Seoul and Tokyo are likely to lead global prices of prime residential real estate in 2026 based on Savills’ latest Prime Residential World Cities report, with both Asian capitals cemented as luxury real estate hubs for international wealth.
At a glance
As geopolitical instability reshapes global capital flows, Tokyo and Seoul are emerging as Asia’s primary luxury residential safe havens in a portentous year— attracting wealth that once defaulted to London, New York or Dubai. The shift reflects more than cyclical demand: investors are increasingly prioritising political stability and long-term capital preservation.
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In light of the escalating conflict across the Middle East, the Asia-Pacific region’s wealth hubs offer what’s now genuinely scarce – rule of law, transparent markets, low policy change risk, and stable tax regimes.
The Super Prime look at what’s going right for Asia’s key luxury real estate players – Tokyo and Seoul:
- Despite geopolitical shocks and tighter financing conditions, prime residential markets in Tokyo and Seoul have remained resilient — largely because supply of ultra-prime homes in both cities remains structurally constrained.
- Trophy real estate in supply-constrained Tokyo and Seoul saw heightened demand from international investors in 2025, as global capital sought out lifestyle credentials and wealth preservation distanced from geopolitical turmoil.
- Tokyo and Seoul are expected to see up to 5.9% and 7.9% respectively, the highest growth forecast globally.
- Tokyo is the sixth most expensive city to rent prime property in globally, and seventh when purchasing or selling luxury real estate.
- Quiet strength and long-term value are Tokyo and Seoul’s calling cards amid global slowdowns in New York, Hong Kong, and London.
- Seoul is seeing a slew of ultra-high-end hospitality brands enter the market as investor confidence heats the city’s luxury residential segment.
- Tokyo’s historically discreet super prime market is making more noise as a four-bedroom Tokyo penthouse in Harajuku’s Marq Omotusando One sold for a reported 9.5 billion Japanese yen ( US $67 million), dwarfing an Aman penthouse transaction in Azabudai Hills in 2024.
- Seoul’s kerb appeal lies in its blend of lifestyle, liquidity, brand power and relative affordability as the city competes with top-tier cities such as New York, Singapore and London. Confidence is reflected in buyer sentiment: KB Kookmin Bank’s index reached 82.98 in June, its highest since 2021.
- While tighter regulations and more restrictive financing conditions are squeezing transaction volumes, they have so far done little to ease pricing pressure, says Savills, with Seoul a standout performer in 2025 as capital values rose 14.3% over the year.
In a report published before the start of the conflict in the Middle East, high-end realtor Savills pinned two Asian capital cities as this year’s real estate success stories, both offering the highest capital value growth in 2025 and across the next 12 months, with prices possibly surging further should capital flee eastwards to Asian safe havens at pace.
Tokyo rising
Premium property values in Tokyo are expected to grow anywhere between 4% to 5.9% this year, a marked decrease from last year’s stratospheric 30% surge, driven largely by an acute lack of prime stock, high construction and labour costs and strong end-user demand.
The real estate frenzy sparked debate around foreign capital restrictions during July’s Upper House elections as investors aggressively snapped up premium apartments in glittering skyscrapers across Tokyo, especially the popular Shibuya district, Azabudai Hills and Mita Garden Hills – luxury billboards for the city’s quietly simmering urban property boom.
Although not an exact number, a survey by Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp, published in March 2025, found that in Tokyo’s in-demand Chiyoda, Shibuya, and Minato wards, 20% to 40% of new apartments are typically sold to foreign buyers.
In response to investor appetite, Tokyo’s previously boutique market for super-prime luxury property has been significantly expanded by a string of high-profile new projects.
A temperature gauge for demand for ultra-high-end property, Aman — whose branded residences often command some of the highest premiums in global real estate — entered Tokyo’s residential market in 2024 with Aman Residences at Azabudai Hills.
Stretching over the top 11 floors of the Mori Tower – Japan’s tallest residential building – are 91 two- to six-bedroom residences – Aman’s first standalone super-luxury branded residences and Tokyo’s most expensive homes.
Last year, a record-breaking deal at the highest rung of the capital’s luxury property market made waves globally when a four-bedroom Tokyo penthouse in Harajuku’s Marq Omotusando One ultra-prime development of 14 residences sold for a reported 9.5 billion Japanese yen ( US $67 million).
