Positive Growth for Home Prices Globally

While the past year has seen its share of economic doom-and-gloom headlines, international real estate markets have more than weathered the storm. At least those are the findings of the latest Knight Frank Global House Price Index, which tracks mainstream residential values in 55 housing markets around the world. The index saw prices increase 2.7% in the year to September, with 82% of markets tracked reporting increases in that time period, a bump from last quarter when 75% of the markets tracked reported increases. Other key findings of the latest index include: • Five countries recorded double-digit annual price growth; Turkey, Hong Kong, Sweden, New Zealand and Luxembourg • Scandinavia is performing strongly, with prices across the three countries rising on average by 7.8% year-on-year • The pace of decline in China has slowed, from -5.7% last quarter to -2.0% in the year to September • With a U.S. rate rise looking imminent, we expect some emerging markets to slip down the house price rankings in 2016 Read the index’s full findings here