Monaco remains the world’s most expensive luxury residential market
MONACO is still the most expensive luxury residential market in the world despite a 1.3per cent annual price decline in 2019, according to a report by Savills released last week.
The average price in the city- state fell 1.3per cent year- over- year to € 48,150 per square meter ( about $ 4,924 per square foot) last year. However, this small fall follows an 18.1per cent increase in 2018 as prices reached a high plateau, according to Savills.
Hong Kong ranks second with an average price of € 44,700 per square meter. Both Monaco and Hong Kong are constrained by available space and are bolstered by their global reputations, according to the report, entitled Spotlight on Monaco.
Luxury residential properties in New York, the third most expensive market in the world, cost nearly half as much as Monaco, with average price per square meter standing at
€ 24,300.
“Looking to the year ahead, while the economic impact of Covid- 19 is still largely unknown, the residential market in Monaco is well placed to weather the storm of any economic downturn,” Sophie Chick, head of Savills world research, said in the report.
Despite the uncertainty caused by the Covid- 19 pandemic, the real estate consultancy projects luxury prices in Monaco to remain flat or see a small increase this year, due to a lack of supply and stable demand, Ms. Chick said.
The number of sales in Monaco fell from 523 in 2018 to 462 last year, with sales of new builds falling 54 per cent due to a lack of supply. Monaco also ranks as the most expensive luxury rental market with an average rent of € 126 per square meter per month. This is about 60 per cent higher than New York, the second most expensive location in the Savills rental rankings, according to Mansion Global Daily.
FRESH concerns loomed large in the facility management sector last week, as current impact of the COVID- 19 pandemic has left big operators in doldrums with huge clients’ debt and unpaid salaries.
Experts said the coronavirus has further exposed government and public lack of recognition accorded the practice, which has left a big scare on operators who must ensure that services are maintained.
For instance, it is a practice in the profession that in every January, a budget for the facility management is made but with the COVID 19, it meant that there have to be extra budget to accommodate a kind of public washing basin which was not planned for, water supply that must be regular for washing of hands as well as the provision of sanitisers and other materials for disinfection of regularly exposed surfaces.
They stressed that facility managers have to be ingenious and see how they can cut cost without compromising standards and justify why they should use the materials.
Elucidating on the issue, former president of International Facility Management Association ( IFMA), Nigerian chapter, Stephen Jagun said one of the areas of core competence of facility management is emergency preparedness and business continuity.
With this, facility manager, he said, realized that there will always be emergencies and something that “you don’t budget for or foresee but must prepared about it incase it eventually happened to ensure busin e s s continuity without much damage.”
Unfortunately, Jagun said, the pandemic was a big surprise because it came in a dimension that people did not contemplate. According to him, it was not a one man thing, it affected government shutting down facilities, stressed the security and put so much pressure on health services, making health and safety a hot burner.
He regretted that facility managers are not often recognized but only noticed when things are bad. “Some times, we emphasis on statistics to show the impact of what we have done. For instance, when the government was talking about essential service providers, they never mentioned facility managers, but during the lockdown, facilities must run, and they are key.
“Because the government never thought about it, but when things go wrong the facility managers’ role are recognized,” he said.
Jagun said a lot of demands on facility managers, namely safety of occupiers and users of facilities is now paramount.
What it means that operators must ensure the safety of users of facilities and those who are visiting by ensuring that they go through those protocols that are not in place like taking their body temperature without them getting angry, and telling people who are used to occupying 10 people in a lift to reduce to four or six people in a lift while they see the surging crowd in the floor.
“The facility manager n e e d s to educate people that visit their facilities more on how to keep themselves safe and also keep the facility as hygienic as possible. “How to enforce no nose mask no entry, all the areas that are frequently touched how do you disinfest as regular as possible to ensure no transmission is in place.
He also said the pandemic has pushed further the use of technology as there are consideration of use of