Knight Frank, the global real estate firm, brings out its first-quarter rankings for luxury residential property performance in 35 cities.

An index tracking luxury residential prices in the first quarter of this year in 35 cities shows that there were two Asian cities and three North American cities in the top five, while Singapore came at the bottom of the rankings. Zurich, Geneva and New York also languished near the bottom.

Knight Frank’s Prime Global Cities Index showed a mixed picture with previous strong performers such as London slipping back whilst cities such as San Francisco, Vancouver and Sydney climbed the rankings.

“If we were to omit cities in North America and Australia, the index would have recorded growth of 2.3 per cent instead of 3.9 per cent in the year,” Kate Everett-Allen, partner, residential research at Knight Frank, said in the report.

Luxury properties are, on average, 46 per cent more expensive than in the second quarter of 2009, when the index hit its financial crisis low. European luxury homes have, on average, been the weakest performers globally over the last year. Meanwhile, some eight cities, including London, Dubai and Hong Kong, have outperformed the index over the same period.

The report noted that despite its cooling measures, Hong Kong reported an upturn in annual price growth, as tighter mortgage restrictions targeted properties below HK$7 million ($0.9 million), shifting the focus of some investors from mainstream to luxury residential properties.

San Francisco, Miami and Vancouver recorded annual growth of 14.3 per cent, 12.2 per cent and 11.8 per cent respectively. The report showed wide regional disparities: on average, prime prices in North America and Australia increased by 8.4 per cent and 7.3 per cent respectively in the year to March, while Europe’s cities saw prices slip by 0.2 per cent on average.

Bengaluru, in India, came second behind San Francisco, at 13.6 per cent. 

Jakarta, in Indonesia, posted annual price growth of 11.2 per cent; Tel Aviv, in Israel, was up 10.2 per cent; Tokyo rose 8.1 per cent; Dublin was up 8.0 per cent; Los Angeles also rose 8 per cent and Sydney rose 10 per cent. Further down the rankings, in 14th place, Hong Kong rose 5.5 per cent. At 17th, London was up 3.3 per cent.