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Luxury and prime real estate: the top of the market, city by city

Luxury and prime real estate is the top tier of a residential market, prime being roughly the top 5% by value and super-prime the transactions above US$10 million, where price is set by wealth concentration, scarcity and brand rather than by mortgage rates.

TBO's luxury and prime real estate coverage tracks the top of the residential market city by city: Dubai, Miami, Manhattan, London, the Hamptons, Aspen and San Francisco, and the buyers moving between them. Every reading is anchored in dated, named sources, the Knight Frank Wealth Report and its PIRI 100 index, Savills Research, Miller Samuel and Douglas Elliman market reports, Olshan Realty's weekly luxury contracts, Corcoran, Coldwell Banker Global Luxury, Redfin and Cavendish Maxwell, rather than in sentiment about where the wealthy are going next.

One argument runs through all of it: the top of the market has detached from the market below it, though the detachment looks different in each one. Prices set by wealth and scarcity, a record share of buyers paying entirely in cash, supply that cannot be replaced. This page gathers those readings, newest first. For anyone taking a development to an international buyer, it is the evidence base for what that buyer is actually comparing you against.

Updated Aug 05, 2026 · 25 articles

Luxury and prime real estate in numbers

  • The Knight Frank Wealth Report 2026 puts the global population of individuals worth US$30 million or more at 713,626 in early 2026, up from 551,435 five years earlier. That is roughly 89 people crossing the threshold every day. Read the analysis
  • Knight Frank's Prime International Residential Index recorded a 3.2% rise in global prime prices in 2025, with Tokyo up 58.5% and Dubai up 25.1%, while North America fell 0.9% and was the only region in negative territory. Read the analysis
  • Dubai closed approximately 500 residential transactions above US$10 million in 2025, worth US$9.05 billion, against 326 in New York, 229 in Hong Kong and 161 in London, according to Knight Frank's Global Super-Prime Intelligence series. Read the analysis
  • Manhattan launched 81 new development units in the first quarter of 2026, roughly 75% below the ten-year first-quarter average, according to Corcoran's Q1 2026 Manhattan report, while contracts between US$10 million and US$20 million rose 47.4% year over year. Read the analysis
  • The Hamptons median sale price reached a record $2,412,500 in the first quarter of 2026, up 18.3% year over year, according to appraiser Jonathan Miller of Miller Samuel, even as the year's biggest East End trade closed at $72 million against an original $120 million ask. Read the analysis
  • Prime central London prices fell 4.9% in the year to February 2026 and sit roughly 22% below their August 2015 peak, per Knight Frank research, while Beauchamp Estates counted 34 sales above £15 million in the first half of 2026 worth £1.24 billion, up from £694.1 million. Read the analysis
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Luxury Real Estate: Prime Markets, Data & Analysis

Frequently asked questions about luxury real estate market

Prime real estate is the top 5% of a residential market by value; super-prime is the tier transacting above US$10 million. Knight Frank and Savills both use that US$10 million threshold in their global indices, because above it the buyer is almost always an ultra-high-net-worth individual, defined as someone holding US$30 million or more in investable assets. The distinction matters because the two tiers no longer move together.

Because the buyer is not borrowing. Redfin's April 2026 report put the median US luxury sale at a record $1.39 million, up 3.6% year over year, with a record share of high-end buyers paying entirely in cash, which takes interest rates out of the decision. Demand at that level tracks wealth concentration and the scarcity of irreplaceable addresses, not the cost of a loan.

Tokyo led the world at 58.5%, followed by Dubai at 25.1% and Manila at 17.5%, according to the Knight Frank Wealth Report 2026. By region, the Middle East grew 9.4% and Latin America and the Caribbean 4.7%, while North America was the only region to decline, at 0.9%. The global average across the PIRI 100 was 3.2%.

The two tiers were bought for different reasons. The UK abolished the non-domiciled tax regime in April 2025 and roughly 2,000 wealthy residents left, hitting the mid-market that needed London tax residency; Knight Frank recorded prime central prices down 4.9% in the year to February 2026. Above £15 million, where buyers are mostly non-resident, Beauchamp Estates counted £1.24 billion of sales in the first half of 2026, up from £694.1 million.

It protects price, not volume. Aspen entered 2026 with inventory around 40% below pre-pandemic levels and still saw March closings fall roughly 50% year over year, from 24 to 12, in the Aspen Times report compiled by Tim Estin. Sellers held their asking prices and buyers deferred. In the same quarter the Hamptons, on comparably tight supply, posted an 86% jump in luxury sales.

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