Cover Hong Kong has been named the most expensive property market in the world in a report by CBRE (Photo: Courtesy of Ryan McManimie via Unsplash)

The sixth edition of the CBRE Global Living 2020 report has named Hong Kong as the most expensive property market in 2020, with two other Asian cities making the top 5

Hong Kong has retained its crown as the priciest destination in the world to buy a property, with an average price of US1.25million. The report by CBRE offers an insight to the global housing market and features 38 cities from around the world, including the likes of Shanghai, Paris, New York, Tokyo, London and Madrid.
 
The report states that “Despite a turbulent 2019 the underlying tensions in Hong Kong have not led to a mass exodus of companies from the city”, with the city remaining number one on the list. However, it does go on to note that “Reflecting the disruption, GDP growth had its biggest dip for a decade in 2019. While this has fed through to property sales, with a 3% fall in transactions in 2019, it has not yet impacted property prices which increased by 5%.”

Following Hong Kong, three other Asian cities – Shanghai, Singapore and Shenzhen – all ranked in the top 5. With the likes of Paris, New York, Los Angeles and Beijing all featuring in the top 10.

The report also states that Hong Kong is not only the most expensive city to buy property in, but also “one of the most expensive places to rent, with an average monthly rent
at $2,681, even though rents declined marginally last year by 1.7%", ranking third after New York and Abu Dhabi.

However, the report does also state that it only offers a pre-coronvirus snapshot of the global property market, concluding that “It is too early to determine what impact COVID-19 will have on global housing markets, or for how long its malign influence may be felt.”

The top 10 most expensive housing markets for 2020:

1.    Hong Kong; average property price: US$1,254,442
2.     Munich; average property price: US$1,000,000
3.     Singapore; average property price: US$915,601
4.     Shanghai; average property price: US$905,834
5.     Shenzhen; average property price: US$783,855
6.     Beijing; average property price: US$763,498
7.     Vancouver; average property price: US$754,617
8.     Los Angeles; average property price: US$717,583
9.     Paris; average property price: US$650,555
10.  New York; average property price: US$646,026

See also: Hong Kong, Shanghai And Tokyo Are The World's Most Expensive Cities In 2020