Price hikes of prime properties in Singapore rally to world's highest in Q3

Prime prices grew 13% in just a year, surpassing rates in Edinburgh and Madrid.

The growth of prime prices in Singapore hit 13% in just a year, marking the highest rate around the world’s luxury property markets, Knight Frank revealed.

According to a report, the steep price hikes were driven by the limited availability of prime properties and a strong market outlook in the first half of 2018. This also resulted in Hong Kong and Singapore trading places in the rankings.

Both cities saw cooling measures introduced over the summer months and, although the rate of annual price growth in Hong Kong has already slowed to 5.5%, Singapore may not be far behind with its quarterly growth weakening to 1.7% in the third quarter of 2018, Knight Frank said. 

Singapore also surpassed cities like Edinburgh (10.6% growth), Madrid (10.1%), and San Francisco (9.5%). Other high-ranking cities in Asia include Tokyo at fifth place with 8.5% YoY growth, Guangzhou at 10th place with 6.3% YoY growth, and Beijing at 16th place with 5.1% growth.

Meanwhile, the price of a luxury property jumped 2.7% on average across the 43 cities tracked by Knight Frank. “This represents the index’s weakest performance in annual terms for almost six years,” said Kate Everett-Allen, head of Knight Frank’s International Residential Research.