Dubai Secures Top Position in the Global Luxury Home Price Index

Prices of luxury homes in Dubai surged by 48.8% in the 12 months to June.

Dubai maintained its top position in an index of prime global cities for recording the world’s highest growth in luxury property prices for the eighth consecutive quarter.

Prices of luxury homes in Dubai surged by 48.8 percent in the 12 months to June of this year, Knight Frank noted in its report ‘Prime Global Cities Index Q2 2023.’ Since reaching a pandemic low in Q3 2020, luxury home prices in Dubai have soared by 225 percent, it added.

Globally, average annual prices rose 1.5 percent across the 46 markets covered by the index in the 12-month period to June. The result marked an improvement on the prior quarter with 57 percent of cities seeing prices rise over the quarter.

The Prime Global Cities Index is a valuation-based index tracking the movement of prime residential prices across cities worldwide. The index tracks nominal prices in local currency.

By recording price growth of 26.2 percent and 19.9 percent, Tokyo and Manila secured the second and third spots respectively. Miami, Shanghai, Mumbai, Madrid, Nairobi, Lisbon, and Bangkok were other cities in the top 10.

Mumbai recorded the sixth-highest YoY growth in prices in Q2 2023. Incidentally, the city is forecasted to record the highest annual price at 5.0 percent on the Prime Global Cities Index for the year 2024. In Q2 2023, prime residential prices in Mumbai grew at 5.2 percent YoY. With an increase of 3.6 percent YoY in Q2 2023, Bengaluru ranked 20th and New Delhi positioned itself at 26th with an increase of 0.2 percent YoY.

“Global housing markets are still under pressure from the shift to higher interest rates - but the latest results from the Knight Frank Prime Global Cities Index confirm that prices are being supported by: strong underlying demand, weak supply following disruption to new-build projects during the pandemic, and an on-going return of workers to cities. As uncertainty over the direction of inflation appears to have reduced in recent months - price adjustments in many markets are likely to be less pronounced than was expected even three months ago.”

Liam Bailey, Knight Frank’s global head of research, said.

According to Knight Frank, 14 cities saw prices fall in the second quarter. Wellington was in the last spot on the ranking after a 15.1 percent drop in prices, the figures showed. Frankfurt, where prices were down 12.9 percent, and San Francisco, with an 11.1 percent drop, were also in the bottom three.

Other major cities that saw annual price declines in the third quarter include London (down 0.5 percent), Hong Kong (down 1.5 percent) Los Angeles (3.9 percent), and New York (down 4.5 percent).

Knight Frank has cited Mumbai and Auckland as leading the highest change in prime residential prices in 2024. Both cities are forecasted to experience an increase in prime residential prices by 5.0 percent in 2024. Improving GDP figures, the city’s relative value and investment in infrastructure will be the prime influencers in pushing prices higher for the luxury housing market of Mumbai. The average price for 26 global prime residential markets is expected to grow at 2.0 percent in 2024.

“Against the backdrop of sluggish global growth and worries about inflation that defined a significant portion of 2023, the Indian economy stood out as a remarkable achiever. While central banks in major developed economies around the world were announcing unprecedented policy rate hikes, the Indian economy, demonstrating stronger growth momentum and better control over inflation, managed to maintain stability in its policy interest rates over the last two quarters,”

said Shishir Baijal, CMD, Knight Frank India.

News Source: Khaleej Times