Notes · Luxury real estate
Your buyer is comparing Zurich with Milan, not with the agency across the street.
Before choosing an agency, an international buyer chooses a city. What the data on Europe’s prime markets says, the detail almost nobody notices when reading it, and what an agency can offer to earn a place in that comparison.
Picture this: an executive leaving London has a spreadsheet open with four tabs. Milan, Zurich, Madrid, Lisbon. In each one, prices, taxes, schools and flights. Your agency is not in any of them yet. It will appear, if it appears at all, once a tab has been chosen.
The scene is imaginary, but the order of decisions is not. People who relocate with wealth decide first where they want to live, and only then whom to buy with. An agency that only shows houses joins the conversation after the important part has been decided.
What the index says.
In Knight Frank’s Prime Global Cities Index for the first quarter of 2026, which tracks 46 cities, Zurich leads Europe with annual growth of 4.8%, followed by Madrid, Geneva and Lisbon. All four rank among the top fifteen worldwide, and each grew by between 1% and 1.5% on the previous quarter. Over five years, from 2021 to 2026, Milan leads Europe at 36.2%, ahead of Madrid at 29.7% and Zurich at 27.5%. London is the only European market to fall over that period, by 5%.
For an agency, the most useful part is not the figures. It is the reasons. Knight Frank attributes the lead to strong international demand, supportive financing, wealth flowing into Switzerland thanks to its stable tax environment, and the relative value and lifestyle appeal of Madrid and Lisbon. For Milan it cites a growing wealthy population and the appeal of its flat tax regime to high-net-worth buyers. For London, high stamp duty, the removal of non-dom status and elevated borrowing costs.
What no listing says.
Look at that list again. Tax, financing, lifestyle. None of those reasons appears on a property listing, which talks about square metres, views and bathrooms. A buyer coming from abroad looks first for the answers the listing does not give, and finds them wherever someone has explained them: in a research report, in a newspaper, or on the website of whoever took the trouble to write them down.
And there is a detail almost nobody notices when reading these rankings. The index is valuation-based and measures nominal prices in local currency. Zurich’s 27.5% is in francs, and Milan’s 36.2% is in euros. Someone buying with pounds or dollars experiences a different return, and not always in the same order. An agency that explains this honestly says far more about itself than one that repeats the headline.
Before choosing an agency, your buyer chooses a city.
Where I stand.
I believe a luxury agency’s website should help a buyer decide on the city, even when the honest answer does not favour its own. If Zurich ranks third over five years, say so. If the buyer is thinking about tax, refer them to a tax adviser, but explain what to ask. The agency that helps compare cities gets into the spreadsheet. The one that only shows houses waits to be chosen.
What I would check.
- A guide to your city for people coming from abroad. Why live there, what buying costs, which permits are needed and whom to consult, written for a foreigner rather than a neighbour.
- The honest comparison. Where your city wins against the others on the list, and where it does not.
- The currency. Prices and trends explained in the buyer’s currency as well, with a note that exchange rates move.
- Language and time. Which languages the website speaks, and who replies when the buyer writes from another time zone.
- The date. Every market figure with its source and quarter, so that nobody reads a 2026 number in 2027.
Where to start.
- This week
Read your website as a foreigner
Look for the answers on tax, financing and lifestyle, and note the ones that are missing.
- This month
Write the guide
One page about your city, with dated figures and sources, reviewed by a tax adviser and a lawyer.
- This quarter
Translate it properly
Into your buyers’ languages, adapting examples and currencies rather than going word for word.
- Every quarter
Keep it current
With the new index and whatever has changed in tax or permits.
Put yourself in the place of a family living in Singapore, torn between Zurich, Milan and Lisbon. They have an afternoon and three open tabs. None of them is your agency’s, because they are not looking for a flat yet. They are looking for a life.
What would they need to find that afternoon for your city to win? Write the answer in three lines. If the lines do not come, ask yourself who is writing them for that family today, and in which language.
If you would like me to review what a buyer who has not yet chosen a city finds on your website today, start with the Strategic Diagnostic. What each buyer will pay in tax is for a tax adviser to calculate, not a designer.