Hong Kong maintains its position as the world’s most expensive residential city, while Bangkok is ranked at 33rd out of 35 global cities surveyed, according to the latest research by CBRE.

In the fifth annual Global Living Report, CBRE profiles the property markets across 35 key global cities. The results highlight that investments in urban areas such as transport infrastructure, connectivity, retail, cultural centres and housing are key drivers of economic growth.

Jennet Siebrits, Head of Residential Research at CBRE UK, comments, “In the fifth edition of the ‘Global Living’ report, we have expanded the number of cities we examine from 29 to 35. They include the most exciting cities in the world, from emerging technology-driven powerhouses like Shenzhen and Bangkok through more traditional capital cities such as Rome and Lisbon, to rapidly evolving modern urban centres like Dubai and Johannesburg.”

“The world’s greatest cities continue to transform to encourage innovation, increase their working and living populations and create new commercial opportunities for businesses.”

Global Living: Top 10 Most Expensive Housing Markets

Source: CBRE Research

The top three most expensive places to buy a residential property are once again in Asia. Hong Kong remains the city with the highest value residential real estate, with an average property costing THB 39.52 million (USD 1.235 million). Singapore remains in second place, averaging THB 27.97 million (USD 874,372), and Shanghai is third at THB 27.92 million (USD 872,555). As observed in last year’s report, all these cities have introduced cooling measures to keep prices under control.

Bangkok stands at the 33rd position with an average residential property price at THB 3.4 million (USD 106,383), followed by Ho Chi Min City at THB 3.29 million (USD 103,057) and Istanbul at the bottom of THB 3.11 million (USD 97,396).

The biggest year-on-year growth was experienced in double-digits by Barcelona (16.9%), Dublin (11.6%), Shanghai (11.2%) and Madrid (10.2%). London remains one of the top ten performing global cities, with the average property price of THB 20.7 million (USD 646,973) although growth was down to 1.1%.

“House prices increased year-on-year across 30 out of the 35 cities we looked at, although generally at lower rates than previously. In general, CBRE is seeing house price growth slow across our cities as we move towards the end of a long property cycle. We would expect increasing interest rates to be affecting cities in the US, and various cooling measures affecting the Asia Pacific region, although Shanghai still saw robust growth.”

“Six out of the ten cities with the highest house price growth are in Europe. Three of these, Barcelona, Madrid, and Dublin, all suffered severe price falls in prices during the financial crisis and took much longer to recover from the economic downturn that followed. Now they are recovering they are showing significant growth. In comparison, London recovered much faster after the downturn and is now further into the cycle,” added Ms. Siebrits.

The research also highlights considerable rental growth in many European cities, including Lisbon (20.9%), Madrid (11.1%), Dublin (7.8%) and Barcelona (7.7%). Supply constraints and increasing demand were among the factors leading to Lisbon and Madrid’s continuing double digit rental growth.

“Six European cities feature in the top ten for rental growth, including London (6.1%). These cities are all facing increasing demand and a fundamental lack of supply. In addition, three Canadian cities feature in the top ten – Vancouver (6.8%), Toronto (4.8%) and Montreal (3.9%) - driven by strong employment growth and low vacancy rates,” concluded Ms. Siebrits.

Click here to see the CBRE Global Living Report 2019

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