Key Insights
- Buyers show increased interest in the US, France, the UK, and South Africa – the four fastest-growing destinations in 2026.
- This growth is driven by domestic demand: buyers in the US, France, the UK and South Africa are inquiring on listings in their home markets more often than they did a year ago, with domestic shares rising by 6 to 9 percentage points across all four countries.
- Within each market, single regions are driving most of the growth: California in the US, London in the UK, the Western Cape in South Africa, with France’s growth more evenly spread across its regions.
Between January and early May 2026, luxury real estate demand on JamesEdition grew 50.6% year over year, reflecting continued appetite for high-end properties worldwide. Mediterranean destinations remained firmly at the center of global wealth flows, with Italy, Spain, and Portugal together accounting for nearly one-third of all buyer inquiries.
Beneath this stability, however, a notable shift emerged. The United States, France, the United Kingdom, and South Africa stood out as the year’s strongest gainers, capturing a larger share of global luxury property demand.
Eric Finnas DahlstromCEO of JamesEditionThe 50% increase in buyer activity in early 2026 reflects continued and deepening interest in luxury real estate globally. Italy, Spain, and Portugal continue to anchor global luxury demand, together accounting for nearly a third of all buyer inquiries. What's interesting is that this core is holding firm even as the US, France, the UK, and South Africa are all gaining ground. As the pie expands, these four markets are claiming larger pieces.
The Global Power Shift
The US, France, the UK and South Africa each climbed in the global ranking. American listings gained 3.1 percentage points of global interest year on year, reaching 12.6%. French listings gained 2.2 points to reach 10.7%, British listings gained 1.1 points to reach 5.0% and South African listings gained 0.8 points, also reaching the 5% mark.
The United States climbed from third to second place, overtaking Spain. France held onto fourth but closed the gap with the markets above it. The United Kingdom rose from eighth to seventh, moving ahead of Greece. South Africa joined them as the fourth-fastest gainer of the year.
Domestic Demand Gains Momentum Across Four Major Markets
Between January and early May 2026, buyers in the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and South Africa inquired more often on listings in their home country than they did a year earlier.
American buyers directed 7.5 percentage points more of their inquiries to listings in the US, reaching 29.6% in 2026. French buyers added 9.0 points to reach 40.1%. British buyers added 6.2 points to reach 24.5%. South African buyers added 8.9 points to reach 60.8%. All four moved by more than six percentage points in a single year.
An interesting pattern is emerging: buyers are increasingly searching for homes in their own countries, using the same platform they once relied on to discover properties abroad. South Africa is a more nuanced version of this — its buyers were already the most home-focused of the four, and they increased their focus further this year.
The Regions That Are Driving the Move
Zooming in on each market the picture sharpens further. Within every market, a small number of regions are attracting increasingly more attention.
In the United States, California is the standout story. Despite ongoing discussions about affordability, taxation, and migration trends, the state captured a significantly larger share of buyer attention in 2026. Its share of all inquiries on American listings rose 5.9 percentage points year on year, reaching 26.8% in 2026. Florida sits just behind in second place and is having a strong year of its own, but California is the standout mover.`
In the United Kingdom, London is the engine. The capital captured 34.5% of all inquiries on British listings in 2026, up 3.5 percentage points from a year earlier. Despite the long-running headlines about wealth leaving London, buyer interest tells a different story this year.
In South Africa, the Western Cape is leading the shift. Its share of inquiries on South African listings rose from 54.4% to 59.2%, a 4.8 point gain. Cape Town and the broader Western Cape continue to draw the bulk of attention to the country.
France looks slightly different. The growth there is more dispersed: Paris (Île-de-France) edged up, the Alps (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes) gained ground, and several smaller regions saw share rise too. The Côte d’Azur remains the largest single region but lost some ground in relative terms as buyers spread out across the country.
A Year of Shifting Buyer Preferences
Four of the largest buyer bases on the platform turned inward over twelve months. American, French and British buyers each inquired more often on listings at home than they did a year earlier, and the destinations that have traditionally received their cross-border interest received slightly less of it.
Separately, South African buyers added further interest to a market that was already the most home-focused of the four.
Within each country, the gains are concentrated in a handful of regions. California, London and the Western Cape each captured a meaningfully larger share of buyer attention in 2026, while France’s growth spread more evenly across its regions.
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Data methodology
This analysis is based on proprietary data from JamesEdition, covering unique buyer inquiry activity on luxury residential listings between January 1 and May 10, 2025 and the same window in 2026. Buyer origin is determined using IP-based geolocation, user profile data, and inquiry metadata.
“Domestic share within a country” refers to the proportion of a country’s buyers inquiring on listings in their home market. “Global destination share” refers to the proportion of all platform inquiries directed at a given country. “Regional share within a country” refers to the proportion of a country’s inquiries directed at listings in a specific region or city. All share figures are expressed as a percentage of the relevant total for that comparison.
While this analysis reflects activity on the JamesEdition platform, the directional trends are broadly consistent with patterns reported by Knight Frank, Savills, and the Financial Times. Figures may differ from nationwide transaction data or other luxury market benchmarks.
