Leading the way in luxury real estate

THE Gold Coast is officially the luxury real estate capital of Australia, according to new figures ranking premium property growth in cities around the world.

The Gold Coast has also bucked the trend worldwide by recording positive growth over the COVID-19 pandemic period.

Knight Frank’s Prime Global Cities Index Q2 2020 tracks movement in prime residential prices in local currency across 45 cities worldwide.

Five Australian cities – the Gold Coast, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne – were ranked in the top 24, with the Gold Coast coming in at number 10.

The Gold Coast was the strongest performing city in Australia, recording annual price growth of 3.4 per cent followed by Sydney and Perth (3.0 per cent), Brisbane (2.5 per cent) and Melbourne (1.2 per cent).

Over the past quarter, the Gold Coast’s luxury property market recorded positive growth of 1.2 per cent, tracking ahead of Brisbane and Sydney with 0.3 per cent.

Knight Frank National Head of Residential Shayne Harris said demand for luxury property was likely to continue, with cashed-up individuals wanting more spacious homes. “During the pandemic we’ve seen the ultra-wealthy make their next residential property purchase decisions based on liveability, so places like southeast Queensland will become more attractive in a post-COVID world,” he said.

“It is unlikely we will see significant volumes of distressed prime sales as we saw in 2008, during the global financial crisis.”

Manila was the world’s top performing city, with annual luxury residential price growth of 14.4 per cent.