LONDON is the world's most expensive place in which to buy a home, followed by Monaco and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat in southern France, an annual global survey by real estate consultant Knight Frank LLP has revealed.
The average price of a property in the best locations of central London was US$6,191 a square foot, according to the firm's Prime International Residential Index, published yesterday. Monaco averaged US$5,888 a square foot and properties 5 miles west along the Mediterranean coast in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat cost US$5,853 a square foot, the London-based firm said.
London benefited from its position as a global center for finance while its nearest contenders were attractive as Mediterranean second-home "hot spots," according to the survey compiled by Knight Frank and Citi Private Bank.
Growth in property values had been "strongest in the main global financial centers and those with benign tax jurisdictions," Liam Bailey, Knight Frank's head of residential research, said.
Average prime home prices in London increased 29 percent last year, trailing the 31-percent annual gain in Singapore and exceeding the 25-percent increase for New York, Knight Frank's index showed.
UK house prices fell in April, led by London and the northwest of England, as the seizure in credit markets starved home buyers of mortgages, Rightmove Plc told Bloomberg News yesterday.
Moscow and St Petersburg were among the five locations registering the fastest growth for prime residential property, reflecting Russia's position as home to some 100 billionaires, the second-largest collection after the US, according to Forbes magazine.
Surging commodity and property prices increased the wealth of Russia's "Golden Hundred" to US$522 billion, or more than one-third of the country's economy, from US$338 billion in March 2007, the Russian edition of Forbes magazine said last week.
Oleg Deripaska topped the ranking with US$28.6 billion, ending Roman Abramovich's three-year reign as Russia's richest man. Deripaska, 40, controls United Co Rusal, the world's biggest aluminum company.
Average prime residential prices rose 38 percent in St Petersburg to US$1,937 a square foot and in Moscow by 35 percent to US$2,235 a square foot, Knight Frank said.