Global Luxury Property Review is a monthly report compiled for Butterfly Residential.

1. Global Luxury Property Review
April 2013
Luxury property market driven by
scarcity and foreign buyers
Limited inventory, strong
international buyer demand, and
high net worth individual’s
increased appreciation for world
class lifestyle offerings have pushed
prices for luxury homes toward
historic highs, a new study shows.
The research from Christie’s
International Real Estate compares
the world’s top property markets
including London, New York, Hong Kong, Paris, San Francisco, the Cote d’Azur,
Toronto, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Miami, to produce the firm’s first global indicator
for luxury residential real estate.
The Index ranks markets across key metrics including record sales price, prices per
square foot, percentage of non-local and international purchasers, and the number of
luxury listings relative to population.
It shows that globally, top tier property sales achieved record prices in several cities,
remaining immune to many of the economic concerns that drive the general housing
market and that HNWIs are often more inclined to invest in an important global
market than in another city within their home country for second or additional homes.
1|Page

2. It found that prestige residential real estate values will more likely follow growth
trends of non consumable luxury goods such as fine art more so than the growth
trends of the general housing market.
It also shows that cash transactions have dominated luxury property acquisitions
across many cities but recent tax law changes in many of these markets are expected to
negatively impact on market activity in 2013.
‘With financial markets providing a limited return on investment, high net worth
individuals are recognising the intrinsic value of investing in non-consumable assets
such as prestige real estate and fine art,’ said Bonnie Stone Sellers, chief executive
officer of Christie’s International Real Estate.
‘Strong momentum in the luxury property market is also being driven by scarcity of
quality inventory and demand from international buyers in many of the world’s top
destinations,’ she added.
London topped the index for the highest home sale price at $121 million followed by
New York at $88 million the Côte d’Azur recorded the highest percentage of both
secondary home buyers, 95%, and international and non-local buyers, 90%.
‘Ultra high net worth individuals with significant cash on hand, such as many of our
Russian clients, are not afraid to invest in Côte d’Azur real estate despite recent market
volatility,’ said Niki Van Eijk of Christie’s International Real Estate affiliate Michaël
Zingraf Real Estate in Cannes.
‘These multi millionaires and billionaires are still keen to purchase property in the area
for leisure purposes. They do not purchase these homes in order to flip their
investments, rather they may purchase a spectacular home in Cannes or Cap Ferrat to
enjoy the region’s wealth of available cultural and leisure pursuits,’ explained Van Eijk.
Toronto’s real estate market, which has remained buoyant in recent years of global
turmoil, recorded the lowest amount of days on the market for luxury listings at 46
days. However, the report says that this trend began to reverse in the second half of
2012 and the number of days on market is expected to lengthen in 2013 as a result of
the implementation of new restrictions on mortgage financing intended to cool the
housing market.
Part of the success of the Miami market in 2012 was fuelled by South American buyers
concerned with their own local economic conditions. ‘International buyers, in
particular have been purchasing Miami property as a result of uncertainty in their
currencies, which have often been devalued against the US dollar,’ said Ron Shuffield
of Esslinger Wooten Maxwell Realtors, the Christie’s International Real Estate affiliate
in that city.
Source: PropertyWire
2|Page

3. Billionaires property buying spree
Global billionaire activity in world real estate markets has been so intense over the last
seven years that it has led to a doubling of property values in this sector, says
international real estate adviser Savills, in its latest World Cities Review.
Although overall, aggregated world values did fall somewhat after 2007 and price
movements seem relatively volatile, recovery has been significant since 2009 so
billionaire markets have exceeded the growth seen in mainstream markets of the same
world cities.
It has been rising commodity prices and the creation of new, ultra-rich classes in China
and Asia that has precipitated the highest growth in ultra-prime real estate values.
Singapore and Mumbai stand out as having seen the highest growth in ultra-prime
values since 2005 (at 232% and 176% respectively). Both grew from a relatively low
base while the highest overall values are seen in Hong Kong.
Cities in newly emerged economies have significantly outperformed those in the ‘old
world’ economies of the US, Japan, Australia and Europe. Only London’s ultra prime
market stands out among the ‘Old World’ cities as having shown significant growth
since 2005, totalling 107%. New York’s billionaire real estate stands only 47% higher
and Tokyo ultra-prime residential is only 8% more expensive (in local currency) than it
was in 2005.
Source: Savills
Other luxury property news:
London luxury price rally to slow down, Grosvenor
Grosvenor Group Ltd., the real estate company owned by the Duke of Westminster’s
family trusts, said it’s looking to buy rental properties for middle-income tenants as
London’s five-year luxury-home boom may be ending.
Grosvenor will target rental-home purchases because the value of luxury properties
may climb at a slower rate, Chief Executive Officer Mark Preston said in a telephone
interview today. The London-based company may partner with pension funds in the
investments, he told Bloomberg Businessweek.
Source: Bloomberg
3|Page

4. Strong luxury home sales Q1 of 2013 for Las Vegas
Kenneth Lowman of Luxury Homes of Las Vegas reported strong luxury home sales in
the first quarter of 2013 for Las Vegas and Henderson, Nevada. There were a total of 54
luxury homes sold at or over $1 million in the first quarter of this year. This compares
to just 33 luxury homes sold in the first quarter of 2012. Just five of the fifty-four sales
were distressed or bank owned sales, just under 10% of the total.
Source: SFGate.com
Dubai luxury property up 9%
Real estate experts Cluttons has said average prices for high-end villas in Dubai are up
by nearly 9% over the past six months.
Cluttons said luxury villa prices have increased on average by 8.9 percent between Q3
2012 and Q1 2013, while mid-range villas have experienced gains of 14.9 percent over
the same period.
Source: ArabianBusiness.com
UK residential property prices up 1.9%
Residential property prices in the UK increased by 1.9% in the 12 months to the end of
February 2013, the latest data from the Office of National Statistics shows.
Source: PropertyWire
More searching for overseas property location, report
More than half (51%) of overseas property locations saw an increase in search activity
in March 2013, according to the latest monthly report from Rightmove Overseas. With
notable increases in search activity seen for Cyprus, Madeira and Turkey.
4|Page

5. Property Spotlight
Luxury Villa in La Moraleja, Madrid
M agnificent and unique, this is outstanding, luxurious family home situated in La Moraleja, Madrid, is providing
elegant and spacious accommodation – perfect for today’s family lifestyle and entertaining.
La Moraleja is the Madrileño version of Beverly Hills, a tranquil and spacious oasis of luxury villas with private
gardens. Its residents include the internationally rich and famous, film stars, impresarios, politicians and top company
directors.
For further information about this property, the price and more photographs of this stunning Luxury Villa in La
Moraleja, Madrid visit the Butterfly Residential website here or click on one of the images.
About Butterfly Residential
The Global Luxury Property Review is a monthly article compiled by Butterfly Residential offering a snapshot of the
sector. Butterfly Residential is a boutique, professional, high-end property company specialising in sales and rental of
luxury property Marbella, London and Barbados, among others. Butterfly Residential is headed by Edward Fairless
and Nicola Fairless, a brother and sister team who are the new sensation in the global luxury property sector.
Address: Avd. Ricardo Soriano 72, Edf. Golden, Portal C, 2º H, 29601 Marbella, Málaga, España
Email: info@butterflyresidential.com Web: http://butterflyresidential.com
Tel: (+34) 662 258 896 Tel: (UK) 0208 1444 383 Skype: butterflyresidential
5|Page