Europe's luxury property boom: Prague +14.6%, major capitals accelerate — and what this means for Grand Est !

The Knight Frank Prime International Residential Index (PIRI) is one of the most cited and respected global indices for tracking prestige real estate price movements. It follows 100 global cities, 47 of them in Europe, focusing on the prime segment — defined as the top 5% of each market by value. The index is published annually in the Knight Frank Wealth Report, itself one of the reference publications on global wealth and UHNWI behaviours. Its methodology is based on real transaction data and partner agent databases in each tracked city. It is used by wealth managers, family offices and major financial institutions to analyse the international real estate allocation of UHNWI clients.

Tokyo's progression is a specific phenomenon resting on three simultaneous factors. New-build apartment scarcity in central Tokyo, combined with very strict construction regulatory constraints, created supply pressure without global equivalent. Structurally low interest rates in Japan — very different from European and American trajectories — maintained local buyer solvency. And finally, massive inbound demand from Asia-Pacific clientele — particularly Chinese, Singaporean and Korean — which discovered or rediscovered Tokyo as a premier patrimonial destination. These three combined factors produced a progression that is not representative of the general trajectory of the global prime market — it is a documented, circumscribed exception linked to the specificity of the Japanese real estate market.

Prague combines several characteristics making it a prime market of choice in 2026. Its architectural heritage — Baroque, Art Nouveau, Art Deco — is of comparable richness to the finest European addresses but with prices still far below those of major western European capitals. Its taxation is competitive at European scale. Its quality of life — cultural infrastructure, gastronomy, mobility — is excellent. And critically, its position in the European digital economy — accelerated by the presence of many technology companies that have established hubs there — has generated a local UHNWI class whose purchasing power has progressed very significantly. Add to this an influx of German, American and Middle Eastern fortunes that have discovered Prague as an alternative to Munich, Vienna or Zurich for central European patrimonial anchoring.

France does not appear at the top of the 2026 Knight Frank ranking, primarily because Paris — which represents most of the French prime market in international statistics — underwent a marked correction between 2022 and 2024 and is in a progressive stabilisation phase. However, several French markets have outperformed the national average: Paris 7th arrondissement posted +50% transaction volume according to Engel & Völkers and Breteuil, driven by American and Middle Eastern clientele. The Côte d'Azur maintained record price levels. And regional prestige markets — Strasbourg, the Alsace Wine Route, Nancy — have shown significant resilience sustained by cross-border and institutional demand.

The decoupling between prime and standard markets is the most important structural fact of the current real estate cycle. The standard market is sensitive to credit rates — most of its buyers are borrowers whose purchasing power depends directly on rate levels. The prime market is much less sensitive — a very large proportion of top 5% buyers purchase in cash or with patrimonial structures that do not depend on local credit rates. The standard market is influenced by local economic conditions — employment, purchasing power, inflation. The prime market is influenced by global wealth creation — which has continued to progress significantly despite geopolitical uncertainties, according to Liam Bailey. And the standard market suffers from regulatory pressure on energy-poor properties, while prime properties, often renovated and well-maintained, are less exposed to this issue.

Market timing on prime markets is always a question of temporal perspective. In markets that have already progressed most — Prague, Madrid, Lisbon — prices have caught up part of their gap with western European major capitals but remain significantly below Paris, London or Geneva for comparable properties. Entry opportunity there is still present but narrowing. In French regional prestige markets — Strasbourg, the Alsace Wine Route, Nancy — prices remain very competitive at European scale, and international demand is only just beginning to discover them significantly. This is the logic of the wave: capitals first, then exceptional regional markets offering the same asset quality at more accessible prices. This wave is arriving in Grand Est. The time to be positioned is now.

Knight Frank data and observations from major specialist agencies identify several distinct profiles. American UHNWIs, whose near dollar-euro parity increased purchasing power by 10-15% compared to previous years — particularly active in Paris, Madrid, Lisbon and the Côte d'Azur. Gulf fortunes — Emiratis, Saudis, Qataris — diversifying patrimonies toward Europe in a regionally unstable geopolitical context. Central European fortunes — particularly Czech, Polish, Hungarian — whose wealth creation has been exceptionally rapid over the last decade and who anchor in the finest addresses of their own capitals. And Asian buyers — Chinese, Singaporean, Korean, Japanese — who have rediscovered Europe as a diversification patrimonial destination after a period of uncertainty linked to domestic policies in their countries of origin.

Yes — and this is precisely the purpose of our positioning. We are Grand Est's first private luxury concierge, with territorial anchoring covering Strasbourg, the Alsace Wine Route, Nancy and Lorraine, the Vosges and the entire region. Our direct relationships with specialist notaries, patrimonial lawyers, winemakers and owners of exceptional properties give us access to an off-market that national and international platforms do not show. For an American buyer who has read the Euronews article and wonders which still-affordable European city deserves their attention — the answer is Strasbourg, and we are the interlocutor who can transform this intuition into a concrete acquisition, from the first conversation to the final signature.