You’ll find the most expensive homes in London

LONDON: London is the world���s most expensive place in which to buy a home, followed by Monaco and St Jean Cap Ferrat in southern France, an annual global survey by real estate consultant Knight Frank showed. The average price of a property in the best locations of central London was $6,191 a sq ft, according to the firm���s Prime International Residential Index, published on Monday. Monaco averaged $5,888 a sq ft and properties 5 miles west along the Mediterranean coast in St Jean Cap Ferrat cost $5,853 a sq ft, the firm said.

London benefited from its position as a global financial centre while its nearest contenders are attractive as second-home ���hot spots���, according to the survey compiled by Knight Frank and Citi Private Bank. Growth in property values has been ���strongest in the main global financial centres and those with benign tax jurisdictions,��� Liam Bailey, Knight Frank���s head of residential research, said. Average prime home prices in London increased 29% last year, trailing the 31% annual gain in Singapore and exceeding the 25% increase for New York, Knight Frank���s index showed.

Luxury-home prices in London may only rise 3% this year as thousands of bankers and financial services workers in the UK capital lose their jobs in the wake of losses and writedowns from investments in subprime mortgages, Knight Frank estimates. The most expensive London houses and apartments rose 0.1% in value last month, the smallest increase in four months, Knight Frank said April 1. The gain of 20% in the 12 months to March 31 was the smallest since June 2006, it said.

Average prime residential prices gained 11% globally last year as the number of high net worth individuals, those with more than $1 million of assets, increased by 4.5%, Knight Frank said. UK house prices fell in April, led by London and the northwest of England, as the seizure in credit markets starved homebuyers of mortgages, Rightmove said Monday.

The average asking price slipped 0.1% from March to ��239,521 ($475,000), the first decline at this time of year since the survey started in 2002, Britain���s most-used property website said in a statement on Monday. Prices in London fell 0.9%.

Prices dropped 2.5% in March, the most since 1992, HBOS said April 8. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said April 15 that price declines are the most widespread since their survey started in 1978. Moscow and St. Petersburg were among the five locations registering the fastest growth for prime residential property, reflecting Russia���s position as home to some 100 billionaires, the second-largest collection after the US, according to Forbes magazine.

Surging commodity and property prices increased the wealth of Russia���s ���Golden Hundred��� to $522 billion, or more than one-third of the country���s economy, from $338 billion in March 2007, the Russian edition of Forbes magazine said last week.

Oleg Deripaska topped the ranking with $28.6 billion, ending Roman Abramovich���s three-year reign as Russia���s richest man. Deripaska, 40, controls United Co. Rusal, the world���s biggest aluminium company. Average prime residential prices rose 38% in St. Petersburg to $1,937 a square foot and in Moscow by 35% to $2,235 a square foot, Knight Frank said.

French ski resort Courchevel, a favourite with Russians, registered the fourth-highest prices in the survey, costing $4,710 a square foot, the study showed