Asia leads the way in growth with the region continuing to experience the strongest house price inflation - on average prices rose by 14.1% in the past twelve months according to the latest Knight Frank Global House Price Index. Top performers are Singapore, China and Hong Kong although quarterly rates suggest growth there is slowing.
In contrast, Europe continues to record the weakest performance of all the world regions although the picture is improving, the agent says. The impact of the global recession is also calming, as government interventions cool dramatic changes in pricing. Head of residential research Liam Bailey commented: ‘There is a sense that the headline grabbing double-digit price changes that almost became the norm in 2008 and 2009 are lessening in scale and number.
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‘Asia Pacific counties still occupy the top of the table but sub-divisions within these groups are starting to emerge.. Singapore, China and Hong Kong are clearly outperforming their neighbours in India, Indonesia and Japan. In Europe too there is a clear divergence with the Nordic countries recording annual growth of between 8-11% and most of their Baltic and Southern Europe counterparts experiencing negative growth.
Elsewhere in the world Canada and South Africa represent some of the most heated housing markets; there is some speculation as to whether Canada's housing market is entering ‘bubble' territory.
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