_Areas to watch: Future investment hotspots in cities across the globe
Potsdamer Straße, Kurfürstenstraße and Gleisdreieck, Berlin
Once home to a number of Berlin’s newspaper and publishing companies – and also to its red light district – the area south of Potsdamer Platz is giving way to trendy art galleries, stylish restaurants and hip bars.
The rejuvenation now extends west as far as Gleisdreieck, once little more than warehouses and scrubland, the new urban neighbourhood has the community-led Park am Gleisdreieck at its heart.
In Wohnpanorama, a new development on one of the last plots directly overlooking the park, around €650,000 will buy a two-bedroom apartment and €775,000 a four-bedder, with values typically around €5,000-€9,000 per sq m.
Investing in property in Berlin? Find out more about this area.
Sant’ Ambrogio, Milan
The beating heart of ancient Milan, Sant’ Ambrogio is one of Milan’s most prestigious residential areas. Long favoured by the Milanese bourgeoisie, this luxurious district stands at the crossroads of the Roman trading centre, and is packed with ateliers, workshops, art studios and elegant boutiques.
Now, its period buildings and outstanding location inside Milan’s inner ring road, close to Cinque Vie – the iconic crossroads which forms the city’s historic heart – and the prestigious Catholic University are attracting the attention of investors, who are also looking ahead to 2022 and the completion of a new metro line which will directly connect Sant’ Ambrogio with Milan Linate Airport.
Prices across the district start at around €6,500 per sq m with particularly fine and well-located properties fetching up to €8,500 per sq m.
Investing in property in Milan? Find out more about this area.
Karen, Nairobi
Karen is a wealthy suburb of Nairobi some 10 miles west of the CBD, named after Karen Blixen, the Danish expatriate who lived here in the early 20th century and famously wrote about her experiences in the book Out of Africa, subsequently made into an Oscar-winning film.
From the early 2000s, growth was rapid, with many of the original five- and ten-acre plots developing into modern housing clusters with shared amenities such as club houses, gyms and swimming pools.
This period saw land prices soar from 2.3 million shillings per acre to their current levels of over 50 million shillings per acre, where they have now stabilised.
The market for these townhouses has become somewhat saturated, with a subsequent plateauing of both house prices and land values, with the former selling for typically around 80 million to 110 million although record prices being achieved for larger stand-alone houses with more substantial gardens.
Investing in property in Nairobi? Find out more about this area.
Les Grand Boulevards & Bonne Nouvelle, Paris
Nestled between the 2nd, 9th and 10th arrondissements, the area around Les Grands Boulevards and Bonne Nouvelle – stretching roughly from Opéra in the west to Porte Saint Denis in the east – is a neighbourhood very much on the up.
Already a magnet for new IT and tech companies, trendy bars and chic restaurants are now following in their wake, along with a large number of small retail shops and concept stores.
The eclectic vibe combined with the tree-lined roads and classic Haussmannian architecture is attracting strong demand from a new clientele of hipsters, fashionistas and well-to-do “bourgeois bohemians”, including UK buyers attracted by the proximity of the Gare du Nord and the area’s convenient location just 10 minutes’ walk from Les Halles and Montorgueil, and close to Drouot and the historic Le Marais.
Investing in property in Paris? Find out more about this area.
Contact Knight Frank International
The Hongqiao CBD, Shanghai
The expansion of western Shanghai as a business centre is gathering pace with the development of Hongqiao CBD, set to provide a new epicentre for this side of the city.
The project – the biggest of its kind ever seen in China – will benefit from close integration with the Hongqiao Transportation Hub, which offers air and high-speed rail links to the region and beyond. The new neighbourhood is already emerging: some 340 buildings are currently under construction, with a total gross floor area of over 5 million sq m.
According to government plans, by 2020 the Hongqiao CBD will be home to 500,000 residents and host 600,000-700,000 office workers.
A total of 56,000 new homes are to be added to the neighbourhood, mainly concentrated in the northern zone. The average home price now is 45,000 yuan per sq m for a typical two-bedroom and three-bedroom units, up from 20,000 yuan just three years ago.
Investing in property in Shanghai Find out more about this area.
Justicia, Madrid
Despite being one of Madrid’s traditional prime residential districts, Justicia is undergoing something of a transformation as vendors and investors update their spacious, high-ceilinged apartments to meet the demands of a new wave of buyers seeking state-of-the-art design features and high-spec homes.
The district’s evolution is in part thanks to the Centro Canalejas Madrid Project, which is set to transform seven historic buildings into a single space which will house Spain’s first Four Seasons hotel as well as big-name boutiques and gourmet restaurants.
