Overseas Property Focus
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| Added 08/03/10 | ||||||
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During the last quarter of 2009 property prices rose in 22 countries and fell in 11 out of the 34 for which quarterly house-price statistics are available according to the Global Property Guide’s (www.globalpropertyguide.com) latest survey of residential property. However, 2009 was not a happy year for property investment overall. Lat year 18 countries’ housing markets experienced price declines, while only 16 countries experienced house price increases. So although the last two quarters suggest that recovery is now taking place, most countries’ house prices are still down on the year, due to earlier declines. Plus, the present recovery is uneven. Some countries in Asia are rapidly recovering, but housing markets in some of the world’s worst-hit countries have continued to decline. Hard-hit Lithuania and Ireland’s housing markets fell sharply during 2009 (-29.29 percent in Lithuania, and -11.09 percent in Ireland), and during 2008 (-19.22 percent in Lithuania, and -11.89 percent in Ireland). The last quarter offered no respite to either country (-5.83 in Q4 in Ireland, and -4.87 percent in Q4 in Lithuania). Ireland’s latest quarterly drop of -5.83 percent is the worst the Global Property Guide has recorded. Bulgaria’s housing market was badly hit during 2009 (-26.36 percent), and its house-price decline continued during Q4 (-2.26 percent on the quarter). Slovakia is another country which experienced a steep decline during the year 2009 (-12.70 percent), and whose housing markets were still heading down in Q4 (-2.09 percent). The biggest price-declines in the world during this crisis have taken place in Riga, Latvia (down 50.22 percent in 2009, after a fall of 36.98 percent in 2008), and in Dubai, UAE (down 43.29 percent in 2009, after a surge of 42.66 percent in 2008). Both Latvia and UAE are now enjoying modest recoveries, with rises of 4.61 percent in Q4 in Riga and 0.88 percent in Dubai. Dubai’s figure is stated in nominal terms because inflation-adjusted quarterly figures are unavailable. In the United States, house prices fell by 0.31 percent (seasonally-adjusted and inflation-adjusted) in Q4, or by -2.61 percent over the year 2009, according to the FHFA’s purchase-only index, the most authoritative US index. Canada experienced a house price decline of 2.23 percent during the year. However, the house price index stopped falling in September 2009, so recovery is in progress. Israel’s house prices have been rising strongly ever since Q4 2008. During 2009, prices rose 15.52 percent, the highest increase in 10 years. Lebanon is also enjoying a house price boom, though it has not yet published figures for 2009. Hong Kong and Taiwan have been Asia’s top two performers. Hong Kong’s house prices are back above pre-crisis levels and in Taiwan, house prices were up by 18.29 percent during 2009 and 4.70 percent during Q4. After price-falls in the first half of 2009, Singapore’s house prices surged 14.30 percent in Q3 2009, and 6.58 percent in Q4. During the entire year, house prices were up 2.12 percent. Australia and New Zealand have sustained the increases they experienced during the middle of 2009. Australia’s house prices increased by 11.28 percent during 2009 (4.63 percent during Q4), while New Zealand’s increased by 4.86 percent (3.40 percent during Q4). Recovery is coming slowly to Japan. The average price of existing condominium sales was up by a meagre 0.80 percent during the year to end 2009. Thailand’s house prices slumped by 15.56 percent during 2009, but rose by 1.97 percent during the last quarter. |
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