Three of the world’s most expensive residential cities are in Asia

Costs running high in China and Singapore for housing

Asia is home to the three most expensive places to buy a residential property for another year running, CBRE reported.

Hong Kong has the highest-value residential real estate in the world, according to the fifth annual edition of the consultancy’s CBRE Global Living report.

Costing USD1.235 million on average, homes in the Chinese SAR are a tad bit more expensive than Singapore, rated the second costliest city in the world. The average home in the Southeast Asian state is estimated to set a property seeker back by USD874,372. Shanghai is third-most expensive on the list, with homes tagged at USD872,555 on average.

Interestingly, all three cities have levied cooling measures over the last year to keep speculative behaviour in check.

Shanghai posted one of the biggest year-on-year growth rates for residential prices at 11.2 percent along with Barcelona (16.9 percent), Dublin (11.6 percent), and Madrid (10.2 percent).

More: A tale of two tiers in China

Vancouver ranks fourth-most expensive in the world, with USD815,322 for an average home, followed by Shenzhen (USD680,283).

The Global Living Report highlights property markets across 35 key global cities, up from 29 in the last edition.

“House prices increased year-on-year across 30 out of the 35 cities we looked at, although generally at lower rates than previously,” said Jennet Siebrits, head of residential Research at CBRE UK.

“We would expect increasing interest rates to be affecting cities in the US, and various cooling measures affecting the Asia Pacific region, although Shanghai still saw robust growth.”

Top 10 Most Expensive Housing Markets, CBRE Global Living report:

1. Hong Kong
2. Singapore
3. Shanghai
4. Vancouver
5. Shenzhen
6. Los Angeles
7. New York
8. London
9. Beijing
10. Paris