Jakarta, Dubai Lead Luxury Home Price Gains

---

The price of luxury homes in Jakarta increased 27.2 percent during the second quarter from a year ago, topping the rankings of Knight Frank's Global Cities Index for the third consecutive quarter.

Overall, the average price of luxury homes in prime global cities increased by 2.4 percent in the second quarter, compared to a 0.4 percent decrease during the first quarter of the year, according to Knight Frank's latest report. 

"The index now stands 27 percent above its financial crisis low in the second quarter of 2009 and has recorded its strongest quarterly growth for three years," Kate Everett-Allen, international residential research, said in the report. 

Dubai, Shanghai, St. Petersburg and Tel Aviv rounded up the top five for luxury homes price increases during the last year. Across the 28 cities tracked by the index, prime property prices increased by 5.6 percent in the year to June. 

Europe remains the weakest performing region for the index, with Rome, Paris and Madrid taking the bottom three spots. Prime residential prices in Europe fell 0.9 percent during the quarter. However, that is a contrast to a 3.4 percent decrease a year ago. Some European economies are introducing "Golden Visas" and tax incentives to attract foreign investors, Knight Frank reports. 

In contrast, Asian governments are working to cool price growth in major markets, but the efforts seem to be having only a marginal effect. Even with the various cooling measures in Singapore, luxury prices increased 5.5 percent during the quarter, mostly due to one project, Twentyone Anguilla Park.