London tops current ranking of Europe’s most exclusive places to live

• Highest priced residential roads in Germany remain in lower part of the list

The most expensive residential addresses in Europe are currently to be found in London. The subsequent places in the ranking list are occupied by exclusive locations in famous holiday resorts and second home markets on the Côte d’Azur, on Sardinia and in Switzerland. These are followed by addresses in Paris, on Sylt, in Vienna, in Moscow and on Ma-jorca, among others. This is according to the annual ranking of Europe’s most exclusive residential addresses, which Engel & Völkers has just published. This list is based on residential real estate brokered by Engel & Völkers or registered on the market over the course of 2013.

The highest priced sale of a residential property registered by Engel & Völkers is a pent-house next to Hyde Park in London, brokered for around €162m, which is equivalent to more than €150,000 per square metre.

Particularly exclusive residential roads are also to be found along the Côte d’Azur. Very high up the ranking list once again, in second place this year, is Monaco. Prices of as much as €100,000 per square metre have been reached here for residential property on the Avenue d’Ostende overlooking the marina.

In third place is Sardinia, where there were no transactions over the past year in the most expensive locations such as the Romazzino Bay due to a distinct shortage of supply. Very nearby however, in the bay of Cala di Volpe, prices of up to €95,000 per square metre were reached in a very small number of sales.

“Exclusive residential properties continue to be a rare commodity in Europe’s most desirable locations. In all cases we have registered the highest prices where this extreme scarcity of available offers is met with an enormous international demand,” said Christian Völkers, CEO of Engel & Völkers AG. This is not set to change at any time in the future either, as increasing numbers of people – above all buyers from Eastern Europe, Asia and South America who have accumulated new wealth – are looking for high-end residences in Europe as secure capital investments.

Property prices have risen sharply over recent years at the prime residential addresses on the peninsula of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat (75,000/sqm) and along the famous Croisette in Cannes (70,000/sqm). St Tropez has also secured itself a high place in the current ranking list. Prices per square metre of up to €50,000 are being reached here in the sought-after locations set above the city with views overlooking the Mediterranean and stretching as far as the Alps. These prices position the French Riviera in fourth place in the pan-European ranking list.

The high prices reached in Switzerland over recent years were reaffirmed once again in 2013. The ski resort of St Moritz comes in fifth place on the European ranking list and remains in pole position compared to other locations within Switzerland. The highest prices were reached for top-end homes on the Suvretta hill (65,000 per sqm). This is followed by Gstaad where prices per square metre of as much as 50,000 euros are commanded in hill-side locations in Oberbort. The high level of international demand is also evident in the city of Geneva. Top prices here match the price highs in Gstaad, placing Geneva in joint sixth place with the ski resort.

In seventh place in the European ranking list is Paris. Apartments on the Avenue Montaigne are particularly desirable, with top prices of up to €40,000 per square metre.

The most expensive addresses in Germany remain on the North Sea island of Sylt. Streets such as the Hobookenweg in a sought-after part of Kampen overlooking the sea are ranked in eighth place with prices of as much as €35,000 per square metre.

High prices are also being registered in Vienna, which comes in ninth place. The highest priced homes here are located on Tuchlauben, right in the centre of the 1st District, where up to €30,000 per square metre was reached in 2013 for very exclusive penthouses.

A new entry to the ranking list in ninth place is Moscow with its finest residential address Kropotkinskaya. The area is located in the centre of the city close to the Kremlin and the Moskva River. On the most exclusive roads Ostozhenka and Prechistenka, which are called the ‘golden mile’, prices per square metre were equivalent to as much as €28,000 in 2013.

The popular holiday island of Majorca also witnessed rising prices in its exclusive locations in 2013 and comes in 11th place in the ranking list. On Calle Castanyetes in Port d‘Andratx, prices of up to €27,000 per square metre were paid.

This is followed in the ranking list by the Müllerstrasse in Munich and Appelzakstraat in the Belgian holiday resort of Knokke-Heist, both of which come in 12th place (€25,000 per sqm).

The high prices (€22,900 per sqm) at the limited number of lakeside locations on Seeufer-strasse and Südliche Seestrasse secure 13th place in the European ranking list for Lake Starnberg.

The so-called Gold Coast in the Swiss financial centre of Zurich occupies 14th place with prices per square metre of as much as €21,500. Velden and Lech in Austria and the Italian city of Milan follow in 15th place (at €20,000 per sqm respectively).

Hamburg, Madrid, Berlin, Brussels, Zürs, Kitzbühel, Barcelona and Salzburg make the final section of the list in places 16 to 19. Prices reached here in the previous year in prime locations such as the Outer Alster Lake (Harvestehuder Weg) in Hamburg and the Werder-scher Markt in the centre of Berlin were achieved once again in 2013. Salzburg, Kitzbühel and Zürs are represented for the first time in the ranking list of Europe’s most exclusive residential locations.

Not every property in prime locations is sold for the highest prices quoted in the ranking list. The analysis carried out by Engel & Völkers focuses on exceptional addresses and homes that meet the highest standards in terms of location, fittings and comfort. Only a small proportion of property transactions in the respective locations actually reach the price highs featured in this ranking list. Due to the fact that properties only come up for sale extremely rarely in this very exclusive end of the market, these top prices cannot be repeated or exceeded every year due to the small actual number of transactions taking place.