London Homes The Most Expensive

Source : The Business Times, April 22, 2008

Survey puts Monaco and St Jean Cap Ferrat in France in 2nd and 3rd spots

(LONDON) London is the world's most expensive place in which to buy a home, followed by Monaco and St Jean Cap Ferrat in southern France, an annual global survey by real estate consultant Knight Frank LLP showed.

The average price of a property in the best locations of central London was US$6,191 a square foot, according to the firm's Prime International Residential Index, published yesterday. Monaco averaged US$5,888 a square foot and properties five miles west along the Mediterranean coast in St Jean Cap Ferrat cost US$5,853 a square foot, the London-based firm said.

Waning: The most expensive London houses and apartments rose 0.1 per cent in value last month, the smallest increase in four months

London benefited from its position as a global centre for finance while its nearest contenders are attractive as Mediterranean second-home 'hot spots', according to the survey compiled by Knight Frank and Citi Private Bank.

Growth in property values has been 'strongest in the main global financial centres and those with benign tax jurisdictions', Liam Bailey, Knight Frank's head of residential research, said in the note.

Average prime home prices in London increased 29 per cent last year, trailing the 31 per cent annual gain in Singapore and exceeding the 25 per cent increase for New York, Knight Frank's index showed.

Luxury-home prices in London may only rise 3 per cent this year as thousands of bankers and financial services workers in the UK capital lose their jobs in the wake of losses and writedowns from investments in sub-prime mortgages, Knight Frank estimates.

The most expensive London houses and apartments rose 0.1 per cent in value last month, the smallest increase in four months, Knight Frank said April 1. The gain of 20 per cent in the 12 months to March 31 was the smallest since June 2006, it said.

Average prime residential prices gained 11 per cent globally last year as the number of high-net-worth individuals, those with more than US$1 million of assets, increased by 4.5 per cent, Knight Frank said, citing a study it compiled with Scorpio Partnership.

UK house prices fell in April, led by London and the northwest of England, as the seizure in credit markets starved homebuyers of mortgages, Rightmove plc said yesterday.

The average asking price slipped 0.1 per cent from March to £239,521 (S$644,260), the first decline at this time of year since the survey started in 2002, Britain's most-used property website said in a statement yesterday. Prices in London fell 0.9 per cent. -- Bloomberg