World`s priciest streets (with SA comparison)

World`s priciest streets (with SA comparison)

The most expensive address in the world is not in London, Paris, or New York.

“The most expensive address in the world is not in London, Paris, or New York, as might be expected, but in Hong Kong,” says luxury home marketer Ronald Ennik, CEO of Ennik Estates (an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate).

“Homes on Severn Road in Hong Kong come with the highest price tag of US$78 200 (about R625 000) per square metre on a recent Wall Street Journal list of the 10 most expensive streets on the planet.

“Named after Claude Severn, Governor of Hong Kong when it was a British colony, Severn Road was followed in second place by Britain’s most expensive street – London’s prestige Kensington Palace Gardens (a private road), which is priced at R605 000 per sqm,” says Ennik.

“New York’s Fifth Avenue (R495 000 per sqm) came in at number five on the list, followed by Quai Anatole in Paris (R352 000 per sqm).”

The rest of the Journal’s Top 10 streets are:

Avenue Princess Grace (3) in Monaco, at R550 000/sqm; Chemin de Saint-Hospice (4) on the French Riviera’s Cap Ferrat peninsula (R495 000/sqm); Rue Bellot (7) in Geneva (R341 000/sqm); Via Romazzino (8) in Porto Cervo, Sardinia (R187 000/sqm); Wolseley Road (9) in Sydney Australia (R165 000 per sqm); and Ostozhenka (10) in Moscow (R143 000 per sqm).

“The fact that Severn Road topped the Journal’s list for the second year running speaks volumes for the strength and resilience not only of the economy and property market of the city of Hong Kong but also the greater Asia Pacific region,” says Ennik.

“So much so that it came as no surprise when, in June this year, Christie’s International Real Estate established its Asian Regional headquarters in Hong Kong.

“The Asia Pacific region has a passion for real estate that is unparalleled globally,” Neil Palmer CEO of the company, said at the time.

It was not long after a home was sold in the city, on 10 Pollocks Path, for US$12 327 (just under R100 000) per square foot!

“From our knowledge of luxury sales worldwide, we believe that this sale achieved the highest price ever per square foot,” said Palmer.”

To put this in perspective,” says Ennik, “prices of top end properties on South Africa’s priciest streets – such as Nettleton Road in Cape Town’s Clifton (listed by Wikipedia as Africa’s most expensive street), and Coronation Road in Sandhurst, Sandton (Johannesburg) – are about R100 000 per sqm!”

“Hopefully, given the weaker Rand and the uncertainty still surrounding the eurozone debt crisis, foreign investors may soon start looking deeper at what the luxury homes market in South Africa has to offer right now,” says Ennik.

“Perhaps visiting delegates to the COP17 indaba in Durban will do just that before they return home,” he concludes.

* This report was prepared by Ennik Estates

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