Russian cities are seen as chalking up the fastest residential property price gains in 2012, while a number of Asia-Pacific cities are predicted to fall sharply; New York is seen holding steady and London rising slightly, according to Knight Frank, the global property firm.

Reviewing performance sectors such as London’s prime property market over the past 12 months, Knight Frank said the market for top-quality London real estate continued to boom in 2011 while the wider national market was more volatile. Price growth in the world’s mainstream housing markets averaged 0.9 per cent in the year to September, down from 3.5 per cent a year earlier. Conditions in the world’s luxury city markets held up slightly better, Knight Frank said.

Looking ahead, the firm said global uncertainties will weigh on prices in parts of the Asia-Pacific region, curbing what has been a rapid expansion in this sector of the world in recent years. As for North America, New York is expected to see little change in 2012; Los Angeles will fall between 5 to 10 per cent, the report said.

The firm also predicts that Geneva will suffer a reverse in its property market this year, a factor possibly connected to a chillier climate for the Swiss banking industry over the past year as pressure grows on the country’s historic bank secrecy laws.

Knight Frank estimates price falls in 44 per cent of cities around the world in 2012, no change in 12 per cent and rising prices in 44 per cent.

Of the cities covered in its forecast for outturns for the whole of 2011, 32 per cent were expected to see luxury house prices fall in 2011, 25 per cent were tipped to remain unchanged, and the remaining 43 per cent were expecting prices to end the year higher than they started. Jakarta and Nairobi were forecast to be the strongest performers in 2011, with prices rising by up to 20 per cent over the year.

“Some cities, such as Moscow and Bangkok, will shrug off these concerns to register growth of between 10 and 20 per cent in 2012. Paris, Kiev and St Petersburg are all expected to rise by 5 to 10 per cent, with London slotting in next with a rise of 5 per cent,” Liam Bailey, head of residential research at Knight Frank, said in a report about the firm’s findings.

However, Shanghai, Mumbai, Manama, Hong Kong and Geneva are tipped to fall by between 10 and 20 per cent, the firm said.

Knight Frank examined some recent price trends in the Asian luxury property market. Annual price growth for luxury homes in Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai now stands at 7.8 per cent, -6.8 per cent and 3.8 per cent respectively, down from 19.7 per cent, 15.8 per cent and 29.7 per cent a year earlier.

On the issue of UK prices, Grainne Gilmore, head of UK residential research, said: “After rising by around 1.3 per cent this year [2011], Knight Frank forecasts that mainstream UK house prices will fall by 5 per cent in 2012. Once inflation is taken into account, this will result in a deeper fall in real terms. There will be regional differences in house price performance however, with the south East and London holding up better than the north of England.