Knight Frank today launches the Global House Price Index for Q4 2015. The index monitors and compares the performance of mainstream residential markets in 55 countries across the world.
Results for Q4 2015:
- The index increased by 3% in 2015, up from 2.3% in 2014.
- 43 of the 55 housing markets tracked in our Global House Price Index saw prices rise, up from 10 countries in the aftermath of the Lehman’s collapse in September 2008.
- Turkey leads the rankings with prices rising 18% during 2015. Increasingly viewed as a safe haven for Middle Eastern investors, Turkey is bridging East and West whilst also seeing strong population growth.
- Belgium and New Zealand are the least affordable countries when house prices are compared to incomes.
- Ukraine and Greece were the weakest housing markets in 2015, recording prices falls of 12% and 5% respectively.
Nicholas Holt, Head of Research for Asia Pacific says, “2015 saw Asian mainstream residential markets record only 1.9% annual price growth, lower than the global average of 3%. While a number of markets experienced positive growth, Taiwan and Singapore, which have seen negative growth for a number of quarters, were joined by Hong Kong this quarter, which saw its residential market decline by 3.7% in Q4 2015. While long-term growth prospects remain positive, the continued economic uncertainty in the region is likely to weigh on housing market sentiment in the near term.”
Kate Everett-Allen, Partner, International Residential Research says, “Although house prices in Hong Kong increased in 2015, the rate of growth has slowed significantly from 17% in the year to September to 7% in the year to December 2015. The slower rate of growth is attributable to rising supply (more than 11,200 homes were completed in 2015), as well as China’s financial market volatility and the expectation of increasing interest rates. Our outlook for 2016 is muted. We expect the index’s overall rate of growth to be weaker in 2016 than in 2015.”