Your $1m will go the farthest in these cities

How many square metres of prime property does your money buy in key cities?

Sao Paulo, Cape Town and Dubai, in that order, offer the largest average size of prime residential property that can be bought for USD1 million, a new ranking of key property markets showed.

According to Knight Frank’s recent annual Wealth Report, a million dollars is enough to buy a 200-square-metre luxury home on average in Sao Paulo, while it can buy 177 sqm in Cape Town.

In Dubai, that amount of money can snap up 143 sqm of prime property.

The 20-city ranking also found Istanbul fourth-best in terms of space for money, with one million enough to snap up a 109-sqm luxury home.

Farther east in Asia, Mumbai can get property seekers 100 sqm for the same amount of money, ranking it fifth.

More: Guess who just snapped up the world’s largest super penthouse

Price growth in the Indian metropolis was “largely static” last year at 0.3 percent as developers offered discounts to dispose of unsold inventory, according to Knight Frank India’s Arvind Nandan, citing the consultancy’s Prime International Residential Index (PIRI 100). “Although prices may soften in the short term due to excess supply, in the long term we expect wage growth and strong investment in infrastructure to bolster demand.”

On the flipside, property seekers can get the least prime residential space for a million in Monaco: a diminutive 16 sqm. Hong Kong, notorious for its caged homes, yields only 22 sqm for a million.

Alpha cities like London and New York also offer relatively cramped prime homes for the same amount of money: both at 31 sqm. Singapore follows with 36 sqm.

Melbourne and Sydney rank sixth and 12th, offering prime homes at 97 sqm and 52 sqm on average, respectively.