Words: Ashley Rigg
Published: 29th March 2011
*Global house prices slow
House price growth across the globe slowed in the last quarter of 2010, according to new figures from Knight Frank.
20 of the 49 countries analysed by the company showed quarterly declines with Dubai (6.1%), Ireland (-3.5%), Cyprus (-2.1%) and the US (-2.1%) recording some of the biggest falls.
Prices are now falling in 41% of countries compared with 31% in Q2 2010.
The fastest risers were Hong Kong (Up 20.1% annually) and Latvia (Up 16.9%) with the latter bouncing back from a 70% fall in prices during the credit crunch.
The strongest regions were Asia-Pacific (7.5% annual growth), the Middle East (5.3%) and South America (3.8%). The weakest continents were Europe and North America.
The last legs of the global stimulus
Liam Bailey, Head of Residential Research at Knight Frank believes the slowdown is a result of the unwinding of the quantitative easing measures which came into effect in 2009.
"The key trend at play in the global market is the unwinding of the stimulus packages put forward in 2009 in Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.
"The impact of ‘hot money’ created by quantitative easing may be dissipating, especially in Asia - where the 30%, 40%, 50% and even higher annual rates of growth, which were common in some Chinese and Indian cities a year ago, have now cooled considerably.
"In Europe and the US, by contrast, the last vestige of the stimulus, namely ultra-low interest rates are regarded as critical to the ongoing security of the market. As an example, discussions surrounding an impending rise in the UK rate from 0.5% to 0.75% are enough to cause panic among housing market commentators”.
| Country |
Annual %
change |
Six month %
change |
Quarter %
change |
| Hong Kong |
20.10% |
10.10% |
3.70% |
| Latvia |
16.90% |
1.20% |
-0.80% |
| Israel |
16.20% |
8.40% |
3.50% |
| China (Based on Beijing & Shanghai) |
15.30% |
6.10% |
6.40% |
| Singapore |
14.00% |
3.40% |
1.80% |
| Austria |
9.90% |
4.90% |
3.70% |
| France |
9.50% |
5.60% |
1.40% |
| India |
8.90% |
5.60% |
-1.70% |
| Poland |
8.10% |
8.30% |
1.10% |
| Denmark |
7.80% |
4.30% |
1.50% |
| Taiwan |
7.40% |
2.00% |
-1.00% |
| Belgium |
6.80% |
1.70% |
2.60% |
| Norway |
6.60% |
-0.60% |
-0.10% |
| Malaysia |
6.20% |
3.40% |
0.90% |
| Australia |
5.80% |
0.50% |
0.70% |
| Finland |
5.40% |
0.70% |
0.30% |
| Sweden |
5.20% |
0.90% |
0.40% |
| Switzerland |
5.20% |
2.60% |
2.00% |
| Canada |
4.10% |
-0.60% |
-0.30% |
| Slovenia |
3.90% |
0.70% |
1.80% |
| Colombia |
3.80% |
3.10% |
3.80% |
| Germany |
3.00% |
2.10% |
0.20% |
| Indonesia |
2.90% |
1.10% |
0.70% |
| Turkey |
2.60% |
1.50% |
1.00% |
| Luxembourg |
2.60% |
0.10% |
0.00% |
| Hungary |
1.80% |
2.00% |
1.90% |
| Malta |
1.60% |
0.90% |
1.60% |
| Jersey |
1.30% |
6.00% |
0.80% |
| South Africa |
0.90% |
-2.40% |
0.40% |
| Russia |
0.90% |
0.20% |
0.20% |
| United Kingdom |
0.70% |
-3.20% |
-2.50% |
| Bulgaria |
0.50% |
-0.70% |
-0.30% |
| Netherlands |
0.50% |
-2.10% |
-1.70% |
| Iceland |
-1.40% |
0.30% |
1.30% |
| Italy |
-1.40% |
-0.60% |
-0.30% |
| New
Zealand |
-1.60% |
-0.90% |
0.30% |
| Slovak Republic |
-2.10% |
-1.80% |
-2.60% |
| Czech Republic |
-3.00% |
-1.40% |
-0.90% |
| Spain |
-3.50% |
-1.30% |
-0.40% |
| Japan |
-3.60% |
-1.60% |
-0.80% |
| Portugal |
-4.00% |
-3.10% |
-1.20% |
| United States |
-4.10% |
-5.30% |
-2.10% |
| Greece |
-6.00% |
-2.90% |
-0.70% |
| Dubai, UAE |
-6.10% |
-10.10% |
-6.10% |
| Croatia |
-7.20% |
-3.70% |
-0.90% |
| Ukraine |
-7.80% |
-1.60% |
0.00% |
| Lithuania |
-10.10% |
-5.80% |
-3.90% |
| Ireland |
-10.80% |
-4.80% |
-3.50% |
| Cyprus |
#DIV/0! |
-6.50% |
-2.10% |
Source: Global edge