Vancouver prime residential market growth leads global markets in 2015

KUALA LUMPUR (March 21): Vancouver’s prime residential property market’s average price growth in 2015 was 24.5%, the highest in the world, according to international real estate consultancy Knight Frank.

According to Knight Frank’s recently-released “The Wealth Report 2016”, Vancouver leads the ranking of the prime international residential index 100 (PIRI 100).

PIRI 100 covers 100 cities around the world, reflecting annual price change to December 2015. The price changes relate to local currency and reflect nominal change.

Vancouver’s strong gains in prime residential values was due to lack of supply and more foreign demand, due to the weaker Canadian dollar.

“Antipodean markets also performed strongly. Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland all recorded double-digit annual price growth, up 15%, 12% and 10%, respectively,” the report said.

Munich, Amsterdam, Monaco and Berlin are Europe’s standout performers, recording price growth of 12%, 10%, 10% and 9%, respectively.

“Meanwhile, the prime central London market remained in positive territory during the year despite the raft of new property taxes, many of which were aimed at foreign buyers, being introduced,” said the report.

“Despite areas of growth, the world’s emerging markets are not the shining beacons they were two to three years ago,” it noted.

Kuala Lumpur saw the average prices of prime properties drop by 0.9%.

Regional neighbours such as Singapore slipped by 2.1% on sustained cooling measures while Bangkok and Jakarta rose by 6.3% and 5.1%.

“The relaxation of cooling measures in some Chinese cities has had an immediate impact on performance, with luxury prices in Shanghai ending 2015 14% higher. Given price falls in Singapore and Hong Kong (-3.6%), it will be interesting to see if policymakers in these markets follow suit and loosen their grip on cooling measures,” it said.

Thirty four out of 100 locations in PIRI 100 slipped in 2015, while Buenos Aires, Argentina and Lagos, Nigeria are located at the foot of the PIRI 100 list due to the US Federal Reserve’s recent rate rise, resulting in a strong dollar and the collapse in commodity prices.

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