Knight Frank revealed some interesting findings in its latest Prime Global Cities Index, which tracks luxury residential price movements across 35 cities worldwide.

Vancouver, Miami and Sydney were the top performers in the year to the end of June in terms of price growth of luxury residential properties, according to research by  Knight Frank.

The three cities recorded price increases of 15 per cent, 14 per cent and 13 per cent respectively in the year to June, thanks to low interest rate environments, expanding economies and safe haven capital flows.

Asia-Pacific took the limelight, claiming seven of the top ten spots on the index. In Singapore, however, prime prices slid 15 per cent and the city was, for the sixth consecutive quarter, home to the index’s weakest performing luxury housing market.

“A breakdown by world region shows Australasia on top recording average growth of 10.2 per cent over the 12-month period, Europe is bringing up the rear but has broken into positive territory with average growth of 0.8 per cent,” said Knight Frank's partner, residential research, Kate Everett-Allen.

In Europe, Monaco was the top performer of the quarter as a pick-up in sales pushed prices up 7.9 per cent year-on-year. According to IMSEE, Monaco’s statistics office, the city state's total sales volumes reached €2 billion ($2.2 billion) last year, surpassing 2007’s peak.

The global data also highlighted flatter growth over recent months. Although the index has been rising for 22 consecutive quarters, the pace of growth slowed significantly in the last year with annual growth falling from 5.2 per cent to 2.5 per cent. This quarter, only four cities enjoyed double-digit annual price growth, compared to eight cities a year ago.