Foreign buyers ploughed millions of dollars into Auckland’s high-end homes last year, making it the world’s hottest luxury market. Strong international and domestic demand helped the New Zealand city leapfrog Toronto to take the top spot in Christie’s International Real Estate’s annual ranking of the world’s hottest luxury housing markets. It recorded a 63% increase in million dollar-plus sales last year thanks to strong international and local demand, compared with a 48% rise in Toronto, leaving the Canadian city in second place.
MORE: Home Sales Heat Up on the New Zealand Coastline Toronto was followed by the waterfront city of Victoria in British Columbia and Valencia, Spain. In particular, buyers are attracted to the latter because of the country’s “Golden Visa” program. Portland and Stockholm were also in the top 10 on the back of an influx of affluent tech buyers. In contrast, sales volumes for prime property in markets such as New York, Hong Kong and London either plateaued or returned to single digits in late 2015 and into 2016 despite several outlier top sales. “The combination of high-volume and record-breaking prices were unsustainable at peak levels. There needed to be a slowdown in these key markets and that is what began to occur in the middle of 2015 and into 2016,” said Dan Conn, chief executive of Christie’s International Real Estate. “This is what we call a ‘return to realism’ year. Beyond that we observed 2015 and 2016 to date as the age of the underdog, with less prominent markets performing extremely well.”
MORE: Home Prices in Auckland Outrank London Nevertheless, London retained its position as the most luxurious property market worldwide, with more luxury listings than any other city last year, as well as being home to the world’s second most expensive residential sale at $141 million. It was followed by Hong Kong, New York and Los Angeles. The report also found that there were big differences in the definition of luxury, with homes in Palm Springs, Calif., still defining luxury as $1 million and higher, but areas such as Monaco now defining luxury as starting at $10 million.
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