18-08-2012: S'pore ranks high on luxury property list

MONACO'S luxury home market ranked as the world's most expensive last year, according to a recent report by Knight Frank and Citi Private Bank.

US$1 million (S$1.24 million) buys only 17 sq m - or 183 sq ft - of luxury living in the city state, where the average price was a jaw-dropping US$58,300 per sq m as of the end of last year.

In Singapore, which made the list at No. 13 out of 63 cities in the rankings, that US$1 million would buy you more than double the space at 39 sq m.

The average home price of the luxury segment in Singapore came in at US$25,600 per sq m, putting it behind cities like Hong Kong, London, Geneva and Paris.

Singapore is, however, ahead of cities such as Zurich, Manhattan, Moscow, Sydney and Shanghai.

The price performance of prime property markets favoured by the wealthy was far from uniform last year, the Wealth Report 2012 noted.

The gap in annual price growth between the top and bottom was 45 per cent, with prices in most cities either flat or falling.

Paradoxically, some of the largest price drops were in areas with the strongest economic growth.

"Emerging markets influenced performance far and wide, with wealth flows to the developed world's property hot spots driving growth in Miami, London and Vancouver," said the study.

"Meanwhile, price falls in some of Europe's luxury markets point to the ongoing impact of the global financial crisis; similar falls in Singapore, Sydney and Shanghai confirm the unravelling of price booms in Asia."

The report noted that there are many factors affecting global luxury property markets.

Against an ever-widening backdrop of influences, growing volatility and divergence in performance can be expected.

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Source: The Straits Times