The world in motion: why global prime residential markets are diverging

The Wealth Report 2026 tells the story. Of the 100 markets tracked by Knight Frank’s Prime International Index (PIRI 100) for the past 20 years, 73 saw price increases in 2025. In a trend that began in early 2023, overall global luxury residential prices continued to outperform mainstream global house prices, rising by 3.2% last year. That figure however, hides marked regional variations across traditional prime benchmark cities, a result of factors including geopolitical forces, tax and economic policies, individual imbalances between supply and demand and an ever more mobile community of affluent buyers.

What does the resulting effect of these changes reveal about differing cross-border wealth flows in the world’s major cities?

Ultimately, says Alasdair Pritchard, Partner in Knight Frank’s Private Office team, the global premium today isn’t based just on geography but on friction-free, immediate luxury. “Across the global super-prime marketplace, we are witnessing a structural evolution, underpinned by a 3.2% average rise in luxury residential prices last year,” Pritchard outlines. “For today’s ultra-mobile elite, presence is rapidly replacing permanent residence, and that is fundamentally rewiring inventory and demand.” 

The Wealth Report highlights six key themes currently shaping global residential markets:

•  The rise of wealth creation. The increase in wealth, outpacing global GDP growth, keeps demand for luxury real estate insulated from the worst of current economic headwinds, most notably in recent volatility in debt costs. In prime central London for example, close to 50% of purchases are unleveraged.
• Tax and political rhetoric drive wealth migration. Discussions on potential wealth taxes in California and New York and the abolition of the non-dom regime in the UK for example.
• A highly mobile ‘dip-in and dip-out’ lifestyle adopted by the wealthy.
• Competition and connection between wealth hubs. Family offices mirror the wealthy they serve by operating across multiple global hubs. The post-pandemic boom seen in safe-haven Singapore has been slowed by high living costs and tighter regulation, to the benefit of Hong Kong.
• A scarcity of prime, move-in-ready luxury homes. This is a defining feature of global luxury markets from Miami to Sydney and works to underpin values, compress choice and reinforce the premium.
• The premium on boutique branded residences. As people move more freely and frequently around the world, demand increases for hassle-free living, turnkey luxury homes with curated amenities, excellent privacy and top-tier service that the best branded residences provide.

North America 

The availability of the highest-quality turnkey homes in New York is remarkably low, helping the city to defy fears of potential wealth and property taxes threatened by Mayor Mamdani. So while the city saw only a 0.8% price increase in 2025, the full story is more complex.

“In the US, New York is aggressively defying wealth tax rhetoric with the Upper East Side experiencing record-breaking transaction speeds, constrained only by a chronic shortage of top-tier, turnkey inventory,” Pritchard says. “Miami has firmly shed its resort-town reputation to become a bona fide wealth and tech hub. The city absorbed a massive US$3 billion in super-prime sales last year, with South Beach ultra-prime breaching the unprecedented US$5,000 per square foot threshold.”

Europe

Differing fiscal policies across Europe are seeing markets there diverge and many markets are currently in transition, with Italy in particular acting as a powerful tax-led magnet. The country’s €300,000 flat-tax regime has triggered deep supply shortages in Milan and is actively pushing capital into Rome and Lake Como.

In France, Paris remains firmly at the heart of the global ultra-mobile lifestyle, one of the continent’s most iconic wealth hubs, says Alison Ashby, Head of Prime Residential Paris for Knight Frank. 

“Despite a shifting political landscape and ongoing debates around wealth taxes, the Parisian luxury market is demonstrating remarkable resilience and attracting serious global capital,” she says. “On the residential front, prime property values held their ground, with American buyers a key factor in this steady performance.”

While Paris saw positive prime price growth of 1.3% in 2025, London saw values adjusted downwards by 4.7%, another example of how global prime markets no longer move in synch. Shifts in tax rules for wealthy residents are pushing budgets lower and encouraging some to consider renting rather than buying, but the capital is not emptying out says Pritchard: “It is transitioning into the ultimate ‘dip-in, dip-out’ city. We are seeing a distinct strategic pivot. Buyers are shifting away from massive trophy homes towards highly managed US$15 million turnkey boltholes, while super-prime rental values have surged 53% over the past five years to accommodate this ultimate flexibility.”

Asia-Pacific

In Asia-Pacific too, the average growth of 3.6% over 2025 reveals sharply diverging city markets when looked at through the comparative lens of the PIRI 100.

Values in Hong Kong slipped back in 2025, falling 2.1%, yet the city is seeing one of the strongest upticks in super-prime sales, coming second only to Dubai in 2025 for transactions of US$10 million+ in Q4, with a total of 81. 

“Momentum is being driven by a resurgent IPO market, inflows of mainland China wealth, the introduction of a new talent visa scheme and a deliberate push to reduce friction for family offices,” says Ho-Pin Tung, Knight Frank’s Head of Private Office based in Hong Kong. “This has created a genuine buyer’s market, a capital-growth opportunity where informed advice and on-the-ground intelligence are critical.”

In a position it has maintained since 2020, Hong Kong continues to dominate the PIRI price tracker, second only to Monaco in this annual ranking of how many square metres of luxury accommodation US$1 million buys around the world. Singapore meanwhile has improved its 2020 position, moving up from 5th to 4th place in the tracker.

As The Wealth Report 2026 shows, the city-state continues to set price records with transactions regularly exceeding US$6,000 per square foot. The 60% Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty that impacts most foreign buyers, which was doubled from 30% in 2023, continues to constrain volumes, and helped the city register 7.9% price growth last year.

The future of global movement

The steep growth in numbers of the global wealthy was a standout finding from The Wealth Report 2026. Editor Liam Bailey reported that every day over the coming five years, 129 people are expected to see their wealth portfolio cross the US$30 million threshold to join the ranks of the world’s ultra-high-net-worth individuals.

Against that backdrop, familiar factors such as tax, risk and lifestyle are actively reshaping long-established global wealth hubs while also emphasising the growing differences in performance between them.