The Asian city-state has the most expensive prime residential prices in the world, reflecting the global pressures on such places. London and NYC came second and third place.

Hong Kong remains the most expensive residential city in the world, ahead of London and New York, respectively, as their status as global cities continues to command high property prices.

An average prime price was $4,251 per sq ft ($45,760 per sq m) in 2018, according to Knight Frank, the property consultancy. 

Within the averages of figures produced by the firm, there are some important caveats, however. Knight Frank noticed that when seen over a five-year period, figures show that average prices had continued to rise since 2014, but the top price ever achieved in Hong Kong was back in 2016 when a home on The Peak sold for $28,154 per sq ft (US$303,051 per sq m) - a total of $38.3 million. 

Since then, the top price for a home in Hong Kong has dropped by 16 per cent.

London and New York average prime prices stand at $3,022 and $2,989 per sq ft, respectively. 

What is “surprising”, Knight Frank said, about the London market, however, is that in spite of prime prices falling by 7 per cent between 2015 and 2017, a record sale of $15,184 per sq ft ($163,440 per sq m) was achieved in 2017 - 35 per cent above the top price ever achieved in New York back in 2015.

“Back in 2011, I made a somewhat controversial prediction that the top of the prime London residential market would see sales reach £10,000 per sq ft within a decade. A single sale in 2017 at well above £11,000 per sq ft justified my optimism,” Liam Bailey, global head of research at Knight Frank, said. 

“The impetus behind my exuberant forecast was research from The [Knight Frank] Wealth Report. Year-on-year, it was becoming increasingly clear just how much the growth of globalised wealth was shaping global property markets and propelling demand for the very best assets at new levels,” Bailey continued.

Dubai
Dubai is the most “affordable market” of those analysed with an average price of $625 per sq ft ($6,729 per sq m), the study said, just 15 per cent of the average price in Hong Kong. It has, nevertheless, seen some of the highest price premiums. In 2014, at the peak of the market, one sale achieved $3,976 per sq ft ($42,796 per sq m), the fourth highest price achieved in any one location that year. 

Singapore
Singapore has seen its highest achieved price remain relatively stable year-on-year, while the average prime price appreciated by 17 per cent between 2014 and 2018. However, with many Singaporeans living in public housing the market for private homes is smaller, and with lower levels of demand come fewer high premiums.

Across the 10 cities surveyed, the differential between the average and top price achieved is just under 200 per cent. Over the last five years, the gap has been largest in Hong Kong, a difference of 624 per cent in 2016. However, uplifts of a similar magnitude were echoed in Dubai in 2014 and Miami in 2015.

The uplift is lowest in Paris and Singapore, with five-year averages of 30 per cent and 39 per cent respectively. This may reflect the fact that these cities sit in the middle of the price spectrum while the most dramatic uplifts are typically seen at the far ends – in those cities with the lowest or highest prices, Knight Frank added.