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Global House Price Set Scorching Pace In 2013 - Knight Frank
Liane Lau
18 March 2014
House prices recorded the highest annual rate of growth since 1995, new figures from Knight Frank show. Such figures come at a time when the global economy has been recovering from the 2008 financial crisis although emerging market countries last year saw a reversal of fortunes in many cases, with developed markets outperforming. On the contrary, Ukraine, Croatia and Greece represented the weakest-performing housing markets last year, two of which contributed to European countries dominating the bottom rankings. The report credits lower house prices to political tension and economic stagnation, causing demand to wane. To see a previous Knight Frank report, on global wealth trends, click here.
The international real estate firm said its Global House Price Index rose by 8.4 per cent over 2013, with a 1.2 per cent rise in the final quarter.
Dubai, China and Taiwan contributed to the figure with mainstream house prices recording increases of 35, 28 and 15 per cent respectively. While Dubai recorded the largest annual rise, its house prices continue to be 25 per cent below its peak in 2008.
Kate Everett-Allen of international residential research, said a combination of improved employment prospects and the continuation of low interest rates in Europe and the US are fuelling buyer confidence.
“Despite Dubai’s stand-out performance in 2013, mainstream prices remain 25 per cent below their 2008 peak,” said Everett-Allen.
Additionally, emerging markets Turkey, Brazil, Indonesia and Columbia are ranked in the top ten due to annual price growth.
On the whole, house prices from 39 countries rose over 2013, compared to 27 countries the previous year.
House price movements from the US and China are more influential on the headline global index as it is currently weighted with respect to a country’s GDP, rather than the likes of Malta or Jersey.