When looking for a real estate investment, people generally prefer prime locations with friendly neighborhood. If money is not a constraint factor for you, the top property indexes in costliest real estate markets such as US and international, can be an investment consideration.
Consulting firm Webster Pacific partnered with New World Wealth (market research firm that focuses on wealth data) to bring you top 10 US cities/towns with costliest real estate markets:
- New York City – $ 34,000
- Pebble Beach, Monterey – $21,000
- Los Angeles – $14,000
- San Francisco – $14,000
- Miami- $14,000
- Palm Beach – $12,000
- The Hamptons – $11,000
- Las Vegas – 10,000
- Lake Tahoe – $10,000
- Aspen – $910
Expanding your search horizons beyond US, here are “Top 20 worldwide residential markets ranked by the dollar rate per-square-meter.”
- Monaco- $49,000
- New York City- $34,000
- London- $33,000
- St Tropez-$32,000
- St Jean Cap Ferrat- $31,000
- Hong Kong-$28,000
- Geneva- $26,000
- Sydney-$25,000
- Lake Como-$21,000
- Porto Cervo- $21,000
- Pebble Beach, Monterey-$21,000
- Zurich-$20,000
- Singapore-$19,000
- Paris-$18,000
- Nice-$18,000
- Tokyo-$17,000
- Melbourne-$16,000
- Los Angeles-$14,000
- San Francisco-$14,000
- Miami: $14,000
The list is based on 4 factors of analysis. Any real estate purchase decision is made keeping in mind these key indicators. Compiling the total and average purchase values in the cities, the transactional index forms the first source of reference.
The average sales index is the second basis, compiled by major banks. However, the factor can vary by “big sales (i.e. the sale of a mansion) during a particular month or quarter,” according to the firms, hence the need for other metrics, including repeat sales (which are hard to track over short periods), and square meter price growth is essential.
The last factor, mentioned by firms is “focusing on sales in certain apartment complexes to get an idea on how square meter prices are changing. This does not require a large sample. Normally for an area such as New York, tracking 3 to 4 prime apartment blocks can give one a very good indication of price movements. The only limitation of these indices is that they only work well on apartments as houses normally have gardens and additional land which is difficult to value on a square meter basis.”
Predictably, these top locations are spots to ground-breaking real estate markets, like London, New York, etc. The acquisition of these eminent locations by world’s renowned hotels and residences, has also risen.