Mainstream house prices in key cities across the world have seen annual price growth fall for a third quarter in a row but cities in the United States and Canada are bucking the downward trend.
Overall annual house price growth increased by 4.7% in the year to September 2017, down from 5.8% in the previous quarter, led by Reykjavik with a rise of 21.3% and the only city to record annual price growth above 20%.
In second place is Izmir in Turkey with a rise of 19.8%, followed by Hamilton in Canada with annual price growth of 18%. At the other end if the rankings which cover 150 cities is Abu Dhabi with prices falling by 9.3%, Valencia in Spain down 7.7% and Darwin in Australia down 6.3%.
The figures from the Knight Frank global residential cities index also show that Toronto has slipped from the top spot to fourth place as the new foreign buyer tax influenced market sentiment with price growth falling from 29% to 18%.
But all 30 cities tracked in North America registered positive price growth over the 12 month period. Unlike the luxury end of the market, mainstream prices in Europe remain weak accounting for almost half of the cities registering an annual decline
Some of the largest risers through the rankings include Amsterdam and Utrecht, however, this is largely due to declining growth rates of others, notably Indian and Chinese cities, according to the index report.
Overall, the number of cities registering declining growth rates has fallen from 27 to 26 and 46% of all cities registering a fall in prices year on year are located within Europe, with seven located in Italy.
Analysis over a five year period shows cities in the Middle East have seen the highest rise in nominal house price growth, averaging 58%. Istanbul recorded the highest increase of 129% over the five year period.
An examination of real house price growth, when inflation is stripped out, shows Asian cities were the strongest performers over the five year period. The Chinese city of Shenzhen recording the highest increase of 116% over this period in real terms.
– Propertywire
