Australian Prime Residential Market 

While the mainstream marker endured subdued price growth, the Sydney prime market was the strongest in Australia and across the eight wealthiest global cities.

Wealth Trends
Private wealth continues to shape property markets. Although faced with a clouded economic outlook over the coming years, wealth creation will remain a constant in 2019. Globally, ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs) are projected to rise by 22% over the next five years—this is equivalent to an additional 43,000 people worth more than US$30 million by 2023—according to Global Data Wealth Insight published in Knight Frank’s The Wealth Report 2019.

Eight of the top ten countries with the fastest growing UHNWI populations are located in Asia. India will lead five-year growth with 39%, followed by the Philippines (38%) and China (35%). Asia’s strong economic performance has also stimulated the number of US$ millionaires around the world—projected to exceed a population of 20 million for the first time by the end of 2019.

As wealth increases, governments will settle into two camps. The group first will try to attract more of it (countries such as Italy, Moldova, Montenegro) and conversely, the second will seek to push it away (Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the UK). Other countries will make wealthy non-residents jump through ever larger hoops to access their property markets. Hoops or not, the wealthy will continue to demand access to global markets, especially as emerging economies see growth rates slow and the search for diversification grows.