Hong Kong and Singapore, markets that have seen significant home price inflation over the last few years,  have the highest purchase costs in the world for non-resident purchasers.

Hong Kong is the most expensive location to buy a home after considering all the associated costs amongst the 15 global cities surveyed in the report.

Non-residents can expect to pay 25 percent on top of the purchase price when buying a US$3 million home. The bulk of this cost consists of stamp duty costs and a property tax levied on foreign non-permanent residents.

In Singapore, the 18 percent (an Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty of 15 percent plus the standard rate of around 3 percent) rate of stamp duty for non-residents is the highest among all the world cities analysed in the report, having been increased in January 2013 as policymakers stepped in to try and reduce property price growth.

As a result of the above measures, Hong Kong and Singapore have seen a fall in purchases by overseas buyers.

Singapore saw the number of international buyers dropped by 24 percent in 2012 from 2011, while in Hong Kong's luxury market, the proportion of mainland Chinese buyers dropped from around 30 percent in October 2012 to only 9 percent in January 2013.

"With demand for prime property only likely to rise, we might expect a growing trend towards attempts at property market micro-management by governments," commented Oliver Knight, Editorial and Research Executive at Knight Frank. "Investors should be prepared for the possibility of further tax changes in other world regions."