Buyers paid €51,418 per square metre in the city-state, which only grew in popularity during the pandemic
2 min
Monaco’s prime real estate market remained strong despite global macroeconomic challenges and became the most expensive prime property market in 2023, according to a report Monday from Savills.
The price per square metre in the principality may have grown just 0.9% during 2023, but that increase, however slight, left the average price per square metre at €51,418 (US$55,852).
In comparison, the price per square metre was €39,100 in Hong Kong, €25,300 in New York, €18,900 in London and €8,400 in Dubai.
There were 416 transactions across the principality in 2023, which represented a decline of nearly one-fifth compared to the previous year. However, the total transaction value declined by a smaller amount than the number of transactions, which indicated that fewer but higher value transactions were recorded in 2023.
In examining the total sales by price point, the proportion of apartments selling for more than €5 million increased 2% in 2023, while the share of apartments sold priced below that same threshold fell by an equal amount, according to the report.
Interest in Monaco has risen since the pandemic, contributing to space constraint issues in the principality. Residence card applications also now require a property’s size to match the intended occupying family’s size, which has resulted in greater scrutiny, Savills said.
In response to this rule, many new-build projects are offering larger apartments. The sales of more spacious apartments with three or more bedrooms accounted for over 60% of new-build sales and 22% of the resales across the principality in 2023.
“The number of resales in Monaco has returned to pre-pandemic levels, and this rebound has largely been driven by the increase in sales of larger apartments,” Kelcie Sellers, associate director of world research at Savills, said in the report.
Potential buyers don’t just want to live in Monaco. They are very specific when it comes to choosing a particular district or even development. Together, Monte Carlo and La Rousse comprise over 40% of the total housing area in the principality, yet they accounted for more than 60% of resale transactions in 2023.
In fact, the mean price for resales increased to an all-time high in five out of seven Monaco districts in 2023. Jardin Exotique and La Condamine saw the highest price-per-square-metre growth of 19% and 22%, respectively. Larvotto maintained the top spot for most expensive district by square meter, according to the report.
In an effort to meet the high demand for real estate in this principality, which is smaller than New York’s Central Park, construction projects are in progress. Two large communities are expected to launch this year: Mareterra and Bay House Monaco. These projects will add a combined 166 new apartments and 15 villas to the Monaco market.
Prospective buyers around the world are approaching the current market with caution as they wait to see how macroeconomics, inflation and interest rates play out. However, as Monaco offers somewhat of a safe haven, it may attract buyers who would have purchased property elsewhere, which would continue to drive demand in the coming months, Savills said.
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A five-bedroom Palo Alto home designed by Steven Ehrlich is listed for $44 million, making it the city’s most expensive listing. Built around a dramatic concrete spine, the home features four courtyards and a pool.
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For years, tech entrepreneur Asher Waldfogel and his wife, Helyn MacLean, dreamed of building a modern house in Palo Alto, Calif.
The couple, however, worried about clashing with the Mediterranean-style architecture typically associated with their neighborhood of Old Palo Alto.
So they tapped architect Steven Ehrlich to create a design that paid homage to its surroundings with stucco, mahogany and titanium zinc cladding. They spent $20 million over several years building the house, completed in 2005.
Now looking to be closer to their adult daughter on the East Coast, they are putting the five-bedroom home on the market for $44 million—the most expensive listing in Palo Alto.
Waldfogel is an angel investor who co-founded Redback Networks, a telecommunications-equipment company. MacLean previously had a career in fundraising.
The couple purchased the roughly 0.4-acre site for $7.1 million in 2000 and demolished a circa-1930s Spanish Colonial home. The house they built pinwheels around a central staircase. It has 7,900 square feet of livable space, with four distinct courtyards and a pool.
A key feature of the home is a cast-in-place concrete wall, or spine, that is two stories high and about 80 feet long. “There’s a little bit of controlled chaos in what comes out of the form,” unlike a perfectly uniform surface, Waldfogel said. “If you want that, you do it in plastic.”
Waldfogel said he and his wife are thinking about the next phase of life now that their daughter is grown, although they have not decided where they will move. They also have a home in Sun Valley, Idaho.
“Right now we’re just trying to emotionally let go and decide what to do next,” he said.
Palo Alto, an epicenter of venture capital and tech startups in Silicon Valley, is home to some of the country’s biggest tech titans. Sales volume and prices are rising, with a median sale price of $3.5 million for the three months ending in August, up 5.8% year-over-year, according to real-estate brokerage Redfin.
Arthur Sharif of Sotheby’s International Realty—San Francisco Brokerage has the listing.
