Property prices in the prime central locations of London will rise by a third over the five years to 2015, Moscow will rise more slowly and Hong Kong continue to see price rises from an already-high level, according to Savills, the global property firm.

The total cost of housing for an executive unit of households, with London at 100 as the base value, shows Hong Kong as 52 per cent more expensive than London, at 153. Moscow is slightly cheaper, at 88, and New York is the cheapest, relatively speaking, at 72.

Hong Kong’s prices have been particularly volatile; prices falling about 35 per cent during the 2008 financial turmoil, then rebounding 80 per cent from their lows by December 2010, Savills said in its Insights Global Cities Review.

In Hong Kong, a regional chief executive paid an average of £3,400 ($5,600) per square foot for a property, while an international billionaire paid £6,500 per square foot. In London, billionaires were paying £3,000, and in Moscow, they paid £2,600, and in New York, £2,400, the report showed.

“London prime property proved its resilience to wider economic downturns, with a CEO’s property rising in price by a steady 47 per cent over five years,” the report said. Price falls in London during the 2008 crisis opened the market up to overseas buyers seeking prime residences. Foreign nationals accounted for 60 per cent of all buyers in the prime (£5 million to £10 million) central London market, and 70 per cent of the super-prime (£10 million-plus) sector last year, the report said.

In New York, it showed no price increase in the five years to 2010; prices were still 7 per cent below their 2005 levels.

“New York is a less cosmopolitan market than London, with a greater focus on rental accommodation and, unlike London, the prime property sector did not benefit from the currency adjustment that took place,” it said. There has been some sign of recovery in the luxury market in 2010, it added.