Vancouver and Sydney lead the way in the global prime property price stakes

Average prime property prices in the world's key global cities increased by 1.9% in the year to September 2015, according to research from global property consultancy Knight Frank.

Vancouver is the standout global city with residential prime property price growth of 20.4% in the year to September.

Knight Frank says that the strong performance has been caused by overseas investment combined with a local supply and demand imbalance.

The next best performing city is Sydney with average price growth of 13.7% in the year to September.

The Australian city's accelerating prices have been caused by a combination of a strong local economy, weak Aussie Dollar and an undersupply of new homes, Knight Frank reports.

Shanghai is another city which recorded double-digit annual price growth, up 10.7% in the year. 

This is largely down to the reversal of strict housing policies and the introduction of new fiscal measures, including tax and interest rate cuts, which have fuelled demand in the city.

The Prime Global Cities Index is now 34.1% above its low, recorded in Q1 2009, but its annual rate of growth is slowing.

Kate Everett-Allen, Partner, Residential Research at Knight Frank, confirms that the index's annual rate of growth was as high as 7% just two years ago.

Some 73% of cities recorded positive annual price growth in the year to September – a figure which stood at 91% in 2013.

The weakest performing prime market is in Singapore, where the rate of growth now stands at -7.9% - an improvement on Q2's -15.2%.

Looking at world regions, Australasia leads the way with annual prime property price growth of 11.6%, followed by North America at 8.5%.