Dubai’s house prices make gains

Dubai’s house prices make gains

Knight Frank’s Global House Price Index is out.

June 18, 2010 7:46 by Rasha Reslan

House prices are now rising in more than half the countries in the World, according to Knight Frank’s latest Global House Price Index.

The leading international global property consulting company even recorded gains in Dubai house prices, according to a press release. In the last quarter, Dubai house prices increased 1.6 percent, bring the rise over six months to 2.4 percent. However, on a longer time frame the market remains well down, with a drop of 8.2 percent over the past 12 months.

The Index points to the Asia Pacific region as the strongest market, with an average growth of a huge 17.8 percent. And the report said that annual price inflation for all global housing markets moved into positive territory for the first time since Q4 2008, recording 1.6 percent growth in the year to March 2010.

China, Hong Kong and Singapore saw the biggest gains, while Ukraine and the Baltic states saw the biggest falls.

Liam Bailey, head of residential research, Knight Frank, commented: “Arguably, the most noticeable trend in global house prices is the ease with which the performance of global housing markets can now be grouped by world region. The top four positions in our rankings are all occupied by Asia Pacific locations, whilst Europe dominates the bottom half of the table.

“The Q1 2010 results suggest that whilst global housing markets remain polarized, each quarter provides new evidence that the global recovery is gaining ground as the proportion of countries moving into positive territory increases. It remains to be seen whether this is another period of sustained growth or the middle peak in a double dip recession. Certainly, a number of European economies face growing challenges in the form of tightening fiscal policy and austerity measures.”