Mixed economic fortunes helped produce a different set of rental results for prime properties in various cities, new evidence shows.

The pace of gains to rentals for prime properties around the world decelerated in the first three months of 2015 from the same period last year, although rents for luxury real estate continued to gain, according to the Prime Global Rental Index by Knight Frank.

Africa and North America grew at the fastest rates for prime rents. The two world regions rose by 4.3 per cent and 3.2 per cent respectively from the same quarter in 2014. In decreasing order of growth rate then came the Middle East, Europe and Asia. The weakest region was Russia/CIS with negative growth, at -5.3 per cent for Moscow. The biggest drop for a city was Beijing, at -7 per cent.

The index measures the rents of the top 5 per cent of 18 housing markets across the world. The prime rents in each city are measured in respective local currencies. The luxury residential rents closely resemble the state of the world economy. Apart from a divergence in 2011, the health of the housing markets is a lead indicator of the general economic climate, said Knight Frank.

“A year ago prime rents globally were rising on average by 3.5 per cent per annum but the global average has now slipped to 1.3 per cent,” said Kate Everett-Allen, partner of residential research at Knight Frank.

The fall of the prime rent index is largely because of the deceleration of the rate of change in Nairobi and Dubai, according to Knight Frank. Dubai is still showing a positive increase, but is significantly weaker with 1.4 per cent compared to its double-digit growth last year. The city also recorded its first quarterly fall in prime rents since 2011.

Tokyo is leading the world’s prime rent for the second consecutive quarter with an increase of 8.1 per cent over a period of 12 months. This could be a sign of Japan’s economy gaining traction and becoming more attractive. A close second was Cape Town with a rise of 8 per cent compared to last year. In third, fourth and fifth place of the Knight Frank index were New York, London and Guangzhou respectively, all with notable growth over 2 per cent.

Zurich has stayed flat in the first quarter compared to prime rents last year. Wealth management centres Geneva and Singapore have decreased, with 2.9 per cent and 4.9 per cent drops respectively. In Singapore's case, the local authorities have deliberately sought to curb property prices and reduce risks of over-leverage.

The worsening state of the Russian currency, meanwhile, means that if the Moscow prime rent is measured in US dollars instead of roubles, there has been a worrying decline by 42 per cent - instead of 5.3 per cent - annually, noted Knight Frank.