Property investors on top of the world          

by JONATHAN CHANCELLOR
The Age
June 18, 2010

http://news.domain.com.au/domain/real-estate-news/property-investors-on-top-of-the-world-20100618-ykbs.html

• Australia is the fourth-fastest-growing property market in the world after a 20 per cent price jump in the past year. • 4.8 per cent of Australia's growth was in the March quarter
• As house price declines slowed in most depressed markets, 25 of the countries registered rises

Australia is the fourth-fastest-growing property market in the world after a 20 per cent price jump in the past year.

But China overtook Hong Kong as the world's hottest housing market with a 68 per cent annual price rise, according to a survey of 47 countries by the international estate agent Knight Frank.

''The top four positions in our rankings are all occupied by Asia-Pacific locations, whilst Europe dominates the bottom half of the table,'' said Liam Bailey, the head of residential research. As house price declines slowed in most depressed markets, 25 of the countries registered rises.

Most of the countries where home prices fell were in Europe. Prices rose 8.8 per cent in Britain and 2.3 per cent in the US. But Dubai, which had been the best performer, became the worst, falling 8 per cent.

Asian investors, attracted by a weak British pound and rising rents, were strong in London.

The report says that while housing markets are polarised, each quarter provided new evidence of recovery: ''It remains to be seen if this is another period of sustained growth or the middle peak in a double-dip recession.

''With interest rates now rising, the government withdrawing stimulus and the supply response picking up - albeit modestly - we expect house price growth to slow over the next six to nine months," said the Australia research director, Matt Whitby.

But Knight Frank said 4.8 per cent of Australia's growth was in the March quarter, which the agency believes might have overstated growth.