“The luxury residential property market in the city has really been able to capitalise on its new-found reputation as the ‘Monaco of the South’‚” De Klerk said.

Typical prices in Cape Town ranged from R1.2m for a small studio apartment to R30m for a penthouse apartment.

Two-bedroom‚ two-bathroom apartments with secure parking fetch about R5m on average‚ the report said.

In the last two years Cape Town has set South African records for both the highest-ever sale price paid for a residential home — R290m for a house in Bantry Bay — as well as the highest-ever rental price‚ R450,000 per month for an estate in Constantia.

Knight Frank said its latest index was a valuable means of gauging where luxury prices were headed at a time when — despite the global economy being in robust health — there were significant risks ahead in the form of rising debt‚ inflation and housing market regulation.

“As borrowing costs start to increase some of the world’s major economies‚ we expect prime price growth to moderate further‚” Knight Frank said.

Knight Frank said cities in Asia Pacific now accounted for five of the top 10 rankings in annual growth, including Guangzhou (16.1%) and Shanghai (10.9%) in China. Sydney (8.7%) and Melbourne (8.3%) in Australia also featured in the top 10.