stretch, dropping 3.7%. Zurich followed, where prime prices fell 3.6%. Of the cities that saw their prime prices tick up in the second quarter, Cape Town, South Africa, and Vancouver, Canada, ranked top, recording gains of 3.7% and 3.2%, respectively. Prime prices in Australasia and North America were the most resilient in the second quarter, supported by a demand for large, detached and high-value homes, in cities such as Sydney, Vancouver and Los Angeles, the report said.