At the heart of Justicia lie Chueca and Salesas, two enclaves that are now home to numerous independent shops, art galleries and boutique hotels as well as restaurants and fashion stores. A three-bedroom apartment covering around 200 sq m here will cost in the region of €1.2 million.
Investing in property in Madrid? Find out more about this area.
CBD, Cape Town
A world-renowned business address, Cape Town’s CBD is now emerging as a sought-after residential postcode too. The city’s central core extends from the Harbour, with Stand Street and the Railway Station at its heart.
Once dominated by high-rise office blocks, an injection of new capital and innovative ideas is changing both the atmosphere and the skyline.
Initiatives such as First Thursday, when galleries and museums stay open late, the area’s world-class restaurants and its views of Table Mountain and Cape Town Harbour have led to an upsurge in interest from CBD workers anxious to spend more time enjoying their leisure and less commuting in this notoriously congested city.
Typical prices range from 1.2 million rand for a studio to 30 million rand for a penthouse, with a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment with secure parking fetching an average 5 million rand.
Investing in property in Cape Town? Find out more about this area
Bayswater, London
There has been much speculation over the last 10 years about Bayswater’s potential as a prime address. To date, though, it has not outperformed as forecast; surprising, given its position close to Hyde Park and when compared with its neighbours Notting Hill and Marylebone.
However, things may be about to change, following the announcement of plans for a major redevelopment of the Whiteleys shopping centre and the northern end of Queensway.
Architects Foster + Partners have been appointed to create a major mixed-use scheme, which will offer a transformative mix of retail and amenity facilities centred around a large courtyard and anchored by a 5-star boutique hotel offer alongside residential accommodation.
The introduction of a mix of high-quality retailers, restaurants and leisure operators promises to provide the “hub” which has been lacking hitherto and will complete the gentrification of Westbourne Grove. Expect to see a significant impact on prices.
Investing in property in Bayswater? Find out more about this area
Kwun Tong, Hong Kong
The redevelopment of Kwun Tong, a former manufacturing district in the east of the Kowloon Peninsula, is the biggest ever seen in Hong Kong. The first phase will provide 2,000 new homes plus commercial and community facilities, with further waves of development to follow.
The aim is to improve living conditions for existing residents as well as accommodating the influx of white-collar workers coming into the area as financial and other professional services companies look to move away from Hong Kong’s crowded centre to locations that offer better value for money.
The impact on property prices is already being felt: apartment prices have accelerated from HK$8,000 per sq ft five years ago to around HK$14,000 per sq ft today.
Investing in property in Hong Kong? Find out more about this area
Forest District, Sydney
Located fewer than eight kilometres from the stunning Northern Beaches of Sydney, the Forest District extends from the leafy suburbs of Middle Harbour, north along the Garigal National Park and up towards the bushland of Ku-ring-gai Chase.
Known for its excellent public and independent schools as well as its alternative education facilities, typical Forest District householders are professional couples with above-average incomes.
The area will benefit from the new B-Line bus service, which provides a direct link to Sydney’s CBD, and from the new Northern Beaches Hospital scheduled to open in late 2018. A well-appointed four-bedroom house with landscaped gardens starts at A$1.6 million, while a townhouse or apartment starts from A$900,000.
Investing in property in Sydney. Find out more about this area
Financial District, New York
Manhattan’s southern tip is home to the Financial District, or FiDi. Long side-lined as a purely commercial district with Wall Street at its heart, FiDi is now one of the most stylish and sought-after pockets of residential real estate in Lower Manhattan.
Crops of new businesses, from upscale food halls and chic boutiques to lively neighbourhood bars and power lunch spots have been added to the area’s existing charms, like the cobblestone streets and 19th-century red brick buildings of the South Street Seaport, which feel a world away from New York’s bustling streets.
Unlike neighbouring TriBeCa where converted industrial buildings dominate, sleek and contemporary high-rise apartments populate FiDi’s streets and sit alongside key landmarks such as One World Trade Center, One World Observatory and the popular 25-acre Battery Park.
A two-bedroom apartment at 125 Greenwich Street starts at US$3.26 million, while a larger three-bedroom penthouse apartment at 1 Seaport Residences starts at US$7.15 million.
Investing in property in New York? Find out more about this area
This blog is part of a series of posts highlighting the unique research featured in 2018's The Wealth Report - Knight Frank's annual publication charting new investment opportunities, wealth flows, residential & commercial property markets and luxury spending trends.