Outperforming Expectations Under Lockdown

Activity may have plunged, but global super-prime property markets “outperformed expectations” under lockdown, with 153 sales going through above $10m since March.

The very top end of the international property market slowed sharply but “didn’t buckle” in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns. Global super-prime markets have “outperformed expectations”, with 153 super-prime (US$10m+) residential deals taking place around the world since March 2020, with a total combined value of $3.2bn (c.£2.5bn).

H1 2020’s super-prime transaction tally (281) was, however, less than half the total seen from January to June in 2019 (594). Fewer $10m+ deals were done in 11 of 12 global luxury property enclaves. Only Sydney bucked the trend (rising from 13 to 15). The difference was relatively slight (within seven sales) in four markets, while some locations saw dramatic declines in activity. New York, London and Hong Kong all saw super-prime numbers tank by more than 80%, 70% and 60% respectively, when comparing March-June 2019 with the same pandemic-hit period this year.

Sydney is the standout market with 15 super-prime sales in the first half of 2020 compared to 13 in the first half of 2019, however looking at the period between March and June period there were only six compared to 12 in the same period last year.

London saw the largest increase and had the highest average super-prime sale price in Q2: US$38m, compared to US$16.9m in 2019. Hong Kong, which usually tops this particular chart, sits in third place behind Geneva for the pandemic period so far.