The per-tsubo price – determined by dividing the property’s sale price by its area in Tsubo – eclipses the previous record high of ¥44 million set at Aman Residences, Azabudai Hills. – marking Tokyo’s historically discreet super-prime market making noise globally.
Seoul - a regional and global powerhouse
Elsewhere in Asia, Aman – one of the most exclusive names in hospitality – is making a bold entry into Seoul’s bullish ultra-premium residential market, launching branded residences and its urban wellness-focused hotel brand “Janu” in Seoul in 2030, having broken ground at the tail end of 2025.
The residences will sit in the former Prima hotel tower in the Cheongdam-dong district – one of the city’s most affluent neighbourhoods dubbed the ’Beverly Hills’ of Seoul.
With demand firmly locked in, prices will reportedly sit at the top end of Seoul’s luxury segment, comparable with New York or Tokyo as the city’s high-end property market positions itself among an elite group of upper-tier cities and commands some of the largest price tags for ultra-high-end real estate globally.
According to the realtor’s fresh roundup, Seoul’s prime property values could see between 6% and 7.9% growth as buyers move with conviction, cooling slightly from the impressive 14.3% surge witnessed in 2025.
Branded residences, in particular, are recognised as high-value investments in South Korea’s luxury real estate sector, often commanding premiums of up to four times the average built-up sales price, according to consulting group C9 Hotelworks.
Sough-after management and hospitality add-ons particularly appeal to the country’s affluent professionals and international wealth seeking globally-recognised yardsticks of luxury living.
Values may continue beyond the forecast as investors adopt a wait-and-see approach to wealth migration and real estate markets. Gazes may speculatively turn towards the Asia-Pacific region amid geopolitical unrest with vague timelines for speedy resolution, as investor confidence is tested in historically sticky wealth hubs such as the UAE.
Savills says that the luxury address Cheongdam-dongis one of several of Seoul’s core districts – including Gangnam, Yongsan, Songpa, and Seocho – that are seeing prime apartment values continuing to be shaped by deep‑rooted structural constraints, including scarce land, slow development pipelines, prestige pull factors and highly concentrated demand from domestic and international capital.
Any historic concerns over ageing demographics, shrinking households and high cost of living impacting on demand for housing over the longer-term have been buffered by renewed heat and swelling investor confidence.
Buoyed by the city’s prime residential price growth winning streak, other high-end hoteliers are capitalising on the tailwinds of sustained end-user demand and investor attention as apartment prices now average around USD22,875 per square metre, according to Deutsche Bank’s Mapping the World’s Prices 2025, surpassing both London and New York values.
Rosewood Seoul is set to open at The Parkside Seoul, a development occupying the former site of the United Nations Command in central Seoul in 2027, while Singapore-based hospitality group , Capella Hotels & Resorts, known for its ultra-luxury positioning, will introduce Capella Residences Seoul in southern Seoul in the same year.
Seoul’s credentials are further amplified by growing brand power and global status as a vanguard in tech, fashion, beauty, film and culture with ‘brand Seoul’ driving the 32% price increase in apartment values over last five years.
In the same analysis, Savills positioned Seoul behind Dubai, Geneva and Shanghai for buying, owning and selling a property worth $2 million, one of the least costly globally.
Tokyo ranked 7th for owning and selling a $2 million residential property. Japan’s capital came just after London for additional costs, with both capitals outranked by Singapore, which is the most expensive global city in which to transact real estate, driven by its Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD).
Other Asian prime real estate markets seeing colour revived include Hong Kong, which is seeing a decisive comeback at the top end of the market. Luxury home prices are forecast to climb a further 3 to 5 per cent in 2026 with some of the city’s highest value transactions in recent months signalling renewed liquidity at the ultra-luxury segment of the residential market.
Prior to Iran’s retaliative attacks this month, Savills projected a 1.9% rise in capital values in Dubai, which was described as a “going from strength to strength, supported by its global connectivity and exceptional quality of life” – now a longstanding refuge for global capital whose sales pitch is being tested.
Investor notes: If geopolitical instability continues to unsettle traditional wealth hubs, Tokyo and Seoul may move from regional success stories to structural pillars of the global prime residential market.
