According to the Knight Frank researchers who conducted and wrote the 68-page report, New York gained in respondents’ eyes as an attractive place to live in 2012 in part due to the fact that a number of “high quality new-build developments” came on line during the year.
“This contrasts with the dearth of [high-end housing] stock in the years after the financial crisis,” the report notes.
Other trends have come into play over the past year, including concerns over the possible collapse of the euro – although this has begun to dissipate recently – while worries about rising taxes on wealthy individuals have grown.
“This reaction was most keenly felt in France, where President Hollande’s wealth tax proposals caused more than a few potential buyers to reconsider”, the Knight Frank researchers point out.
That said, “while prices slipped in some French hotspots, the biggest impact was reducing trading volumes”, and the top end of the market “saw buyer interest shift to Monaco, the Italian Riviera and Switzerland”, they add.
The Wealth Report 2013 is compiled from surveys of some 15,000 individuals with assets of at least $30m, and reflects Knight Frank’s interest in staying on top of trends and attitudes in the key markets in which it operates.
Liam Bailey, global head of residential research for Knight Frank, says that the concentration of wealth for now remains in the established centres of North America and Europe, but adds that big changes in this distribution pattern are expected over the next 10 years.
“There is set to be rapid growth in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East,” he says.
“In the next decade, we will see the biggest increase in ultra-wealthy individuals in cities such as Sao Paulo, Beijing, and Mumbai.”
Other key findings in the report:
- The global number of HNWIs increased by almost 8,700, or 5%, in 2012
- Their number is set to increase by another 50% in the coming decade, according to expert forecasts prepared for the Wealth Report
- The fastest growth in wealth creation will be in Asia and Latin America over the next 10 years
- Jakarta and Bali recorded the greatest growth in the prices being paid for luxury property in 2012 of the 80 cities and jurisdictions surveyed
- Monaco remains the most expensive location in which to buy prime residential property; a luxury home there "can range in value from $5,350 to $5,920 per square foot", the Wealth Report’s researchers note
- Over the past 10 years, classic cars have enjoyed the biggest uplift in value in the category of collectible assets, which also includes fine wine and art
Knight Frank Wealth Report: Global Cities Survey – Top 25
1
New York
2
London
3
Paris
4
Tokyo
5
Hong Kong
6
Singapore
7
Sydney
8
Washington
9
Toronto
10
Zurich
11
Berlin
12
Brussels
13
Seoul
14
Boston
15
Beijing
16
Vancouver
17
Chicago
18
Vienna
19
Amsterdam
20
Los Angeles
21
Stockholm
22
Melbourne
23
Frankfurt
24
Shanghai
25
San Francisco
