Jakarta, Dubai, and Miami have also seen significant price increases.

 

According to Knight Frank's annual wealth survey, some of the luxury property markets hardest hit by the economic crisis saw the highest price rises in the world in 2012.

According to the property firm, prices for luxury homes in Dubai increased by 20% in 2012 compared to the previous year, while high-end property prices in Miami increased by 19.5 percent. apartment

Jakarta saw the world's highest price increases in 2012, with the cost of a luxury home rising 38.1 percent from 2011. According to Knight Frank, the price of a luxury home in Bali has increased by 20%.

"Jakarta has benefited from continued strong GDP growth, which has been at or above 6% for five of the last six years, and, in particular, rapid growth in middle-class wealth," according to Knight Frank.

The most dramatic news in the study was the return of the downtrodden markets.

According to Knight Frank, Dubai was "the epitome of the global crisis," with prices dropping 60% between 2006 and 2011. According to the survey, the city's luxury home market has recovered as a result of increased demand, lower prices, and "its strategic hub status, able to draw wealth from the Middle East, North Africa, the Indian subcontinent, and Central Asia."

Miami, like London and New York, continued to benefit as a "safe haven" market.

"Russians, who have long been a driving force in the London market, have become a growing force in both New York and Miami, alongside ever-increasing demand from Latin America," according to Knight Frank.

Prices in London and Hong Kong both increased by 8.7%, owing to foreign buyers. According to Knight Frank, luxury prices in New York fell by 1.4 percent. The firm's largest price decline came in the Hamptons, a New York enclave, where rates fell 15.1 percent.

According to Knight Frank research chief Liam Bailey, several main factors are changing trends across the world, resulting in a "polarized" global market:

"The scramble for safe haven investments has continued to push prices higher in key global cities; some of the markets hardest hit by the global financial crisis seem to be recovering at long last; and the effect of growing global capital flows has kept policymakers busy in their efforts to restrict price growth and deflate emerging real-estate bubbles until they burst."

Despite government attempts to cool the market, prices in many main Asian markets continued to rise. Hong Kong's economy grew by 8.7% in 2012, compared to 4.6 percent in 2011.

Monaco remained the world's most expensive market, with prices varying from $5,350 to $5,920 per square foot. With prices ranging from $4,570 to $5,050 per square foot, Hong Kong came in second, followed by London, Geneva, and Paris.

 

The London luxury market is being sliced by stamp duty.

According to a study released today by Knight Frank, a new stamp duty enacted last year on London luxury homes resulted in a 15% decrease in sales.

However, the tax has had no impact on home prices in prime central London, which have risen 8.4% in the last year. According to the consultancy, London luxury home prices are now 55 percent higher than they were in March 2009, when the market was at its lowest point.

Last March, the government levied a 7% stamp duty on properties worth more than £2 million in the hopes of raising revenue from the soaring demand for London's most opulent homes. According to Knight Frank, sales fell by 25 to 35 percent over the next few months.

However, sales increased, thanks in large part to foreign buyers. According to Knight Frank, the economy has also benefited from a drop in the value of the pound. In January, the agency's website registered a 16 percent monthly rise in searches from the Euro zone for prime central London land.

"We believe the stamp duty rise has had a longer-term effect of reducing overall £2m+ revenues by about 10% below what they would have been if the higher Stamp Duty rates had not been imposed," Knight Frank concludes.

Although sales of homes costing more than £2 million have decreased since March 2012, sales of homes costing between £1 million and £2 million have risen by around 5%, according to Knight Frank.