Housing prices continued to slide in most of the world's markets during the first quarter of 2009, with some notable exceptions, one of which was Israel, according to a survey by "Global Property Guide". Housing prices in Israel in the first quarter were 5.52% higher than in the corresponding quarter of 2008 and 2.87% higher than in the fourth quarter of 2008. Israel had the best-performing housing market in the first three months of 2009 among the markets surveyed.
"Global Property Guide" examined housing prices in 32 markets on both a quarterly and annual basis. Only five of the 32 markets showed growth between the first quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009. The magazine said that the quarterly drop in prices was due to shrinking private consumption, the credit crunch, and rising unemployment.
On an annual basis (the twelve months ending March 31, 2009), Israel's housing market was ranked fourth, behind Switzerland, Thailand, and Austria, and ahead of Shanghai.
The worst performing housing market was Riga, Latvia, where housing prices were down over down 50% compared with the corresponding quarter. Housing prices in Dubai were down 35%, and they were down 22.7% in Singapore, 20% in Iceland, and 19% in both the US and UK.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 3, 2009
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