This month's cross-city read is unusually noisy. New York and Paris are compounding steady Baseline Market gains, London's headline number is barely above flat on a 12-month basis but hides a sharp late-cycle acceleration, and Singapore has quietly reversed. Below we compare the four markets on the same factor grid, quoting each city's most recently stable window (excluding the last 2–3 months from the very latest print).
The Baseline Market — our quality-adjusted, market-wide price level — is the cleanest single number for cross-city comparison. On a 12-month basis, New York leads at +6.9% (to January 2026), Paris follows at +5.8% (to October 2025), London is essentially flat at +0.4% (to February 2026), and Singapore is the sole decliner at -2.1% (to February 2026).
The 3-month picture reshuffles the ranking. London's Baseline jumped +9.2% over November 2025 to February 2026, Paris held at +5.5%, New York cooled to -1.4%, and Singapore accelerated its slide to -8.6%. That's a 17.8-point spread between London and Singapore over the same three months — an unusually wide dispersion for the four markets we track.
| City | Baseline 12m | Baseline 3m | Biggest 12m factor mover (ex-Baseline) |
|---|---|---|---|
| London | +0.4% | +9.2% | Floor Area -3.5% |
| New York | +6.9% | -1.4% | Residential Units (log) -4.6% |
| Paris | +5.8% | +5.5% | Log Floor Area -5.2% |
| Singapore | -2.1% | -8.6% | Log Building Age +8.5% |
London's biggest 12-month mover outside Baseline is Floor Area at -3.5%, extending to -5.9% over the last three months. The per-sqm premium on larger units is compressing — smaller stock is holding up better on a like-for-like basis. Flat Premium is also negative at -1.5% over 12 months.
New York is the mirror image of a density story. Residential Units (log) printed -4.6% over 12 months, meaning larger multi-unit buildings are trading at a widening discount per unit. At the same time, Elevator Building gained +4.7% — the walk-up vs elevator spread has moved decisively in favour of serviced stock.
Paris shows the cleanest signal: Log Floor Area at -5.2% over 12 months and -4.1% over three. As in London, per-sqm pricing on larger apartments is under pressure, but Paris's Baseline is doing the heavy lifting on the upside.
Singapore is the outlier. Log Building Age gained +8.5% over 12 months and Location Premium added +6.4%, while Baseline fell and Price Tier printed -5.2%. Older, better-located stock is outperforming; the composition of what's transacting has shifted toward the top end even as the underlying market softens.
Three of the four cities share a common thread: the per-sqm return on larger units is negative. London's Floor Area, Paris's Log Floor Area, and — indirectly — New York's Residential Units all point the same way. Only Singapore breaks the pattern, because its size-related factors (Floor Deviation Squared, Non-linear Floor Area) barely moved.
Where the cities diverge is in the Baseline itself. London and Paris are running hot on the most recent 3-month window, New York has paused after a strong 12 months, and Singapore is in outright decline. The chart below tracks cumulative Baseline Market from October 2020 across all four cities on a shared axis.
The key question is whether London's late-cycle Baseline surge (+9.2% over three months) sustains once the rolling windows fully update, and whether Singapore's -8.6% three-month decline continues to be offset by the age and location composition shift. New York's Baseline pause deserves attention too, because it comes alongside a widening walk-up vs elevator spread that could reprice a large slice of the stock.
Interactive cross-city comparison, updated monthly.
Open the global comparison →Methodology: cross-sectional OLS of log(price/sqm) on property characteristics in a rolling 3-month window, per city. Baseline Market is the intercept — a quality-adjusted, market-wide price level. Full details on the methodology page.