New flagship twist, Savills Prime Residential Index targets global trophy homes

Savills has turned its long-running Prime Residential Index into a flagship reference tool for tracking price movements in the world’s most expensive housing markets, from London and New York to Dubai and Singapore. Ultra-high-net-worth buyers and advisers use the index to benchmark deals and spot turning points.

Edited by ad hoc news Flagship & Bestseller Desk. Reviewed before publication on 06/15/2026 at 2:38 PM ET. Details in the imprint.

For global real estate advisers and wealthy buyers, Savills’ Prime Residential Index has quietly become one of the key yardsticks for pricing trophy homes in major cities worldwide. Updated quarterly, the composite index tracks price moves across a basket of high-end markets, including London, New York, Hong Kong, Dubai and Singapore, and distills them into a single benchmark for the top segment of the housing market. Savills positions the Prime Residential Index as part of its flagship global residential research, aimed at institutional investors and private clients alike.

How the Savills Prime Residential Index works and what it shows

The Prime Residential Index focuses on prime, or top-tier, residential property rather than the mass market, typically looking at the most desirable 5 to 10 percent of homes by value in each city, often located in established prestige districts or emerging luxury neighborhoods. According to Savills’ methodology, each city sub-index captures changes in achievable sale prices per square foot for these prime properties over time, allowing like-for-like comparison of performance across markets that otherwise differ in currency, tax systems and local regulations. The firm’s research team aggregates the city data into regional and global composites to highlight broader trends across continents.

Because it concentrates on high-value transactions, the index often reveals turning points earlier than national house-price averages, which are dominated by mid-market deals and can lag during upswings or downturns. Savills notes that prime markets are closely linked to global wealth creation, financial-market performance and capital flows, which can lead to sharper cycles than in mainstream housing. In recent quarterly updates, the index has highlighted diverging conditions between core financial hubs with constrained supply and resort-style destinations that saw exceptional demand during the pandemic but have since cooled as travel normalized and borrowing costs rose.

For portfolio managers, family offices and private banks, the Savills Prime Residential Index functions as a benchmarking tool for direct property holdings and for funds focused on luxury residential assets. Rather than relying solely on anecdotal evidence from individual deals, these investors can use the index to test whether a city’s prime segment is outperforming or underperforming peers, and whether returns are driven more by capital appreciation or rental yields. Advisory desks also use the time series to stress-test assumptions about long-term price growth, especially when considering leveraged acquisitions or development projects at the top end of the market.

On a practical level, the index underpins parts of Savills’ own client advice, featuring in presentations to institutional landlords, sovereign wealth funds and ultra-high-net-worth buyers contemplating cross-border purchases of apartments, townhouses or branded residences. The firm’s global research publications regularly cite the Prime Residential Index to illustrate how price growth in traditional gateway cities compares with rising secondary hubs, such as Lisbon or Seoul, allowing clients to visualize where new opportunities or potential risks may be emerging. External analysts and media also reference the index when discussing the health of global luxury property, reinforcing its status as a flagship datapoint rather than a niche internal metric.

Beyond headline price growth, Savills uses the Prime Residential Index to explore structural themes influencing luxury housing, including the impact of remote work on city centers, the effect of higher interest rates on high-end buyers, and the growing importance of energy efficiency and sustainability in premium buildings. Periodic thematic reports combine the index findings with survey data and qualitative interviews, giving investors and private clients a broader narrative around what drives performance in the segment. In that context, the index is less a stand-alone product and more the anchor of a suite of research tools that support transaction advisory, valuations and strategic consulting.

Within Savills’ portfolio of services, the Prime Residential Index sits alongside other indices and metrics that track office, logistics and retail property, helping to position the company as a data-driven adviser rather than purely a transaction broker. The focus on prime residential markets supports Savills’ strength in major global cities, where high-end deals can be a significant contributor to fee income and brand visibility. Savills is listed on the London Stock Exchange; its shares (ISIN GB0007998633) last traded on the LSE in British pounds, reflecting the company’s UK base and global reach. The LSE company page provides current pricing and trading data for Savills.

Savills Prime Residential Index in brief: key facts

• Product: Savills Prime Residential Index
• Manufacturer: Savills PLC
• Category: Flagship/Bestseller research index
• Launch date: Ongoing quarterly publication (multi-year series)
• MSRP / Price: Available as part of Savills’ public research output; detailed access typically via Savills research materials
• Availability: Global, via Savills’ research publications and client presentations
• Target audience: Institutional investors, family offices, private banks, high-net-worth individuals and professional real estate advisers
• Key differentiator / USP: Focused, comparable tracking of price movements in prime residential markets across leading global cities

This article was a.i.-assisted and editorially reviewed. Product information without warranty; prices and availability may change at short notice. Not investment advice and not a buy or sell recommendation. Trading involves risk up to and including the total loss of invested capital.