_Five Australian cities rank in the top 30 in the world for luxury residential price growth

The Knight Frank Prime Global Cities Index – Q3 2019, which tracks the movement in prime residential prices (the top 5% of the housing market in most cities, by value) across 45 cities worldwide, revealed Sydney was ranked 17 for luxury price growth, followed by Melbourne (21), Brisbane (22), the Gold Coast (26) and Perth (30).

Sydney improved it’s global ranking, and remains in the top spot for Australia, while Melbourne maintained its ranking from the previous quarter.

The Gold Coast, which was included in the Prime Global Cities Index for the first time in Q2 2019, moved up the rankings to 26. 

The Prime Global Cities Index – Q3 2019 found four Australian cities – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Gold Coast – all recorded growth in luxury residential prices higher than the overall average annual prime price growth of 1.1% across the 45 global cities in the 12 months leading up to the end of September this year. 

Knight Frank’s Head of Residential Research Australia Michelle Ciesielski said: “Whilst the Australian mainstream residential markets were progressively being corrected by tightened lending measures, the prime property market continued to experience positive growth given the prestige end of the market was less impacted by funding restrictions throughout this time. In fact, the major east coast cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast have now recorded 25 quarters, or more, of positive annual growth.

Growth in prime property prices closely follows the performance on the stock exchange – and there have been some significant gains made on the Australian sharemarket in 2019. Collectively the Australian prime market has continued to see sustainable growth of 2% in the year ending September 2019, whilst the sharemarket recorded a 7.7% return. With equities on an upward growth trajectory, its likely this will follow through to further growth in prime property prices.”

The Prime Global Cities Index increased by 1.1% in the year to September 2019, down from 3.4% in 2018, with slower prime price growth attributable to mounting economic headwinds. 

Knight Frank’s Head of Prestige Residential Deborah Cullen said: “Currently we are seeing the top end of the market show more consideration and time in transacting. There is still strong interest from local and expat buyers for blue ribbon areas and for “best in class” assets, in particular the waterfront areas of Sydney.”

The Knight Frank Prime Global Cities Index Q3 2019 found Moscow was the city with the strongest rate of annual price growth globally, recording a 11% 12-month increase. This was followed by Frankfurt (10.3%), Taipei (8.9%), Manila (7.4%) and Berlin (6.5%).

Definition of terms:

Prime Property – The most desirable and most expensive property in a given location, generally defined as the top 5% of each market, by value. Prime markets often have a significant international bias in terms of buyer profile.

For further information, please contact:

Michelle Ciesielski – Head of Residential Research Australia, Knight Frank

Michelle.Ciesielski@au.knightfrank.com +61 414 694 220

Deborah Cullen – Partner, Head of Prime Residential NSW, Knight Frank

Deborah.Cullen@au.knightfrank.com +61 401 849 955

Philippa Giles – Associate Director, PR & Communications, Knight Frank 

Philippa.Giles@au.knightfrank.com +61 402 828 434