Canada’s two hottest real estate markets are among the world leaders in a new study of prime housing markets.

Vancouver, in fact, is the global leader, with Toronto at No. 12, in the rankings released today by Frank Knight, a real estate consultancy that tracks 100 luxury property markets in its annual wealth study.

“Vancouver leads the rankings by some margin, with prices accelerating 25 per cent during 2015,” said the study, which defined prime property as the “most desirable and most expensive,” and generally in the top 5 per cent of a market.

“A lack of supply, coupled with foreign demand, spurred on by a weaker Canadian dollar explain the city’s stellar performance.”

Vancouver was followed by Sydney, Shanghai, Istanbul, Munich, Melbourne, San Francisco, Auckland, Amsterdam, Monaco and Berlin.

Then came Toronto, with a rise in luxury property values of 8 per cent, ahead of Cape Town, Miami and Bangkok to round out the top 15.