If you think our property market is a bit dysfunctional at the moment, then selling houses in some other countries looks like an activity for the certifiable.
In Hong Kong, house prices shot up 20.1% last year, which must make over-valuation almost impossible.
In Latvia, house prices bounced up 16.9% in 2010, but this followed a 70% plunge.
House prices in Israel have also done well, rising 16.2% in the last year. In Ireland, however, house prices dipped nearly 11%.
According to Knight Frank, global house prices rose by an average 2.8% in the year to December 2010.
Price growth was led by Asia-Pacific (7.5% annual growth), the Middle East (5.3%) and South America (3.8%)
.
The weakest region was North America where prices stayed flat.
Liam Bailey, Head of Residential Research at Knight Frank, commented: “Our main headline confirms relatively benign conditions, with average annual price growth across the world at a modest 2.8%.
“Of course this headline hides big regional and country level differences, but more concerning is the fact that this annual figure hides the fact that a growing number of countries are seeing negative quarterly price movements.
“Across an increasing number of European countries and also in the US, markets were weaker in the second half of 2010, following a brief revival in the previous 12 months.
“This trend is being reinforced by weaker results from Asia-Pacific, with India, Taiwan and Japan all recording negative price growth in the second half of 2010.”
He added: “It looks increasingly likely that Asian markets will escape a crash in prices, but in many of the previously ‘hot markets’ price falls later this year seem a realistic assumption. “Across Europe and the US the lack of bank lending is likely to extend the recent period of price reversals.
“In summary, outside of the luxury markets in the global city hubs, it is difficult to see what could bring about a rapid improvement in the housing markets of the developed economies.”
Comments