When it comes to the most number of properties that cost £3m ($4.2m) or more for sale per square kilometre in one city, Monaco by far ranks as “the word’s hottest” spot for super-rich homebuyers, followed by Paris, New York and London.
Research by high-net-worth mortgage broker Enness Global highlighted which areas of the global prime market present the best option for high-end homebuyers.
Enness analysed the market across 15 “property playgrounds of the super-rich” and found that with 216 £3m+ homes listed for sale and an approximate size of just 2.02 sq km, there are 107 high-end homes for sale per square kilometre in Monaco.
“Buyers at the very top of the global property market want exclusivity and when it comes to property, exclusivity is very much a result of high demand and a restricted level of stock availability,” noted Hugh Wade-Jones, managing director of Enness.
“Nowhere breeds this air of exclusivity quite like Monaco, with a consistent level of demand focussed around a very small geographical area. As a result, prime properties account for half of all housing stock currently for sale across Monaco and you’d struggle to kick a stone and fail to hit a home worth upward of £3m,” he added.
Meanwhile Paris is number two on the list. It has some 586 homes listed for sale at £3m or more. With an estimated size of 105.4 square kilometres, there are currently 5.6 prime homes listed for sale per square kilometre.
“This huge disparity between the first and second place destinations demonstrates just why Monaco is the most exclusive property market in the world,” the report said.
New York comes in just ahead of London with 2.4 prime homes for sale per square kilometre.
With 2,689 homes listed at £3m or more, London is home to the largest level of prime stock for sale in the current market. However, with this stock spread across a city of 1,572 square kilometres, it equates to just 1.7 prime properties per square kilometre.
“It’s interesting that while London remains a popular option amongst the world’s wealthiest homebuyers, France and New York actually present a greater level of stock per square kilometre,” said Wade-Jones.
"Despite this, London continues to rank as a global prime property superpower and we’re now seeing signs of the high-end London market starting to accelerate through the gears, just as the regular market begins to tail off as the stamp duty holiday approaches," he added.
Mykonos rounds up the top five in the rankings, with 1.6 prime homes for sale per square kilometre, while at the bottom of the chart are Venice and Aspen.