Knight Frank’s Prime Global Rental Index tracks the change in luxury residential rents across 17 cities globally.
Knight Frank’s Prime Global Rental Index fell by 1,1% in 2015, down from growth of 2,5% in 2014.
The performance of prime global rental markets is intrinsically linked to each city’s employment market and in particular the professional services sector. Muted performance in equity markets and record low commodity prices contributed to the index’s weaker performance in 2015.
Guangzhou, China, remained the strongest performing city recording annual rental growth of 5,3% in 2015. This is despite market conditions being favourable for buyers with record low interest rates and a relaxation of financing for second homes and foreign buyer restrictions in China last year.
Some of the world’s top financial centres have shown divergence in terms of the performance of prime rents. Rents fell in Hong Kong (0,8%) and Singapore (3,8%) whereas Tokyo, New York and London recorded a rise in prime rents year-on-year of 3,3%, 2,4% and 0,7% respectively.
This article originally appeared in Neighbourhood, Sunday Times.