Global Property Index Report Q1 2017

 

 

 

 

Momentum has begun to wane in global housing markets, which are beginning to lose steam in most of Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Nevertheless, property markets in Europe, Canada, and parts of Asia have remained robust in Q1 2017.

This quarter, Hong Kong reigned as the top performing global housing market that saw the biggest surge in home price increase, followed by most of Europe – six out of the top 10 housing markets in Q1 2017 were in Europe, and house prices grew in 17 out of its 23 European housing markets.

The 5 strongest markets in Q1 2017 were Hong Kong (+17.27%),  Iceland (+16.01%), China (+13.16%), Canada (+11.70%), and Ireland (+8.91%).

In North America, home prices have continued its rally in Canada in spite of repeated cooling measures being imposed in the market, while US home prices – buoyed by bullish homebuilder sentiments – maintained its slow but steady rise.

Over at the Pacific Ocean, a slew of tax increases and loan restrictions in Australia failed to significantly cool property prices in Australia, which have continued to spike. In New Zealand, reconstruction work following the earthquake have led housing prices to accelerate, even in the face of a loan restriction imposed by the government at the end of last year.

Here in Asia, housing prices in four out of ten Asian markets fell y-o-y. Asides from Hong Kong, two other markets that rose significantly this quarter were the Philippines and Taiwan. Although home prices in China continued to surge, property prices in Shanghai declined.

Elsewhere, the downtrend continues, as housing markets in the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa either remained stagnant or saw falling housing prices, with the weakest performers being Egypt (-16.68%), Qatar (-10.63%), Russia (-8.33%), Macedonia (-7.92%), and Puerto Rico (-6.96%).

Regional snapshots:

North American markets rally

• US home prices rise slowly, but sentiment remains bullish – although the S&P/Case-Shiller seasonally adjusted national home pricing merely grew 3.29% y-o-y, the slowest pace since Q3 2014, residential construction activity remained robust amidst supply shortage and President Trump’s promise to ease building regulations.
• Canadian housing prices withstand cooling measures to surge onwards – policy restrictions have been introduced repeatedly to no avail, as home prices in 11 major cities rose 11.7% y-o-y in Q1 2017, the biggest y-o-y growth since Q3 2006.