The 2026 Prime Cities Index: Architectural Trophy Allocation

Each year our advisory desk reviews completed transactions above $10 million across the markets where we operate. This year’s review points to a quiet but significant shift: buyers are paying a measurable premium for architectural authorship.

The authorship premium

Across our sample, homes by a recognised architect traded at a meaningful premium over comparable properties in the same postcode. Location still sets the baseline. Within that baseline, design increasingly decides who wins.

Location tells you what a home is worth today. Architecture tells you what it will be worth in twenty years.

Three factors explain the trend. Supply is fixed: a significant house by a particular hand cannot be replicated. Provenance is legible: drawings, awards and publications make value easy to document. And the buyer pool has globalised, bringing collectors who already think about objects in terms of authorship.

Where capital is moving

New York remains the deepest market for trophy penthouses, with demand concentrated in buildings designed by a small group of international firms.

Los Angeles leads for mid-century residential architecture. Restored houses with complete documentation continue to trade quickly and rarely reach public listing.

London is seeing renewed interest in contemporary townhouses behind heritage façades, where planning constraints make each successful project unusually scarce.

The Mediterranean, from Marbella to Mykonos, is where we see the fastest growth in purpose-built architectural villas, often commissioned by families planning for multi-generational use.

Allocation, not acquisition

More of our clients now describe residential property as one allocation within a broader portfolio that may include art, private equity and philanthropy. For them, a significant house is not only a place to live. It is a durable, culturally recognised asset that can be enjoyed and eventually passed on.

That perspective changes how a purchase is evaluated. The questions become: How well documented is the provenance? How sensitively has the home been maintained? Is there a credible path to preservation?

Our advisors can share the full index privately, including the transaction-level data behind these observations.