The Knight Frank Global House Price Index shows Israel's real estate market as the world's strongest over the year ended September 30th.
Israel was the only market in the world to record double digit growth over the period, rising 13.7%. The index, published last week, shows Dubai at the bottom, with a drop of 47% over the twelve-month span.
Knight Frank's head of residential research Liam Bailey said that while housing prices rose in nearly 70% of the locations in the index during the third quarter (compared with the second quarter), "There is still, however, a clear polarization from the top to the bottom of the table. Israel remains the best performer on an annual basis and is the only country to have recorded double-digit growth (+13.7%) during the past 12 months." Bailey noted that prices in Dubai, with their steep fall of 47% over the twelve-month period, had posted a small recovery of 1.2% in the third quarter, but that "recent debt issues with Dubai World and the subsequent loss of confidence by investors means even this nascent rally is already under threat."
Bailey also pointed to several European countries which have not yet recorded even one quarter of growth since the credit crunch, including Spain, Denmark and Ireland "where an oversupply of stock is holding back prices."
Besides Israel, countries which posted house price rises over the year were Austria, Malta, Switzerland, and Australia.
Recently, "Global Property Guide" ranked Israel's real estate market at the top of its global ranking.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 13, 2009
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