New York City, Los Angeles, Aspen, Colorado, are among the 17 markets with the most mega property sales in the world.
According to luxury brokerage Knight Frank, each of those locations saw at least three transactions annually over $25 million during the past three years, earning them the distinction of what Knight Frank calls “ultra prime” status.
Sales volume in the ultra prime bracket has generally increased in recent years, as the wealth of people with more than $50 million grew by 18 percent from 2013 to 2017, according to Knight Frank.
And activity in this price segment is expected to rise further over the next five years, with Knight Frank forecasting their wealth to rise an additional 40 percent.
“This growth in global wealth is likely to mean that transactions at the very top-end of the market will continue to increase and spread to more locations that we haven’t highlighted over the previous nine pages,” the report said.
The study found that ultra prime markets can be grouped into three general categories: city markets, ski resorts and second home destinations.
Source: Knight Frank
Topping the city markets were London and Hong Kong, with each market averaging dollar-transaction volume in the “ultra prime” tier of $2.1 billion over the last three years. Next came New York, with $1.5 billion. Other cities included as part of this group included Los Angeles, Singapore and Sydney.
As with city markets, mega sales in second home markets have ticked up over the last three years. In this segment, Malibu, with five sales over $25 million so far this year, and Palm Beach were two American cities that earned spots. The Caribbean, Monaco, Cote D’Azur and the Caribbean also placed in this category.
Three markets in the Alps (St. Moritz, Gstaad and Courchevel), along with Aspen, Colorado, were the ski destinations that made Knight Frank’s rankings.
“The appeal of Aspen is growing not only as a winter destination but also in the summer months,” the report said. “Aspen is making a name for itself as a cultural hub, with the Aspen Institute of Ideas Festival and its Music and Food & Wine Festival.”
As the richest of the rich further grow their fortunes, Knight Frank expects cities such as San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas, Beijing and Shanghai to register higher volumes of mega sales.