See how Vancouver’s real estate prices have outperformed global cities
Real estate prices in key global cities are rising at a slow, moderate pace, particularly in Europe.
According to new research published by international real estate consultant Knight Frank, 35 of the world’s most important cities saw an average price increase of 3.6% in the year to March 2016.
“Since 2014 the index has consistently seen annual growth of 3-4%, with no city recording double-digit annual price declines since the second quarter of 2015,” notes Kate Everett-Allen of Knight Frank, who carried out the study.
However, Everett-Allen found some notable differences both between regions and within them. In North America, for example, New York, Miami and Los Angeles grew by 2.3%, 3.8% and 5.1% respectively but Vancouver saw a spectacular 26% rise in real estate prices — despite a 1% increase in land transfer tax on purchases above CAD2M.
Australasia was more homogeneous, with both Sydney and Melbourne posting a 12% rise. The two African hubs were also in positive territory, albeit with some difference between the two—Cape Town went up 6.9% and Nairobi up 3.3%. Asia was rather more of a mixed bill, with excellent growth in Shanghai (to the tune of 20%) but sizeable drops in Hong Kong and Taipei (down 6.4% and 7.6% respectively.
In Europe, real estate growth was modest and fairly consistent across the majority of cities, with prices either remaining flat or recording small rises of less than 3%. Only Moscow, Paris, Milan and Monaco bucked the trend. The first three saw dips (of 5.9%, 2.7% and 1.2% respectively) while Monaco recorded a 4.9% rise.
However, says Everett-Allen, some of these numbers need to be analysed in the context of past performance. Prices in London, for example, only grew by 0.8% in the year to March, the lowest figure since October 2009 — but the British capital had experienced a period of exceptional growth in earlier years so a slowdown was natural.
Interestingly, the Knight Frank study also showed that, across the world, the impact of new transparency rules, new taxes or fees for foreign buyers—all of which are seeing a surge in global hubs—varies hugely depending on the pre-existing fundamentals and market cycles.
Thus, the land transfer tax rise had no depressive effect in Vancouver, nor did new transparency rules for cash buyers affect the New York and Miami markets. In London, by contrast, a series of changes to stamp duty land tax and to purchases by non-domiciled residents, have amplified the market cycle and helped slow down price growth.
Source: Carla Passino, Forbes http://www.forbes.com/sites/carlapassino/2016/05/19/slow-and-steady-real-estate-growth-in-world-cities-is-an-exercise-in-moderation/#108e2b7349c6
