Essential Market Insights
✩ Monaco remains the most expensive location for residential property with an average price per square metre of over €52,000. Within Monaco itself, the district of Monte Carlo is more expensive still with an average price of €59,000 per square metre.
✩ Only values in Hong Kong come close to competing for the title of most expensive real estate. Monaco and Hong Kong are both severely constrained by available space and bolstered by their global reputations. Prime property in New York costs half as much as Monaco, while London and Paris cost 60% and 68% less respectively.
COVID-19 Impact
✩ As one of the least affected parts of Europe, Monaco was able to ‘flatten the curve ’of Covid-19 infections successfully within the Principality. A robust health system, public co-operation and strict lockdowns were critical to the success of Monaco’s response to the pandemic.
✩ While the economic impact on retail activities, of the virus is still largely unknown, the residential market in Monaco is well placed to weather the storm of any economic downturn. We expect prices to remain flat for a period or potentially even see very small increases as the lack of supply and consistent demand prevents prices from falling. However, we do expect resale transactions to slow as the world pauses to assess the situation.
✩ This is similar to what happened following the Global Financial Crisis. Prices per square metre declined by 13% in 2009 compared to the year prior, but a year later they had returned to pre-recession levels. However, transaction volumes took three years to recover to 2007 levels.
The small price fall is in line with the prime residential market. 28 monitored global cities recorded a fall of 0.1% over 2019, driven partly by global economic uncertainty.
However, since 2015, price in Monaco have exceeded those in the index, increasing by 34% compared to 17% across global cities. This demonstrates the resilience of the housing market in Monaco and its appeal as a stable location in which to invest.
Transaction volumes across the Principality fell from 523 transactions in 2018 to 462 in 2019, due to a lack of new real estate projects. The number of new real estate transactions fell 54%, contributing significantly to the overall decline in sales numbers. Transactions of re-sale properties also saw a small fall as fewer properties were brought to the market. There was one segment of the market that bucked this trend: sales of properties above €10m increased by 64% in 2019 compared to 2018.
This increase in the number of high-value property sales has been partly driven by an uptick in the volume of villas being sold, often for redevelopment, and Monaco’s continued status as a premier location to live and invest.
Prices and pandemic
The average sale price in Monaco in 2019 was €48,151 per square metre, 1.3% below the value recorded in 2018. This small fall follows prices seeing an exceptional rise of 18.1% the previous year as prices reached a high plateau.
Transaction volumes in the 2019 market fell by 12% versus 2018, driven by an 18% decline in sales of properties priced under €5m. This decline was caused by a drop in the number of one- and two-bedroom properties available for sale in comparison to 2018
