Global housing market weakens further
Saturday, 18 June 2011 12:05 AM
The global housing market weakened further in the first three months of 2011, according to new data released today.
Prices in 25 of the 50 countries included in the Knight Frank Global House Price Index remained flat or saw negative growth in the first three months of 2011, compared to only 18 countries in the same period last year.
Global house prices increased by 1.8 per cent in the year to March, the lowest annual rate of growth recorded since the last three months of 2009.
In regional terms, Asia remains the top-performing continent, recording 8.4 per cent growth over the last 12 months. However, this is down from 17.8 per cent a year earlier.
The weakest region was North America. It saw a fall of 0.4 per cent in values in the year to Q1 2011.
House prices in Europe were static in the first three months of the year; this represents an improvement on 12 months earlier when house prices on average had fallen 4.1 per cent in the preceding 12 months.
The strongest performing countries were: Hong Kong (24.2 per cent), where the government is fighting to pull inflationary pressures under control; India (21.9 per cent) and Taiwan (14.3 per cent).
Prices in the United Kingdom fell by 0.2 per cent year-on-year, while in the US prices were down by 4.9 per cent over the same period.
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