The Philippines capital of Manila bypassed Dubai to earn the title of the world’s fastest-appreciating luxury real estate market in latest edition of Knight Frank’s Wealth Report.
Manila recorded annual price gains of 26.3% across its high-end market during 2023, the highest level of activity among the 100 markets analyzed in the data report by the London-headquartered real estate firm and property consultant. Dubai, which held the number one ranking in 2022, recorded a price growth of 16% slightly ahead of the Bahamas at 15% last year. Rounding out the top five markets were the Algarve region of Portugal and Cape Town, South Africa, which tied with a 12.3% price spike in their luxury residential markets.
Across the 100 markets analyzed by Knight Frank, overall luxury prices rose on average by 3.1% in 2023. The Asia-Pacific region recorded the highest luxury price gains at 3.8%, slightly ahead of the Americas at 3.6%.
“At the start of 2023, economists were expecting a much weaker outcome across global residential property markets,” Kate Everett-Allen, head of international residential and country research at Knight Frank, said in the report. “Stock markets were heading for more pain, inflation was veering out of control, and the pandemic-fueled property boom was set to end in tears as borrowing costs hit 15-year highs in some markets. However, that never happened – we’ve seen a much softer landing in terms of price performance around the world.”
Looking ahead to 2024, Knight Frank is predicting Auckland, New Zealand, to become the world’s leading luxury residential market with a projected price growth of 10%, followed by Mumbai (5.5%), Dubai (5%), Madrid (5%), Sydney (5%) and Stockholm (4.5%).