Which countries have seen the highest rise in property prices?
Worldwide residential property prices have risen 6.6% in the year to March, the highest rate for three years, says a new survey.
Hong Kong led the way in the Knight Frank Global House Price Index, with prices rising 28% year-on-year – but it looks set to be knocked-off the top spot in future.
Prices in Beijing and Shanghai, China, rose 23.8% in the last year and 21.1% in Dubai, according to the Knight Frank figures.
This was before the recent government housing market cooling measures took effect and separate data for April and May shows price declines in Hong Kong and falling growth in China, as OPP Connect has reported.
Knight Frank’s Residential Research specialist Kate Everett-Allen says, “Property prices in all world regions, except Europe, increased in the year to March, with the Middle East performing best, rising by 10.6% on average.”
The Knight Frank Global House Price Index rose by 2% in the first quarter and China’s prices rose the most over the three months, by 10.7%.
For the third quarter running, Greece saw the largest annual fall in mainstream prices, declining 11.8%.
It was followed by Hungary, down 9%, and the Netherlands, down 8.3%, in the bottom three rankings this quarter. The Dutch fall was driven down by rising household debt and growing unemployment.
Prices in Ireland fell again, but the 3% decline was much less than previous double-digit losses.
The only countries outside Europe that saw falls were Japan (-2.9% year-on-year) and South Korea (-2.2% year on year.)
Columbia, up 16.6% on year, Brazil and Taiwan, up 12.2%, Turkey, up 11.5%, South Africa, up 11.3% Indonesia, up 11.2% and America, up 10.2% – its best annual performance since 2006 – made up the rest of the top 10 performers.
Thirty five of the 55 housing markets in Knight Frank’s Global House Price Index saw price rises in the year to March. The index now stands 14.7% above its recessional low in the first three months of 2009.
Among the improvers was the UK’s property market, where prices rose by 0.2% in the year to March and are 8.9% above their 2009 low.
South Africa was among the best performers, seeing an increase of 11.3%, boosted by increasingly wealthy middle class who are tapping into the rising confidence of the wider African continent and are keen to get on the property ladder.
Source: OPP Connect
