Price of prime global property rises 2.4%

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. 

How do Asia's top cities fair for property investments?

IP Global's second quarter Global Property Barometer takes a close look at Asia as real estate curbs in the region's long regarded safe havens, such as Singapore and Hong Kong, look set to remain firmly in place. 

Given the increase in the cooling measures can these cities remain Asia's top property investment hotspots? Which Asian markets are investors looking to as investment alternatives and which of these provide the best opportunities? Below you can find the cities that IP Global and investors are taking an interest in, their market performance analysis and forecasts and how they rank in this quarters barometer.

This has seen the Australian mining town of Mackay, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta move into the property fast lane.

Jakarta With the fourth-largest population in the world, attractive demographics and a strong investment climate, Indonesia off ers great prospects for real estate investors looking for a growth market in Asia.  Mackay Underpinned by continuing expansion of the mining and export sectors, Mackay is one of the hottest property markets in Australia right now.  Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur remains one of Asia's prime markets for investment, with the outlook upbeat for the property market following the recent elections.	Hong Kong Having shown only a slight fall in prices, the Hong Kong real estate market has remained stable in the face of newly introduced cooling measures(8).  Tokyo Interest in investing in Tokyo is on the rise, which is seeing land prices increase for the fi rst time in years(10). Melbourne The Australian economy is likely to become increasingly bipolar over the next year, with areas in Queensland and Western Australia propelled by the mining boom while federal and state budget cuts and the high dollar hurt the south east.	Singapore Though the Singapore market currently seems stable, there are reasons to be concerned about the prospects for real estate investment in the city. Hanoi Hanoi is undergoing a major market correction after the speculation of previous years has driven an abundance of supply and overinfl ated prices. Seoul The Korean economy is still experiencing a slowdown, with its very modest 0.9% GDP growth for the first quarter of 2013(20) still the fastest gains seen since the beginning of 2011.